Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[GigabitEthernet]

Hi all,

I'd like to replace our powerline adaptors with proper Cat 5e cable! What would be the best way to go about this?

I suppose I could run it outside, but then I'd have to make horrible holes in the walls, etc. Therefore, would it be best to run one length to one room, have a switch there and then run the cable to the next room?

Thanks!

[HPsauce]

What speed do you need? If 100mbps is all then good old BT CW1308 (4-core) will do the job nicely and look like phone wiring (because it is).
I've got a run of about 25 metres from my router to my main TV (for iPlayer etc.) across hall, round doorways and right round a big room and it works fine.  8)

[guest]

Don't daisy-chain it is my advice. That's the way it slowly evolved here and frankly it was a mess (couple of bits still are, being dealt with slowly).

Having switches daisy-chained together is a bodge, increases your power costs and leaves you vulnerable to multiple switch associated failure modes.

If possible try to route the cabling through the loft (airing cupboard or built in wardrobes is usually a good route for cables) as that makes for easy distribution. If you have to drill holes in the wall then the loft is the place to start from as its already cold (so no draught problems) and it looks much neater just having external vertical cables dropping from loft/just under eaves.

If you absolutely have to daisy chain it then try to break it up logically - eg one switch with cable runs downstairs, one switch with cable runs upstairs and maybe a length of external cable to join the two network segments.

The ideal of course is a decent main switch (we have a 16 port GigE in the garage) linking all the rooms with cheap switches in the rooms as required. On that note Maplin flog 5 port Sitecom GigE switches pretty cheaply - they only use 4.5W fully loaded, basically 1W/port in use and are fairly discreet (nice dim LEDS).

Edit - a cheap access point with power over ethernet is something to think about as well. Mount it in the centre of the house (as high as you can) so its got good coverage, PoE means you can site it easily without messing about with mains power. I don't use wireless much myself but the kids/wife do so this helped quell the "why is it so slow?" moaning

HTH.

[door_bell]

I'm 100% in agreement with Rizla here.

But a decent gig switch that has some of the 'green power management' stuff inside. It turns off power to ports when not in use. I've got a 24 port managed switch and it's a beast on power use. Remember this is going to be on 24/7 pretty much and power isn't getting cheaper - it'll pay for itself before you know it.

Find a nice central point in the house that you can locate the switch and take a feed from there to each location you want Ethernet.

When I done my house, I pulled THREE cables to the lounge and dining room and office and one everywhere else. Remember, you can use the cat5/cat6 for more than just networking:

- Phone cabling if you need a wired handset
- Network
- Video signals (search for video baluns - you can send composite, HDMI (two cables, usually), audio), CCTV
- USB extenders (that use cat5)

I'm sure there is more too, but those are the main ones. Plan it out before you start or you'll kick yourself later.

[guest]

Oh and you can get cheap (but perfectly good) CAT5e patch panels from screwfix.com if you want to do it properly. I wouldn't recommend CAT6 unless you know what you're doing, and even then its probably massive overkill for a domestic property.

Main problem I have is the 12 cables coming from the patch panel to the switch - I think I'll need to crimp up some shorter ones or mount the switch on the wall - as its a 19" rack mount thing which is all well and good cable-wise if you have the space for a rack. Garage wall is getting a bit cramped though what with 2 NAS, WHS2k8 box, UPS. Just as well normal sized cars don't fit in these 1990's garages really 

[door_bell]

2 NAS and a server? 

For work, I was using multiple rack mounted 1U blades a Home server in a 4 bay micro server and lots of other machines during the day - fans used to drive me insane. I honestly thought I'd gone deaf at the end of the day when I turned it all off.

Now down to one Wortman Microserver and with SBS2011 and the rest of the work stuff is vitualised, which is nice.

In regards to cat6, waste of time in theory, unless you are doing video via baluns, as mentioned. The additional bandwidth available often improves the reliability. Otherwise, it's a pig to the separation and stuff inside.

[guest]

I used to have a couple of HP Proliant 1U servers - there's a thread somewhere on here with me showing the (Opteron) cpu temp at 16C 

Cost of power makes that prohibitive now so I have a dual-core Atom box (Tranquil PC thing from 2010) with 4 x 2TB disks and a 2x500GB RAID1 array in the fifth slot. Draws about 40W max and the green drives spin down pretty fast. OS is WHS 2008 which is basically Windows Server 2003 with the quite astonishingly good Drive Extender dealing with data/shares.

The NAS are used for backups of things like the mailserver but are largely redundant these days. They pull around 40W each which is too much really. Got to get around to sorting that out.

All this lives in the garage and apart from me banging/drilling/cutting stuff in there occasionally, the rest of the family are blissfully unaware of where all the music/TV/film/backups are stored.

Serious derail of thread there, sorry

Edit - I don't find any need for CAT6 here. iperf gives 800Mbps+ and I suspect the limitation is more to do with the host cpu/NIC than anything else. Atoms are garbage really but they're the lowest powered x86 stuff out there. Having said that the CAT5e cabling I used was more like CAT6 re screens etc.

[GigabitEthernet]

Right, I think the best way to do it is to run a Cat 5e cable under the carpet to the cupboard under the stairs. There, the PoE switch will be connected. From there, more cable can be run under the carpet to the sitting room and then another cable can be run to the playroom. I suppose I could even run it along the wall, if I could attach it (what's the best way to do this?).

The issue is going to be getting a cable from the cupboard under the stairs to my bedroom (upstairs). To me, the best solution seems to be to run it under the carpet, then attach it to the stair rail (at the bottom so it's out of site), then run it under the carpet again until it reaches my bedroom.

[sevenlayermuddle]

The issue is going to be getting a cable from the cupboard under the stairs to my bedroom (upstairs). To me, the best solution seems to be to run it under the carpet, then attach it to the stair rail (at the bottom so it's out of site), then run it under the carpet again until it reaches my bedroom.

A common trick for getting cables upstairs is to use the boxing in around the 'soil pipe', assuming an upstairs loo?   Whereas most pipework these days is hidden inside walls, the soil pipe is to big and so tends to have its own boxing.

I wired mine a few years ago, and set myself a rule...   count how many outlets I might need on each room, then double that number, and lay the corresponding number of multiple individual cables to each room from a common patch panel in a cupboard where the router also lives, together with a gigabit switch.
 

[GigabitEthernet]

Another question: how can I lay cable under the carpet (the cable may have to go directly across at one point) without completely damaging the carpet?

[roseway]

My answer to that would be - don't do it. Setting aside the effect on the carpet, it won't do the cable any good to have people walking on it.

[GigabitEthernet]

I see. I've come up with a much better plan: run it along the skirting board and around the door frames. Is that better?

[burakkucat]

I see. I've come up with a much better plan: run it along the skirting board and around the door frames. Is that better?

Yes, much better. 

[GigabitEthernet]

Okay all,

Now I need help choosing the cable and the best way of terminating it...

I already own a crimping tool but no RJ45 connectors

I guess the cheapest way to do this is going to be getting a long spool of ethernet cable and terminating it myself?

[door_bell]

Why PoE Switch?? Hope you mean gig switch OR Power over Ethernet connection to something?

PoE Switch is used for providing power to things like remote access points or phones, etc.

DB