Networking Advice

Z

zakdoc89

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
983
Reaction score
0
Location
City of gold...
Hi all
I'm wiring my house, and have Ethernet "plugs" in each room, now all I need is to draw the wiring to a central point, and I need some advice:
1) Which cable do I use? (Cat5 Cat5e cat6.....Cat7 etc)
2) I'll have at MAX about 10 Ethernet points, so will I need a manged switch, or unmanaged and what are the other options? (IE: Cheap home server)
3) Whats the difference between crossover and patch? will it make a difference?
4) Where can I get all the stuff I need at a reasonable price? in JHB
ZAK
 
zakdoc89 said:
Hi all
I'm wiring my house, and have Ethernet "plugs" in each room, now all I need is to draw the wiring to a central point, and I need some advice:
1) Which cable do I use? (Cat5 Cat5e cat6.....Cat7 etc)
2) I'll have at MAX about 10 Ethernet points, so will I need a manged switch, or unmanaged and what are the other options? (IE: Cheap home server)
3) Whats the difference between crossover and patch? will it make a difference?
4) Where can I get all the stuff I need at a reasonable price? in JHB
ZAK
Click to expand...

1. Cat6 would be the best for that environment, otherwise Cat5e would also do the job (its a bit cheaper).
2. I'm assuming you will have adsl? Then possibly a 16 port gigabit unmanaged switch would do the job, and allow your dsl modem/router to do the managing.
3. Crossover is only for use when there is no hub/switch present, directly from one pc to another, otherwise use patch cables.. Most switches can take both crossover and patch nowadays, so you could use either... but the right thing is patch.
4.Esquire.
 
Madman's got it pinned. Switches to from 8-16 etc, so 16 should suite. You'll need extras for the router and any additional users- there are always more :)
 
Why Cat6 if I may ask?
Cat5e is much cheaper and will do the same job. Just make sure you get the Shielded version.
Make sure you have more than one plug available where you have your ADSL modem or server located.
 
wetkit said:
Why Cat6 if I may ask?
Cat5e is much cheaper and will do the same job. Just make sure you get the Shielded version.
Make sure you have more than one plug available where you have your ADSL modem or server located.
Click to expand...

Cat5e is fine for patch cables and such, but where you have the cable running in the ceiling, often right next to power, and where its not so easy to replace the cable, its better to use the hardier Cat6.
Cat6 is also has less crosstalk and can support higher data rates. Right now Cat5e can support gigabit, but not much more.. I would hate to install cat5e all over my house only to find I have to replace it in a couple of years..

So yea, Cat5e can do the job, but if you have the money, Cat6 is better.
 
Madman88 said:
Cat5e is fine for patch cables and such, but where you have the cable running in the ceiling, often right next to power, and where its not so easy to replace the cable, its better to use the hardier Cat6.
Cat6 is also has less crosstalk and can support higher data rates. Right now Cat5e can support gigabit, but not much more.. I would hate to install cat5e all over my house only to find I have to replace it in a couple of years..

So yea, Cat5e can do the job, but if you have the money, Cat6 is better.
Click to expand...

There's not that big a difference in price either, so Cat6 is definitely the one to go for in this situation.

OP, do yourself a favour and get some good quality networking gear - don't go for the cheapest switch you can find. Also make sure that there's extra length of cable at the central point so that you can set up a rack properly and not have to lengthen cables and whatnot.
 
Thanks people. Been doing a bit of research myself and found that Cat6 is best, and a manged switch will only be needed for high end networks.
Found these guys scoop.co.za, they seem to stock everything I need.
a few more questions,
Can I have all these cables connected directly to a server? and if so what server, or is it still best to use a switch.
How would I go about installing 2 connections for internet. IE: ADSL as primary access and iBurst for redundancy?
AND if I was to hook up some IP cameras, can I do so on the same switch?How would they use Power Over Ethernet?
again thanks for the advice (kudos to madman88)
 
No you can't connect all the cables directly into a server. They must all connect into a switch (including the server, if you have one)
 
As for two internet connections, you can plug them both into the switch, and adjust the gateway settings on any pc's. Or if you want it done automatically a small routerboard would do the trick.

As for cameras yes they can go into the same switch. You can use POE adapters at each port, or get a switch that supports POE.
 
1. Can all these cables connected directly to a server.
A1 = Yes, but the cost of buying a really tall PC case with a custom motherboard for ALL 16 network cards is excessive, never mind the cost of the actual network cards, get the switch.

2. 2 Connections for internet is done using an intelligent ADSL switch/router. There is an entire thread on here that also uses the same netgear ADSL router for splitting international and local traffic, but DO NOT USE IBurst, wrather buy a 3G modem and let a linux server switch between ADSL and 3G, though, 3G is prohibitively expensive.

3. IP Cameras can use any IP network, but for power over IP, you should get a router that actually provides power over IP on it's ports, and then you still have to be careful because there seem to be differing standards regarding which cables get the power, so match carefully.

Erm, you're also going to to need to learn to crimp the cable points yourself.
 
OK so lots of work ahead..... @Messugga when you say quality stuff what would you suggest? is Intellinet good?
at this point I think it would also help if I state what I have already.
ADSL, and telkom router/modem, connected to Linksys WRT54gl using ppoe
iBurst, (existing stuff, downgraded to around 3GB's a month, used as backup, Came in handy this month!) connected to siemens Gigaset router.
at the moment they both function independently, ADSL is upstairs while iBurst is downstairs.

I would ideally like my entire home to be on one network, with printing access, internet access etc. I'm also looking at internet radio(Logitech squeezebox boom) to use this.
Now with a network switch will I still be able to use all of the above stuff?
 
zakdoc89 said:
OK so lots of work ahead..... @Messugga when you say quality stuff what would you suggest? is Intellinet good?
at this point I think it would also help if I state what I have already.
ADSL, and telkom router/modem, connected to Linksys WRT54gl using ppoe
iBurst, (existing stuff, downgraded to around 3GB's a month, used as backup, Came in handy this month!) connected to siemens Gigaset router.
at the moment they both function independently, ADSL is upstairs while iBurst is downstairs.
Click to expand...

Linksys make good gear for one, so if you can stick with that do so. Stay away from D-Link and unknown brands.

For switching between iBurst and ADSL, I'd set up a router box with 3 NICs, one going to the ADSL, one going to the iBurst and one going to the switch. Run some form of Linux on the machine and get it to manage the internet connections for you.
 
wetkit said:
Why Cat6 if I may ask?
Cat5e is much cheaper and will do the same job. Just make sure you get the Shielded version.
Make sure you have more than one plug available where you have your ADSL modem or server located.
Click to expand...

You would also need shielded network connectors as well as grounding of the cable to the switch. For such a small network as what you plan this is really not necessary and only increases costs with little benefit to you.

Shielded cabling and components have a higher costs basis than non-shielded products. For this reason it is not economical to install shielded products where they are not needed. Shielded cable can also degrade a network when installed incorrectly where it is not required.

Good info here http://www.zytrax.com/tech/layer_1/cables/tech_lan.htm#stp

and here http://www.bb-elec.com/tech_articles/NTRON_designing_a_reliable_industrial_ethernet_network.asp

and here http://www.siemon.com/us/standards/Screened_and_Shielded_Q_and_A.asp

and here http://www.siemon.com/us/white_papers/06-07-20-grounding.asp

Don't waste your money just use unshielded CAT5e. Lets face it , your ADSL speed is still substantially less than the cable speed. Even in 5 years time (I think)
 
zakdoc89 said:
Esquire seems to only stock intellinet D-Link and uniQue, are these brands any good?
Click to expand...

Avoid D-Link like the plague. Some of the worst products I've ever had the (dis)pleasure of using. Can't speak for the other brand.
 
Messugga said:
Avoid D-Link like the plague. Some of the worst products I've ever had the (dis)pleasure of using. Can't speak for the other brand.
Click to expand...

+1

I hate them as well. Pity all the large suppliers choose to only stock this product!
 
If you're not running 50m+ lengths of cable, don't worry about spending extra on cat6, cat5e will do the job just fine. I had a D-link switch once, it blew - so replaced it with an Intellinet one (from Esquire) and it seems to be doing a good enough job. If you have a bit extra to spend, instead of investing in more expensive cat6 cable, rather upgrade your network to 1000Mbps - especially if you are going to be moving data around from pc to pc. Standard 100Mbps can be painfully slow when you need to copy large files (i.e HD mkv files, etc) over the network. It won't increase your internet speed though (that would be rad though). You can pick up gigabit switches from esquire as well, their quite a bit more expensive though, but just assess the situation before you make your purchases.
 
I've just had a look at the point I'll be pulling the wire up from, all are next to power points, logical it seems, but I'm not sure if it will interfere with the network. Can I safely run these cables adjacent to the Power cables?
From the research I've done so far, most people >80% suggest I go cat6. its 20% cheaper, and since I'm going to be using gigabit switches I guess I'm going for CAT6.
Thanks again for all the advice!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X