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Networking Setup - Cleanest way to run cables?

2K views 41 replies 11 participants last post by  Bob Sorel 
#1 ·
So I am trying to plan this out and thinking of savings some cash in the new build and doing the media closet in the basement myself.. I was wondering what most of you guys have done as far as keeping your networking cable clean.. I have done the breakdown for all the runs that will be entering the media closet. As you can see below it is a pretty extensive setup.. At least it is for me.. The Unity setup's wiring will be in their own enclosures, however I will need to connect roughly 48 cat6 wires to a network switch.. What would be the cleanest way to connect all the wires? I would prefer to do in wall enclosures, but not sure if doing a rack mount for the ethernet is better.. Any opinions?
Data/Telephone/Cable: Cat6 Cabling needed for the Legrand Unity System = 47 Cat6 Home runs
Cat6 Cabling needed for all Data ports in the house = 38 Cat 6 home runs
RG6 quad shield cabling needed for house = 7 RG6 quad shield cable home runs
Telephone cabling needed for house = 7 phone cable home runs
Audio speaker cabling needed for house = 17 x 16/4 cable home runs and 34 x 16/2 runs from keypad to speakers
Cat6 cabling for IP Camera System = 16 Cat6 home run cables

Alarm System:
Window Sensors = 27 Window Sensors

Door Sensors = 7 Door Sensors (This includes the garage doors)

Smoke Alarms = 6 Smoke Detectors

CO Alarms = 3 Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Motion Sensors = 5 Motion Sensors
Flood Detector = 2 Sensors
Keypads = 2 Keypads
Siren = 2 Sirens (1 indoor and 1 outdoor)

 
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#2 ·
I'm not really sure what you are asking here but will throw a few things out to think about.

If you are terminating everything in one location like the basement you might want to consider getting some kind of a locking Cabinet that you could put all of the equipment in, this would give you some more security and the ability to have a single UPS System for everything. Of course if you want to save some money you can put things on some shelves or mount on a board.

When it comes to all of the cables ran from the various locations I personally like to use Patch Panel(s) as opposed to running the cables directly in to the equipment. Sure this does add a little extra cost but it makes life a whole lot easier if / when you decide to replace a piece of equipment which of course would have some kind of a different physical port layout and cause some kind of issue with the cabling you already have. With the patch panel(s) all you have to do is replace the cable from the panel to the equipment and you are done.

I also suggest using different color cables for easy identification this can be done with the cables running from the individual rooms to the patch panel as well as the patch panel to the equipment itself. That said make sure you label everything with labels that will last / not fall off / fade over time.
 
#3 ·
I'd stay away from that quad RG-6. Belsen 7915A is just as good and no special quad connectors are required. Much easier to use. Look it up.
 
#4 ·
Personally speaking, I think that's drastic overkill that will cost you a small fortune and most of it won't get used at all.

You need one cat 6 to each room. You can use a switch in rooms that require more than one connection. People think they're going to get bottlenecks that way but with gigabyte connection speed it'll be hard to max anything out, and if you do it will be for seconds at a time.

Most of the alarm system you can do with wireless technology. You should have ONE wired keyboard, the other one can be wireless. All of your sensors and smokes can be wireless. It's a bit more expensive going wireless but a lot easier.

Are you going with a monitoring company or are monitoring yourself? If you have a cell phone then you can easily monitor yourself. You can have text messages sent to your phone on just about any alarm function (arming, disarming, alarm triggers, fire, flood, doors/windows opening or closing.... etc)
 
#6 ·
Personally speaking, I think that's drastic overkill that will cost you a small fortune and most of it won't get used at all.

[bad advice deleted...]
Do we need to do this again, BB? The OP is building a new house. There will never be a better time to do wiring and do it right. It does not cost a fortune and, although his plan isn't that easy to understand, it does not appear to be overkill for a large house.

Wireless networking is really convenient for mobile devices. It sucks rocks for security and speed.

And, really, wireless security devices? Who wants to have to keep changing those batteries?

Craig
(I think BB has microwaved his brain with too much wireless!)
 
#5 ·
My two cents includes learning to terminate your own cables where feasible. You can then purchase less-expensive bulk wiring and parts, cut to precise lengths and, in case of a failure, know how to troubleshoot/repair a bad run. Losing excess cable is best for keeping signal paths short while cleaning up the spaghetti.
 
#8 ·
Regarding the number of Cat6 wires to pull to each room - your call, and I support overkill while the walls are open but FYI I'm doing just fine with 1 or 2 per room.

Regarding your wiring closet, I really think it is overkill to prepare for 48 hard wired devices. I agree with Diggles - pull bulk wire and get an RJ45 crimper and pinout sheet to do your own termination (oh, and decide now - T568A or T568B!). Then, rather than plugging everything in just terminate and plug in your active devices. This both makes it more cost efficient to run the wires now and lessens the networking requirements in your wiring closet. Most people just don't have the need for dozens of simultaneously active hard wired devices, even with 16 hard wired security cameras. How many PCs, smart TVs, and media players, etc. does any home need? Just mark your wires and plug in the active devices.

Oh, and make them pull nice long runs into your wiring closet! You want room to locate your cable, Cat6, phone, and alarm hubs without overlapping and making a mess in the closet so don't let them short you in the closet - you can always trim later.
 
#10 ·
. Most people just don't have the need for dozens of simultaneously active hard wired devices, even with 16 hard wired security cameras. How many PCs, smart TVs, and media players, etc. does any home need? Just mark your wires and plug in the active devices.
.
Agree completely.
I'm a bit of an electronics junky and I have 4 tv's (6 in the summer), all streamable, 2 theater receivers, 3 desktop PC's, (one serving as NAS), a small boatload of wireless devices, including 3 cell phones, 2 tablets, 2 laptops.... not to mention 3 game machines for the kids. It's all networked and works fine.... on 1/2 of what the Op mentions.

Phone jacks? You need maybe one in the kitchen and one by your main PC (should you decide to use the PC as a fax machine), and use wireless phones. I don't know too many homes that don't use wireless phones now. Heck... I don't even have a land line anymore. I have a device which connects my cell phones via bluetooth to the house phones which allows me to make and take calls through the house phones over the cell towers. My alarm system is controlled and monitored over internet and cell towers. I even get a text message anywhere in the world when some one so much as rings my doorbell.

While it is true you really do need hard wire for the beast part of your system to handle the heavier loads (watching full bd rips or similar), running 17 miles of cat6 all over the house is just completely unnecessary. The cat6 is even overkill. Cat5 is quite a bit cheaper, will do the same thing and it's easier to work with.
 
#9 ·
I would rather have extra cat cables at each location rather than adding switches later. Especially when the walls are open. I also believe in two RG-6 cables. I use a roof top antenna for TV and FM Radio.

As a coincidence, as I post this, the local channels are out on my Dish. My wife gets to watch her Soap's on the antenna.
 
#11 ·
I've got a 16 year old house that I wired with Cat5e when built. I've got 9 rooms and 12 home runs. The only room I didn't wire was the "formal dining room" - which promptly turned into a den/office. Lesson learned, wire everything.

For active hard wired devices I've got 1 smart TV, 2 dumb TVs with gaming/media devices, one server, one desktop PC, and three desks with hard wire connections for laptops - 8 devices. This allows me to stay with high end consumer grade networking hardware in my wiring closet rather than commercial grade devices. The security, cable TV, and phone systems are all independent.

If I were doing it again, I'd bump that up to 16-18 home runs - but only to facilitate furniture/device placement in rooms and redundancy, not because I'd need that many active hard wired devices.

To each their own, though. The walls are only going to be open once.
 
#12 · (Edited)
here's my input, coming from my perspective as a systems/network architect for a security firm.

1) forget wireless whenever possible. Hard wire all the things. Definitely do not use wireless for your security system. Wifi should be on a tightly controlled part of your network and ideally should not carry sensitive data. That might be a bit Utopian in today's world of tiny devices, but aim for that goal and it'll be easier to protect the things you simply can't hard-wire.

2) Cat6a is great, but costly. If the extra expense is worth it to you for future-proofing then by all means, use it everywhere. If you want to save a few dollars, wire things like security cameras with Cat5e. The likelihood of them ever needing to do 10GbE is pretty slim. 1GbE works great with Cat5e.

3) Use patch panels in any place where you have more than about 4 cables coming from the wall outlet(s) and you can tuck the patch panel out of sight. There will come a day when you'll be very happy that you did.

4) If you have room and can hide it away properly, use a rack for your main hardware location. Get cable management for that rack. If it needs to be more presentable, use a cabinet... but if at all possible, rack mount your components within that cabinet.

5) Consider cooling requirements. Nothing is worse than getting all that equipment into place and working, then realizing you don't have enough airflow to keep it all cool. The method you use will vary greatly depending on your environment, but definitely keep it in mind.

6) Use different colored wires for different purposes in your main rack. Personally, I use red for anything outside my firewall, orange for DMZ, white for trusted, and blue for in-wall. I match keystones to cable colors. Pick whatever colors you like, but it's very nice to be able to tell at a glance that a particular wire or plug is on a particular segment of the network.

7) label *everything* you can. label each end of each wire, label wall jacks, label patch panels, label, label, label. It doesn't hurt to have a diagram or at least a list of what is where posted in or near your rack/cabinet.

8) invest in a good switch or switches. It doesn't have to be a full Cisco chassis, but get one that is managed and has more features than you currently need. Port mirroring/spanning is a great thing to have if you ever decide you want to monitor your entire network. Not a lot of consumer grade switches out there have this, but there are good options that do. Personally I really like TP-Link for a cheap but quality option. They constantly surprise me in a good way.

I could go on and on... but I think those points cover the main things. I envy that you're in a position to get this all right the first time. Best of luck!

edit: to expand a bit on cable management, since that was kinda the OP's question in the first place :) - get a raceway to go over your rack, and at least some "fingers" for the cabling side of the rack. A big part of my job is deploying our proprietary hardware in customer datacenters, and I usually spend more time making the cabling look pretty than I do installing and configuring the gear. Nothing says "professional" like a well-organized rack, and no rack can be well organized without good cable management.
 
#26 ·
ok man, you still don't know what you're talking about but... whatever you say..
Yes, you keep saying that. The problem is that you have yet to back ANY of your words with fact. Stop your fear mongering. Tens of thousands of households (maybe even more) rely on wireless security systems every day of the week and while nothing is 100% burglar proof, wireless systems today are by no means (I'll use your word).... "easy" to bypass. It's rubbish and you're blowing smoke.
 
#30 · (Edited)
To expand on what djjoshuad posted

1) I agree complete wireless is for your phone / tablet / laptop that doesn't have a wired connection everything else should be wired if at all possible.

2) I'd go with Cat 6, it is very common and not a whole lot more than Cat5e ($20 per 1000 feet) and will more than likely work with the 10G Standard without an issue. If money isn't an object then why not go with Cat 6a. I can see a time when some people would want a 10G connection (maybe that is just me as I can saturate a Gig connection all day long moving video files around my network).

3) I already mentioned the use of Patch Panels in my original post and agree it is worth the extra expense of using them.

4) Cable Management is what is going to make everything look nice and neat

5) Cooling should always be a concern but most unless you have a rack full of servers you will probably be ok in the basement.

6) Couldn't agree more with color coding every Data Center does it and I do it in my own personal network as well.

7) You will never be sorry for taking the time to label EVERYTHING and I mean everything including power cords and especially AC Adapters which makes life so much easier.

8) I'm a Network person and also suggest getting some kind of a "Managed" Switch. This will give you the ability to troubleshoot issue that will more than likely will arise over time. I used to love the Netgear Line but they have gone way down hill. I've never heard of TP-Link but Cisco makes a Small Business Product that is awesome! They aren't cheap but certainly no where near the price of their enterprise products either. I have their SG300-28P which is a POE switch and has been rock solid since the day I installed it.

I took at look at the TP-Link Switches they look exactly like the Dell Line of Switches. For the money check out the Cisco Small Business ones I don't think you will be disappointed.
 
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#36 ·
Oh, I am so sorry I forgot to tag the exact post that caused the derailment of that thread, so, so sorry, there were just too many to choose from. Yes, of course, we are all wrong and you are infallible. Why should people ask these questions at all when they can just look up all the wonderful advice you give? You are more than welcome to your opinion, but you tend to state it as fact and bash anyone else who has a differing viewpoint or gives a credible reason in opposition to your statement. You demand facts, but refuse to look them up. When people post links you still thell them they're wrong. The only links I've seen you post are from Wikipedia; nothing from Cisco, TIA, IEEE, you know, the people that set the standards. Feel free to give all the advice you want, but don't crap all over someone else's opinion because it is different. Could they sometimes be more tactful in their response? Sure, but so can you. It is a disservice to everyone to have these threads devolve into this and your flippant responses don't help; in fact I think that is why everyone jumps on you to begin with. Hell, that's why I posted in a thread I had no intention to before; I thought djjoshuad had some pretty good insight and opinions and you jumped all over him. I do find the whole thing pretty hilarious though, so keep up the good work.
 
#37 · (Edited)
it's all good man, I don't think anyone actually puts much stock into what BB says anyway. I'm fully confident in my experience and ability, and I wouldn't give advice if I wasn't confident that the advice was sound. One guy who clearly has an axe to grind isn't going to dissuade me one bit :). It's like he's convinced that the sky is orange. We all know it is blue, we can prove it's blue and we can point to facts that state *why* it's blue... but he is trying his heart out to make a case for orange.

If anything, this thread has given me some good ideas for interview questions to ask of prospective employees. So I guess good can come from BB's posts, after all.
 
#39 ·
I don't think anyone actually puts much stock into what BB says anyway.
Maybe, maybe not, but the idea of these threads and posts is to compile ideas for the op, and others who wish to read. Some of those ideas are good and some of them not, and there will always be disagreement on who's idea is better/worse, but at the end of the day we are all better for them. You would be better served trying to grasp this.
 
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