Help me design my network

[M0nkeyb0Y]

The plumbers are in my house ripping it to pieces as I speak; last night when staring at the exposed floor boards and holes in the walls I had a ‘revelation’: Now’s a perfect time to install a wired network! A genius plan with only one minor drawback: I’ve never hard wired a network in my life, and actually know sweet FA about it.

What I’ve got:
Netgear DG834N Router wired to:
Thecus 2100 Yes Box NAS (2x400 RAID0)
Wireless link to Media PC
Wireless link to HTPC
Wireless link to lappy

What I want:
I’m not satisfied with the access speeds I get from the Yes box so I’d like to have a server to hold content for the HTPC and the Main PC and was thinking this looked pretty good value (could also run a printer too).
I’d like it to be flexible – only lived in the new house for 6 months; we’re liable to change things about.
I’d like a couple of terminals upstairs: one in our bedroom, one in the spare room/office (Do I need to run just one cable upstairs to a switch for this?) and one downstairs to my HTPC
The lappy can stay wireless

We have a hall cupboard that the gas/electric meters and fuse box are in. I was hoping to get an electrician to put a phone line in there and a spur for plugs and put the router, server and printer in there – would the fuse board provide too much interference?

What do I need to do?

Thanks,
MB

[john38]

Should be easy enough. Just run wires to all pc's!
In the case of running wires upstairs, you could put a switch upstairs and spead out from there. A simple Netgear 20 dollar switch, or else if you don't want to do that, run seperate wires to upstaris from the router.
I'd try stay away from wireless as much as possible, always problems with it!

[M0nkeyb0Y]

Will a switch hamper performance in anyway?

would RAID 5 be overkill in that particular server (would require a PCI-e card as the box only supports RAID0 and 1)

So now is it just a case of buying some cable (Category 5e?) and some key stone jacks?

Anyone care to recommend a good supplier

[peterb]

At this stage all you need is the cat5 cable and run it to where you are going to have your router to wherever you want a network point - and wherever you run one cable - run 2, its much easier to run cable now than wish you had later. You can run them in ducting (20mm plastic conduit) but it is extra expense and slightly harder to install, but makes adding extra canble easier - or changing it for fibre at some future date

I buy my cat 5 from RS, but a Google search will reveal lots more - Cable Monkey Cat5e, Cat 6 & Fibre Networking Products available online at Cablemonkey look reasonable. You can buy RJ45 sockets from the same place, or RS, or Maplin, but you should get a punch down IDCD tool to terminate them. The RJ45 sockets sometimes come purely as a socket, so you need a module adapter to mount them in, and a faceplate to mount the modules in - the face plate can then be mounted on a standard surface or flush mount electical box.

Stick to a recognised wiring standard - EIA568B is common in the UK. Google for more info.

Consider terminating the cables at the router end in the same way - to make a patch panel. You can then select which sockets you want to use by plugging them into the switch. A switch will not degrade performance.

Use solid cat 5 for the main runs - it is slightly less flexible - but that doesn't matter for a main run, and it is cheaper.

Raid 5 is a bit OTT for a home server (imho) but Raid one probably is worth it. Howevere raid is NOT a substitute for a backup regime.

Finally there have been many threads about home networking on Hexus - a search might be useful, but the basics are here. BTW, installed carefully, cat5e cable is good for gigabit networks, so you can upgrade later simplyy getting gigabyte network cards and switches.

[M0nkeyb0Y]

Thanks - that's a massive help: as long as I get the cable down now, while I have the opportunity, I can get the rest of the stuff later

[peterb]

Yes, just make sure you leave the ends long enough for termination later (if the cables are in trunking or duct - say between the floor void and the proposed wall point, you can push any excess back into the floor spce - leaving enough showing to pull it back later of course - or you could fit the socket boxes and curl about 5 inches of cable there behind a blanking plate until you need to fit the socket - and if you are using surface mount boxes,don't skimp on the depth - 38mm is just OK - but you might want to go the next depth up - if you are using recessed metal boxes, then you can set them about 4 or 5 mm deeper below the surface to give a bit of extra space)

A standard square socket baox will take a faceplate that can take two RJ45 modules - a dual gang can take up to four - plan your layout carefully and allow for as many eventualities as you can.

In a study you might want 4 outlets (although if you have less, you can always add a small switch later to locally make more) - a living room the same - but one in each corner of the room - remembering that a switch might be more intrusive. A Dining room - probably 2 - bedrooms maybe one or perhaps two (tink IP phones in the future - streaming media players etc) But bottom line is - run the cables now - more the better, you can terminate them later - but plan WHERE you want them to run to/from.

[speardane]

it would make sense to buy cat 5e cable.

• it can be used up to 1000Mb speeds (unlike cat 5 which only goes to 100Mb)
• it is connected in the same way as cat 5 (see PeterB's ref)
• It isn't as difficult to connect properly as Cat 6

I strongly recommend terminating at the cupboard end in a patch panel. Makes moving things around / upgrading later independent of the wiring. (only about £20 for a 24 way)
We have the builders in now too and (second time around) I am now doing this.

[peterb]

it would make sense to buy cat 5e cable.

• it can be used up to 1000Mb speeds (unlike cat 5 which only goes to 100Mb)
• it is connected in the same way as cat 5 (see PeterB's ref)
• It isn't as difficult to connect properly as Cat 6

I strongly recommend terminating at the cupboard end in a patch panel. Makes moving things around / upgrading later independent of the wiring. (only about £20 for a 24 way)
We have the builders in now too and (second time around) I am now doing this.

Oh yes - absolutely - I was a bit loose with my terminology using cat5 and cat5e interchangeably - they are similar, but cat5e is built to a tighter specification which makes it more reliable at higher speeds. But yes - use cat 5e. And when you install, untwist as little of the cable before the termination point as possible. If you get a professional punch down tool, they cut the cable ends off, so you can untwist a couple of inches, place them in the idc connector with as much twist up the termination point, then punch down and it cuts the end off neatly. (Iirc the recommendation is no more than 5mm of untwisted cable) Not quite so important for 100Mb networks, more critical if you intend going to Gb at some point - and you only want to do this once! And you will find that the first few seem a bit tricky to get neat and tidy, but as with most things, it gets easier with practice.

[M0nkeyb0Y]

Thanks - will attempt this next week and post pictures etc in case another noob comes a-looking this way!

[SuicidaL]

one thing that often gets overlooked, mark and identify the cables at your main point ie spare room/offce. it's only a minor thing but in the event of any problems - an easily identifiable cable is easier to work with than one that isn't.

[CrazyMonkey]

one thing that often gets overlooked, mark and identify the cables at your main point ie spare room/offce. it's only a minor thing but in the event of any problems - an easily identifiable cable is easier to work with than one that isn't.

Ditto.... I have colour co-ordinated my cat5e wires, makes tracing them back from the router easier.
Just be as professional as you can be, plan as carefully as you can. I did a mockup on pc/paper before i started anything.

Anyway, good luck with all that. Remember more is better and in the future higher speed networks will be a big plus, so get the best you can!

[monkeyville]

I would seriously recommend running all the cables through plastic tubing especially if its going under flooring or through walls! An extra £50 now is nothing compared to a mouse eating through your cables. I speak from experience. Plus it means upgrades or additions are loads easier