Overhaul home network
Hello -- I am considering a major overhaul of my home network but wanted to ask advice. A quick background
My house is wired with cat 5, terminated to my garage to a levitron box on the wall. From there I put in a small, 8 port punch down block hanging loose. I punched down my cables and connected up my 10/100 router. I am now out of ports on the router (cant activate anymore ports in the house).
With all this I was thinking about changing out the levitron box for something that I could mount a 12 or 24 port patch panel and rackmountable switch.
maybe something like this:
http://www.get-sett.com/wall-and-desktop-cabinets/5u-tall-slim-line-cabinet
with this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002TPFTA/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
and a punch down block
Is this overkill? I could just buy an 8 port switch to solve my problem too...
My house is wired with cat 5, terminated to my garage to a levitron box on the wall. From there I put in a small, 8 port punch down block hanging loose. I punched down my cables and connected up my 10/100 router. I am now out of ports on the router (cant activate anymore ports in the house).
With all this I was thinking about changing out the levitron box for something that I could mount a 12 or 24 port patch panel and rackmountable switch.
maybe something like this:
http://www.get-sett.com/wall-and-desktop-cabinets/5u-tall-slim-line-cabinet
with this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002TPFTA/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
and a punch down block
Is this overkill? I could just buy an 8 port switch to solve my problem too...
0
Comments
First comment: If your main router is 10/100 based, there is no need to buy a 10/100/1000 switch as you will not get 1000 speed. Of course, if you plan a future upgrade and your ISP supports the speed, your switch choice may be appropriate.
Second comment: Do you really need the 24 port capacity switch in your link? I use a 16 port and it is way more than I need. Spending more $$ than necessary? Your call.
Third comment: This is just personal preference. I use Zonet products as you can see from my links. They have been the best bang for the buck and reliable, at least for me anyway. Note: My hyperlinks don't show where I purchased, NewEgg, but rather where those products are currently available.
4th comment: Whether you buy your listed switch or one like mine, I see no need for the wall cabinet you listed. These switches are already fully enclosed and don't really need to be in a cabinet unless you are a neat-freak. (I'm obviously not.) The main thing is to secure the cabling away from the roaming hands of children or pet rabbits and the like. If you don't have 2 or 4-legged critters at your house, a cabinet is unnecessary IMHO.
5th comment: Give some thought to power management to your systems. Mine are in a basement and upper level. I use discrete surge protectors for most.
6th comment: As with number 5, give some thought to patch cable routing. I went through the floor rather than the wall.
7th comment: Adarryl talks too much.
Good luck with your choices!
There is internal network bandwidth to consider as well. A media server, a file server, connection between computers saturate the 100 Mbps bandwidth easily. Even a single healthy 802.11n connection from a wireless client can easily saturate 100 Mbps Ethernet. Consider two or three of those clients are hammering the media/file server, a 1000 Mbps switch will help tremendously.
Since my house is pre-wired the drops all come back to the garage where they ahve to be punched down to something - right now a little 8 port block I got for free. Since the cables just come out of the wall there I dont want to leave them hanging by the punch down block. Today the are attached to a block which is at least inside a levitron box - but i have nothing mounted in the box.
A 16 port would be sufficent. The cables in the house are 5e - technically not gigabit but I hope to get it to work.
http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-47603-C5-CAT-5-Board/dp/B00022742I/ref=pd_sim_hi_7
and this
http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-47612-EBK-Expansion-Plastic-Bracket/dp/B0007N722E/ref=pd_sim_hi_6
to mount enough punch down blocks in the box itself. I'd stil lhave to figure out how to mount a switch inside the levitron box or start mounting things to the wall outside the box.