How to build a network

TopBanana · 17 Mar 2012

I'm involved in a project with my church where we're renovating an old building (a big old pub). As part of this we want to put in wired ethernet connection in ever room.
We've obviously got experts involved but I was wondering if anyone could give me a brief explanation of how a network would be wired up? Do each of the ethernet ports get individually connected back to a main switch, or do you use a ring arrangement (or something else)? And then at the switch would you connect a router or modem or something to connect to the external internet?

Do you need anything else to make it work? Am I right in thinking that we need a server (like a windows home server box) which organises the network? But a printer could be plugged in to any location on the network?

Is there anything else we need? Does anyone know of any guides to building a network (both hardware and software parts) please?
Thanks
Tim

neil_g · 17 Mar 2012

"rings" as in token ring have been obsolete for years, theyre slow and unreliable.

you want cat5 sockets teminating back to a patch panel which would then link to a switch (the router would plug into the switch).

you dont "need" a server, the router can handle DHCP (giving out IP addresses) and DNS (computer/website domain lookups). network printers can be plugged in wherever and installed locally on each machine.

i would get a small 19" rack cabinet to house the patch panel, switch and router also.

neil_g · 17 Mar 2012

so basically at the computer/printer stations youd have wall sockets:

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/Products/size_3/CM2181.JPG

youd then need to run cat5 or cat6 (doesnt matter which really) which is 4 pairs of cable which punch down into the slots of the wall sockets:

http://store.yourdigitalhome.co.uk/user/products/cat5-stranded-small.jpg

and into the patch panel (available in 24, 48 etc depending how many sockets you need)at your network equipment end in your cabinet:

http://www.hyperline.com/img/sharedimg/patch-panels/pp-19-48-c2.jpg
http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00zMjQOTJrEScV/19-Network-Cabinet-6U-.jpg

where your switch would be, which again will depend how many connections you need, rack mount switches are available your router could also live in here so maybe locate the patch panel near to the asdsl telephone socket.

does that make sense?

arad85 · 17 Mar 2012

If I were putting in new sockets, I'd probably wire with Cat6. If that's too expensive, cat5e is the way to go (cat5 is a different and potentially slower standard).

Agree with Neil about the 19" rack and put in a switch that has enough connections plus a few spare (you ALWAYS need extra connections!). If you have any weird routing requirements (for example to create 2 virtual networks that are completely separate from each other even although you use the same big router) you may want to invest in a managed router or possibly a smart router. This is a router with a software interface (typically web based) you can use to configure it. If you just want a bunch of network ports an unmanaged one will do. You might find some FAQs helpful here: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/basics/lanwan-basics

Printer - assuming it's a network printer, yes, you just plug it in. I think it will need a fixed IP address though (but that's easy to do!)

neil_g · 17 Mar 2012

arad85 said:
If I were putting in new sockets, I'd probably wire with Cat6. If that's too expensive, cat5e is the way to go (cat5 is a different and potentially slower standard).

possibly true but cat5 is good enough for current standards of 1gb (which incidentally is the speed of switch id suggest)

but thats another debate

Agree with Neil about the 19" rack and put in a switch that has enough connections plus a few spare (you ALWAYS need extra connections!).

agreed, always cable in more connections than required initially.

Printer - assuming it's a network printer, yes, you just plug it in. I think it will need a fixed IP address though (but that's easy to do!)

depending on the router i would if possible give it a reservation or have a small section of the subnet outside of the DHCP scope for things like printers etc.

neil_g · 17 Mar 2012

for further illustration heres one i made earlier..

this is from a small site needing fewer than 10 connections.

so at the top you have your patch panel, which you can just see in the back of the cabinet the cat5 or 6 cable runs back to from the wall plates. always make sure the wall plates are numbered according to the corresponding number on the patch, makes things so much easier lol

from there the cat5 cables (in this case which are too long, hence theyre coiled, remember to buy short cat5 for patching..) patch from the panel into the blue netgear switch to provide network connectivity.

the grey router just in shot then just plugs into the switch giving all attache devices network addresses and internet.

(ignore the red box in this example, thats just a firewall/vpn tunnel)

oh and make sure you have power near the cabinet.

TopBanana · 17 Mar 2012

Wow, thanks for the incredibly detailed responses (and the pictures which of course are worth 1000 words each!).

What is the reason for the patch panel? Could you just have the cable from each wall plate going back to the switch?

Does the router need to be anything fancy or would a proprietary BT Homehub type router work? There will only be a probably 5 people max using the network at any one time so traffic isn't a big issue.

And would the building need a hardware firewall (like the one in your photo Neil), or can each PC just rely on the inbuilt Windows one?

TopBanana · 17 Mar 2012

arad85 said:
You might find some FAQs helpful here: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/basics/lanwan-basics

Thanks for the link, I'll start to have a look through - it seems packed with info.

neil_g · 17 Mar 2012

TopBanana said:
Wow, thanks for the incredibly detailed responses (and the pictures which of course are worth 1000 words each!).

What is the reason for the patch panel? Could you just have the cable from each wall plate going back to the switch?

the patch panel makes it a bit tidier, you could have cat5 plugs on the end of each cable but theyre going to be dangling around if not in use etc. patch panels are about £10 from the classifieds section (cough)

Does the router need to be anything fancy or would a proprietary BT Homehub type router work? There will only be a probably 5 people max using the network at any one time so traffic isn't a big issue.

not really, any router should do. you may need to extend the DHCP range in the settings but it should work fine.

And would the building need a hardware firewall (like the one in your photo Neil), or can each PC just rely on the inbuilt Windows one?

the firewall in this case was just used to restrict internet traffic at the site and create a VPN tunnel. the routers in built firewall should be adequate in most instances.

hope that helps

hunnymonster · 17 Mar 2012

neil_g said:
possibly true but cat5 is good enough for current standards of 1gb (which incidentally is the speed of switch id suggest) but thats another debate .

Cometh the day that you exceed the spec of the Cat5, you'll wish you'd cabled with Cat6... putting in Cat6 now might cost you 10% more compared to Cat5/5e but it might hold off the need for upgrade later. (Been there done that with close on 1000 outlets wired in Cat3 at the behest of my boss rather than the "all new, all singing, all dancing" Cat5 as it then was.)

neil_g · 17 Mar 2012

hunnymonster said:
Cometh the day that you exceed the spec of the Cat5, you'll wish you'd cabled with Cat6... putting in Cat6 now might cost you 10% more compared to Cat5/5e but it might hold off the need for upgrade later. (Been there done that with close on 1000 outlets wired in Cat3 at the behest of my boss rather than the "all new, all singing, all dancing" Cat5 as it then was.)

Both will handle gigabit Ethernet which is all 99.9% of people will need for many years. In my opinion cat5e is perfectly adequate and cheaper.

Unless you're going to start thinking of rolling 10gbps to the desktop.

arad85 · 17 Mar 2012

neil_g said:
Both will handle gigabit Ethernet which is all 99.9% of people will need for many years. In my opinion cat5e is perfectly adequate and cheaper.

You should put in cat5e or cat6. Whilst this page is a very technical one, it does show the differences between 5/5e and 6.

AndyB1976 · 17 Mar 2012

TopBanana said:
Wow, thanks for the incredibly detailed responses (and the pictures which of course are worth 1000 words each!).

What is the reason for the patch panel? Could you just have the cable from each wall plate going back to the switch?

Depending on the number of users and budget, you can put wall sockets in place of the patch panel, cabinet and space to put it.

In small operations, say a couple of users and printers, we would just wire in 3-4 double sockets, side by side terminating at the 'comms room' area.

Tulipone · 18 Mar 2012

hunnymonster said:
Cometh the day that you exceed the spec of the Cat5, you'll wish you'd cabled with Cat6... putting in Cat6 now might cost you 10% more compared to Cat5/5e but it might hold off the need for upgrade later. (Been there done that with close on 1000 outlets wired in Cat3 at the behest of my boss rather than the "all new, all singing, all dancing" Cat5 as it then was.)

I kind of disagree with this. In my opinion it is the view of an ineffective Project Manager.

Properly understand what you need for the task you are doing and meet or (possibly slightly) exceed the spec. Over engineering a solution is expensive and pointless. By the time you need a refresh new tech may be available anyway.

hunnymonster · 18 Mar 2012

The whole point of Cat6 over Cat5/5e though is that you put off that day a little further for very little outlay - the difference is the cost of the Cat6 cable versus the Cat5/5e cable - labour to install is the same.

Not counting the costs involved in disruption further down the line, never mind the second lot of labour costs.

onomatopoeia · 19 Mar 2012

neil_g said:
for further illustration heres one i made earlier..

My boiler cupboard at home will be looking like that soon, have only put in the cat5e from one bedroom so far and will have a NAS sat next to the router, switch and hardware firewall, but very similar in principle.

What's plugged into no.3 on the patch panel?

neil_g · 19 Mar 2012

a mod tap (pbx master) BT to cat5 adapter allowing voice to be patched through

TopBanana · 19 Mar 2012

We have those at work for our phone systems.

Speaking of which, we plan on having a phone connection point next to each ethernet port (on the wall plates). Any ideas how phones are wired for a building? Are we best of running it over cat5 as well?

neil_g · 19 Mar 2012

TopBanana said:
We have those at work for our phone systems.

Speaking of which, we plan on having a phone connection point next to each ethernet port (on the wall plates). Any ideas how phones are wired for a building? Are we best of running it over cat5 as well?

you mean existing cable wise? or for new connections?

id use cat5/6 and pbx masters and have the sockets (if being newly installed) near the cab.

TopBanana · 19 Mar 2012

Everything is new, the building is gutted at the moment but we want to put phone connections in all the rooms which will be used as offices. I think we'll probably need a PBX system (number of external connections/lines we need is still up for debate), but I'm wondering whether a VOIP PBX system would be better? If it was a standard (non-VOIP) system would you still cable it using cat5/6 or would you use el cheapo telephone cable?

DemiLion · 19 Mar 2012

neil_g said:
id use cat5/6 and pbx masters and have the sockets (if being newly installed) near the cab.

+1, which incidentally is another good argument for a patch panel rather than a bunch of Cat(to be decided) cables; ie you can colour code the patch cables.

neil_g · 19 Mar 2012

TopBanana said:
Everything is new, the building is gutted at the moment but we want to put phone connections in all the rooms which will be used as offices. I think we'll probably need a PBX system (number of external connections/lines we need is still up for debate), but I'm wondering whether a VOIP PBX system would be better? If it was a standard (non-VOIP) system would you still cable it using cat5/6 or would you use el cheapo telephone cable?

in which case id have the sockets installed near the network cabinet and use the PBX masters (one at each end, one at the patch panel and one at wall socket) to patch them out to wherever you want them over cat5/6.

doesnt have to be VOIP, PBX is for normal voice connections.

onomatopoeia · 19 Mar 2012

neil_g said:
a mod tap (pbx master) BT to cat5 adapter allowing voice to be patched through

Aha, many thanks

. Had never heard of them (voice telephony is completely not my thing), going to buy a pack of them and add them to the household wiring as I do it.

TopBanana · 21 Mar 2012

Thanks for all the advice, I think I've got my head round how everything will fit together now. Three cheers for the TP computer gurus.