Question New Build - CAT6 Wiring

Remember, you only connect the drain wire at one end, normally the main switch end, otherwise you can create a ground loop.
 
Remember, you only connect the drain wire at one end, normally the main switch end, otherwise you can create a ground loop.
How are pre made cables connected drain wise as there is not normally an indicator is there?
 
At the moment, neither. I was planning on getting 2 10Ge NICs to go in them.

Fair enough guess it depends on price. When looking I found that the SFP+ modules were considerably cheaper and ran cooler for either DAC or fibre vs gbe
 
How are pre made cables connected drain wise as there is not normally an indicator is there?
Premade or patch? Patch are drain at both ends, but should not exceed 5m max. Premade should technically not be used , as structured cable should be terminated into punch down blocks (sockets) not RJ45 plugs. So I cannot comment on how the shielding is made off.
 
Premade or patch? Patch are drain at both ends, but should not exceed 5m max. Premade should technically not be used , as structured cable should be terminated into punch down blocks (sockets) not RJ45 plugs. So I cannot comment on how the shielding is made off.
Meant patch cables and the long ones you can buy.
 
Patch cables are supposed to have the drain wire connected at both ends. Patch cables can only be 5m max in length max (according to the Cat 6 specification) 95m of solid core twisted pair and 5m of stranded patch cable make up the 100m max length.

Although we terminate solid core with RJ45 plugs, in a structured cabling environment it should be terminated in punchdown sockets with patch cables in between the socket and device. Sometimes it is not possible when installing things such as IP cameras, ceiling mounted Access Points etc where we have to terminate to the device end with an RJ45 plug. Again the drain wire should be connected at the switch end as it then has somewhere to 'drain to' (earth). If you connect the drain wire to the device end, you have in effect an aerial. If you connect it at both ends, you can get a ground loop.
I dont use pre-made (non-patch) cables so have never had to deal with the issue of which end the drain wire is connected to.
Its not so critical at 1Gb connections, but when you are pushing 10Gb at 500Mhz these things become far more critical. Hence why fibre is often the choice at these speeds as it is not susceptible to these issues.
 
Thanks @mushii that limit on patch makes sense. Not sure why I used the term pre made cable a long day I guess. Can you even get them? :)

The other thing to mention is not all switches are grounded particularly the home orientated ones so if spelled cables are used then appropriate grounding sound also be used
 
The ones I bought from Amazon are 50m long and pre-terminated patch cables essentially. Serves me right for not doing my research first.

I think the new surface mounted sockets will be much better than putting RJ-45 plugs on them, not only easier to terminate but for the shielding. I'll just be mindful not to connect the drain wire at the garage end of the cables.
 
yes you can get 'pre-made' solid core Cat 6 / Cat 6a cables that are terminated at both ends with RJ45 plugs on Amazon. What I dont know is how the drain wire is terminated on these cables as it is not normally indicated.

Yup a lot of people forget to connect the earth wire on their switches. Most switches have a grounding point but i seldom see them used.
 
The ones I bought from Amazon are 50m long and pre-terminated patch cables essentially. Serves me right for not doing my research first.

I think the new surface mounted sockets will be much better than putting RJ-45 plugs on them, not only easier to terminate but for the shielding. I'll just be mindful not to connect the drain wire at the garage end of the cables.

Would you not be better going for fibre? When I was looking on some of the specs of the SFP+ 10GBASE-T modules they have a 30m limit? I know you said the cables might be shorter but I guess you are going to be approaching that. The modules use more juice especially over longer runs compared to fibre. In some cases some switches advise not to put the 10GBASE-T next to each other due to heat issues.
 
I think that if I was starting from scratch today I would have looked to put a fibre backbone into my property (paralleled with a Copper backbone too). As I currently don't have the need for 10Gbe, I can live with my 2Gbe LAG between my switches as a backbone. Plus none of my current switches support SFP+ Modules so the point is moot.
For me it was more important to have as much of my hardware as possible on Copper than on Wifi, which works well in my domestic environment.
 
The funny thing here is we are starting to lose perspective of reality. Most Small and Medium Size businesses still only have Gigabit at best and many do not have that. I know that Rolls Royce have just re-networked their engineering offices with Fibre to Desk for their design engineers and they are a ÂŁ Multi Billion company and we are talking about 10Gbe in domestic settings. The reality is that for most people for the foreseeable future Gigabit will be more than fast enough. The average broadband speed in the UK is still only 22MBs and Fibre to premises is still a pipedream (if they even know what it is) for 99.9% of the population. We are the 0.01% of the population who look to build domestic networks that exceed the performance of most businesses. Even high-end house builders do not build properties with this level of sophistication.
 
Would you not be better going for fibre? When I was looking on some of the specs of the SFP+ 10GBASE-T modules they have a 30m limit? I know you said the cables might be shorter but I guess you are going to be approaching that. The modules use more juice especially over longer runs compared to fibre. In some cases some switches advise not to put the 10GBASE-T next to each other due to heat issues.

The main fibre links will be between the two switches. I'm 99% certain these will be less than 30m. I may end up going with SFP+ modules. I do want to put fibre in but for now Ethernet is fine. I'm more familiar with Ethernet.

I think that if I was starting from scratch today I would have looked to put a fibre backbone into my property (paralleled with a Copper backbone too). As I currently don't have the need for 10Gbe, I can live with my 2Gbe LAG between my switches as a backbone. Plus none of my current switches support SFP+ Modules so the point is moot.
For me it was more important to have as much of my hardware as possible on Copper than on Wifi, which works well in my domestic environment.

The issue is I'm not starting from scratch. The builder wouldn't allow any sort of cabling to be installed with the build of the house. I was extremely lucky that they put in 2 CAT6 cables for me from the FTTP ingress point to the loft. I still need to run the remaining CAT6 cables to the upstairs

The funny thing here is we are starting to lose perspective of reality. Most Small and Medium Size businesses still only have Gigabit at best and many do not have that. I know that Rolls Royce have just re-networked their engineering offices with Fibre to Desk for their design engineers and they are a ÂŁ Multi Billion company and we are talking about 10Gbe in domestic settings. The reality is that for most people for the foreseeable future Gigabit will be more than fast enough. The average broadband speed in the UK is still only 22MBs and Fibre to premises is still a pipedream (if they even know what it is) for 99.9% of the population. We are the 0.01% of the population who look to build domestic networks that exceed the performance of most businesses. Even high-end house builders do not build properties with this level of sophistication.

Oh I completely agree. I'm a tech nerd with a niche requirement.
 
I bought a 10 year old, 3 storey, 6 bed 3 years ago and retro fitting structured cabling has been the bane of my life ever since. It took me months trying to work out how to get 4 x Cat6 drags to the top floor without knocking too many holes in the house. After 3 -4 months of route finding we manged the whole thing in a single day. I think we did it with 5 or 6 holes in total. Yes I dragged it up the dry liner in many places (which isnt the best) but we got there. My comms cabinet is in my garage on the opposite side of the house to where the cables needed to run. 1 of the cables is redundant, 1 is for a Ubiquiti AP on the top floor landing and 2 are for the LAG to my switch in the Cinema room on the top floor.

I know what retro-wiring is like - painful.
 
I'm luckier than that, being a new build the walls upstairs are stud and therefore hollow. The difficult bit are the downstairs rooms and the garage. I'm luckily that they put the two cables from downstairs to the loft for me. I was able to easily run these to my cabinet in a cupboard off the landing. the living room has a cable running to the FTTP ingress point as well so that's good.
 
Living room was a nightmare. I had to send the wife away for the weekend as I destroyed an entire wall. 8 x Cat 6 drops, 4 HDMI Cables, 3 x Sat cables, 2x Aerials. The irony is that we only really use the TV in there these days.

Sadly FTTP is never going to happen in rural Staffordshire so I am stuck with FTTC only. Fortunately I did find a really nice Openreach engineer who, after taking one look at my comms cab and all of my cabling, in cable tray baskets running around my garage, let me move my BT incomer myself and mount the master-socket where I wanted it, next to my comms cab. He just gave me a new master socket sat and watched me. Then tested it and signed it off. I think that he was an AV nerd too, so was fascinated at what I had done, so was happy to watch and chat.

I think once you guys have been through your pain with your UDM Pros I will make a decision on what I want to do router wise.
 
New surface mounted faceplates have arrived. They look really good and ideal for my needs. Much better than RJ-45 ends. At least I have some spares :)
 
I think that if I was starting from scratch today I would have looked to put a fibre backbone into my property (paralleled with a Copper backbone too). As I currently don't have the need for 10Gbe, I can live with my 2Gbe LAG between my switches as a backbone. Plus none of my current switches support SFP+ Modules so the point is moot.
For me it was more important to have as much of my hardware as possible on Copper than on Wifi, which works well in my domestic environment.

It's funny reading back on an old thread as after our conversation the other day I have decided to do just that, run a fibre backbone in parallel to a copper one.

I've ripped out the cheap 50m CAT6a patch cables I bought as they were junk and I'm pretty sure one of them didn't work. I have the new CAT6a cable and surface mounted faceplates I bought above ready to go in but before I do I'm going to get some fibre to run in as well.

I've been looking at fibre and there's loads of pre-terminated out there and it varies in price a lot!

These patch cables were linked earlier in the thread, seem pretty reasonable. https://smile.amazon.co.uk/10Gtek®-...ts=p_76:419158031&rnid=419157031&rps=1&sr=8-4

It's multimode but I'm not sure whether I should go with multi or single mode fibre?

I've also looked at Cable Monkey and there's is ÂŁ100 more but is specifically rated for external use (although it'll all be in conduit) and there's the option of single and multi-mode. Pre-Terminated Fibre Cable | Custom Fibre Pre-Terms

Or should I get this which is somewhere in-between and rated for external use Ubiquiti FC-SM-200 FiberCable LC - LC 60m Singlemode Fibre Patch Lead/Cable

I've chosen LC connectors as they seem moore common and the Ubiquiti SFP+ modules are all LC but should I consider another connector?
 
I think that LC has taken over from SC as being more popular. For shorter distances Multimode should be fine. I would go for the 10Gtek OM3 LC to LC Duplex Fiber Patch Cable - shorter distances being under 2km
 
I think that LC has taken over from SC as being more popular. For shorter distances Multimode should be fine. I would go for the 10Gtek OM3 LC to LC Duplex Fiber Patch Cable - shorter distances being under 2km

So I don't need to worry about having external grade?
 
Great, I think I've found the switches I am going to buy as well.

Main switch - MikroTik CRS328-24P-4S+RM (Cloud Router Switch) 24-Port Managed Gigabit PoE+ Router/Switch w/ 4 x SFP+ Ports (RouterOS/SwitchOS Level 6, 500W)
Garage Switch - MikroTik CRS305-1G-4S+IN 5-Port Cloud Managed Desktop 10-Gigabit SFP+ Router/Switch w/ 4 x SFP+ Ports & 1 x 1GbE RJ45 Port (RouterOS/SwitchOS Level 5)

The cheapest 10G switch Ubiquiti offer with 4 x SFP+ ports is the XG 6POE which is at least ÂŁ200 more than the 24port Mikrotik. I could get the older 48 port switch with 2 SFP+ ports but it's only a littler cheaper than the Mikrotik crs328 and has two less SFP+ ports.

Ubiquiti don't have anything to match the crs305
 
Microtik make nice stuff but there is about 3 times as much learning as Ubiquiti and the curve is very steep. Not for the faint of heart. It is supposed to be bomb proof though
 

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