Some great suggestions and encouragement from everyone!
I'm definitely going with a patch panel. I just have to hunt one down. And, I'll need to take a look at the local telco suppliers, too, so I can see what they carry. (The businesses that sell all the cool stuffs to the smaller telco guys. Gotta be one around here, somewhere.)
euclid - "Drilled holes through walls.."
That's an issue, here. Everything is plaster and lathe. I've never dealt with plaster and lathe... It's a new animal to me. Luckily, I have easy access to floor and ceiling for where I need to go. But, still, it's plaster and lathe and I'm "lost" there. Need to watch some youtube stuffs on how to deal with that effectively.
pjknibbs -
"The only decision to really make is where you want the networking patch panel to be, because I'm guessing the basement is out?"
The basement is "in." The actual amount of water wasn't too bad. But, because it was a fully finished basement, fully carpeted, the water wicked everywhere. I just finished with the repair/prevention plan, today, but the contractors won't be able to start for another three months. Lots of homes were hard-hit due to terrible rains last month.
I have a sort of connection room, already, where everything is centrally located. Power/alarm/utilities, and that room is secure from water issues, so it's a logical place for a patch panel.
korio - "
Place in each power outlet of the house 1 or 2 RJ45. "
That's what I'm considering, at least for all the rooms where it would be useful. But, there are a couple of issues:
1) I really need to get the house "load balanced" in terms of power. The house was built quite awhile ago and they didn't have high-draw computers, entertainment centers with five different power connections, etc.. So, some rooms, in my opinion, have more of a load at the panel than they should. I need a new circuit breaker panel, too, in my opinion. (The one I have is an antique. Not "fuse-style" but darn old.) Not a terribly big job, but just annoying. The other issue is that all the outlets on one floor need to be replaced, anyway, because they're old ungrounded outlets. (I think half the outlet covers are "Bakelite.") So, that's an issue to be addressed. Time to call some electricians, 'cause I don't play with electricity.
2) I want more coax connections than I have, currently. So, I will definitely be using the opportunity to combine a coax/rj-45 combo plug in a number of rooms. But... I need to tackle the "Coax Problem" every ISP whines about - Splitting connections from the main feed. And, that central nest will be part of the patch panel area, too. I have no way to control signal strength from the main line, so I need to figure out how or even if I can boost or scrub signal quality from the main coax feed coming in so I can split it to my heart's content.
I "might" get the ISP to finalize all the connections. They will "eyeball" and even fix panel connections for free, so there is that to consider. (They'll also pull wire if needed, at a cost.)
By locating the coax at the patch panel, I can isolate all the connections and at least ensure signal strength for the network, but every connection added to an unmanaged coax draws signal strength and can introduce interference.
Anyone have any tips on a "good" coax run, something more than just "add splitters everywhere and pray." Anyone know of anything out there to manage coax signals for scrubbing/boosting that won't piss off the ISP?
apogee - "
i would recomend wiring as its certainly speeded things up, when compared to when i just used wifi."
I run everything wired except, on occasion, my laptop used for typing far too much junk on internetz forums and viewing stupid cat vids.
I, of course, want to use the wifi capability, but just won't be depending upon it for networking.
jlehtone - "
If you have option/room for a rack for patch panels and devices, then go for it...The ER-poe5 is very configurable. I have it resolve (completely unofficial) DNS names for every device and hand out static addresses via DHCP. Ubiquiti has now wider selection of routers to choose from, and I would have opted for managed (PoE) switch too, if I had space. VLAN's, etc.
I have room for a patch panel and the like, but I don't think I'd put a rack there. That is an issue that, if I went with a rackmount render farm, I'd need to do some head-scratching on where to put it and how to allocate power properly. Cooling, for either the panel or any other system, isn't an issue.
On the PoE switch - I haven't ever used PoE so am unfamliar with it. I'll read up on it a bit. But, a full-fledge switch is what I'm looking at. I certainly want to isolate networks, using one for only comm for rendering, since that will get large bursts of traffic.
The PoE suggestion gives rise to another possibility - Home security. I have a great security system, but I could use some exterior cameras. Why? Why not? PoE makes camera installs easy, one assumes. (There's also a big field that accumulates wildlife throughout the day, mostly deer, some foxes, coyotes have been sighted, which is not good. Bear are in the area, but don't usually make it here. Might be relaxing to watch the deer graze, from time to time.)
BTW, my ISP modem/router/stuff combo is supposed to be "top of the line" but as far as management features go, it sucks. That is to be expected. That thing will be going back to the ISP, but I have to check their list of supported mfr/model/bios to see what I can use that they can flash/support.
CBJ -
When I bought my house it needed some rewiring work done, so I asked the electrician whether he could install network cabling at the same time.
This might be a "gold" comment.
I need to rebalance loads and replace outlets, anyway. So, while they're there... Everyone hates pulling wire, though. BUT, they're going to have to pull ground, I bet, and if they're pulling that, they can darn well attach a network cable to the fish at the same time, methinks... Great suggestion and I will include that in my talks with electricians! (You may have saved me some sweat! Treat yourself to one free Mjolnir on me!)
* A note on this: The house is an older house so it is possible that some of it used outdated codes. In some cases, that means an electrician might have to say "If
I touch this, I have to redo everything to current code specifications." Homeowners, however, are under no such restrictions for existing, internal, stuffs. We'll see how it goes. I don't want to be forced by power codes to rewire the whole house...
mrbadger -
Ethernet over Power Cable is so good now... So I've got to raid a server room next tuesday.
My lines probably suck. They are likely older than I am and probably insulated with asbestos or something... Plus, I don't like the concept and managing it would definitely be unfamiliar. (No idea how that works)
The server room has those things laying around everywhere, cases and cases of them. (I have more than I have use for. Doesn't everyone have that "box full of wires, connectors and adapters" that they keep adding to for no particular reason?
) But, grabbing one of out of a random box is no fun... Take one from whichever light is blinking fastest, 'cause that's obviously the best cable, right? Those guys don't work hard enough, anyway, amiright?
Gotta set down and plan all this stuff. Electrician, hardware considerations (ISP), brush up on PoE, find a local telco supplier (I like frequenting local businesses when I can), and... need to make a list of lists of things to do.
Thanks all! It's an ongoing project in the info-gathering/planning stages, right now. Any comments welcome and I'll report progress or interesting bits. If I burn the house down, expect a brief delay...
