[SOLVED] Advice For Home Structured Media Enclosure / Server Closet

[Pyneappel]

In the process of finishing a basement of a 3-year old home. House doesn't currently have much media wiring, but the currently unfinished basement makes fishing wires to most places of the finished space relatively easy. There will be a 6ft x 10ft server closet and in that room I've asked them to put in low voltage structured media enclosure.

I probably don't need a server closet, but I don't really like computer fan noise, so I'd like to keep them in a separate room. My background is mainly software development, but I'll get a small 42-inch rack and build a rack mount NAS and experiment with some other rack hardware. I'm not mining bitcoin or chia. The house doesn't have or need a fancy security system, but I do have a wifi-connected doorbell and a few cameras. I don't foresee needing to have them hard-wired.

I've asked the electrician to run two separate cat6e cables and one RG6 coax to 8 wall plates around the house. This will give me 16 wires coming into the SMC. Fiber was also recently added to the neighborhood, so the wire for that will also come into the SMC and I guess the ONT would be mounted there. Finally the coax in from the cable company I assume would also be routed through the SMC.



My questions are;

1 Does anyone care about RJ11 and/or POTS these days? There is only one phone jack in the house and I don't think it is even connected outside.

2 Is here any other wiring I should consider running while the walls are open? Or anything in general that should be thought about/checked/verified re infrastructure in regards to an SMC or server closet? EG, I think I asked him to run the wires from where they come in from the outside to the SMC through a conduit, but I'm not sure he did that. (I'm aware I need to consider A/C and protect against water damage. The outlets are raised about 4 ft off the floor).

3 What should I expect in the SMC re the networking connections? Will there be some sort of patch panel with jacks labeled from each room in the house that I would then need to run 16 cables (along with cables from the ONT and WiFi Router) into a switch that may be small enough to be mounted in the SMC but more likely will need to be mounted externally? Or do the wires from the house terminate in some other way?

4 What does power to the SMC usually look like? Does he electrician mount a 1 or 2-outlet plug on the exterior of the SMC and then I plug in a power strip if I need additional power for things in the SMC?



Thanks.

 

[bill001g]

First there is no such thing as cat6e. You want to run cat6a if you want cable rated for 10gbit. If there is a cost issue then run cat5e which is rated to 1gbit. There really is no reason to run any other form of cables. The key thing is be sure the cable is 100% copper and has wire size 22-24.

RJ11 is not used much, and although it hard to remove you can plug a rj11 plug into a rj45 jack and the center wires will match up and functio

The best option is always to run conduit that way it is trivial to replace wires if they become outdated or run extras if your needs change.

In most cases they terminate all the wires into some form of patch panel and then you use short commercial patch cable to connect to a switch.

Power all depends on how much power you think this needs. If it is a lot then the electritian will install a dedicated circuit to avoid tripping circuit breakers. In most cases it is just like any other wall outlet, details of how it is installed would be dependent on building code restrictions in some cases.
Most people who are putting in servers and network equipment also put in UPS. So the power goes from the wall to the UPS and then all your equipment plugs into the UPS or power strips plugged into the UPS. Details of how you do the cabling is mostly a personal preference, some people are very picky about the appearance of the cables.

 

[Pyneappel]

You want to run cat6a if you want cable rated for 10gbit.

The cable they ran appears to just say CAT 6 on it. The longest run is probably only 15 meters. I am hoping to support 10G.

In most cases they terminate all the wires into some form of patch panel and then you use short commercial patch cable to connect to a switch.

Thanks.

Most people who are putting in servers and network equipment also put in UPS.

Sure, got it. I will have a UPS. I do want the SMC installed nicely though for a future owner who just wants a smart home and isn't running a server rack and stuff.

 

[Ralston18]

Document everything. Take photos before the walls etc. are closed up.

How many electrical outlets are to be installed in the SMC? Will the outlets all be on an existing circuit, a new circuit, or some combination thereof? Plan room for growth.

Do you expect heat to be an issue? Closets can get very warm quite quickly and the electronics therein will suffer.

Map out the cable runs: Do your own sketch, mark up a copy of the home/basement floor plans.

Ensure that all wires, jacks, etc. are permanently marked on both ends.

Have the electrician leave a service loop of cable at both ends of each run. That is a couple of extra feet or so, free inside the wall, so it can be easily pulled out if a new termination is needed.

Test and verify that all cable runs are correctly terminated and functional. ( Do so before final payment is made).

Unless the electrician is already knowledgeable about installing network cabling correctly the end project may end up being more like electrical wire installations or telephone wire installations. Perhaps no initial problems but over time things start going astray. Not good when the problem is hidden in a wall somewhere.

Lastly:

"Fiber was also recently added to the neighborhood, so the wire for that will also come into the SMC and I guess the ONT would be mounted there. Finally the coax in from the cable company I assume would also be routed through the SMC. "

I recommend that you get the applicable ISP's to verify where they will terminate their run to your house and where their equipment will be installed. Some companies just go to the closest point and any further is on you.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[kanewolf]

I would not recommend a SMC if you are serious. They are OK for casual users. Just assume that you will use a standard 19 inch rack for your equipment.
SMCs are too shallow to be useful for most serious gear.
You could terminate your cables in one, but the equipment connecting it all won't fit.

 

[Pyneappel]

I would not recommend a SMC if you are serious.
You could terminate your cables in one, but the equipment connecting it all won't fit.

Understood. that is basically the plan.

 

[Pyneappel]

Ensure that all wires, jacks, etc. are permanently marked on both ends.

I don't think any of the runs are currently marked. Is there a simple device that will help me detect which port in the patch panel is connected to which jack in the house?

Have the electrician leave a service loop of cable at both ends of each run. That is a couple of extra feet or so, free inside the wall, so it can be easily pulled out if a new termination is needed.

Got it.

Unless the electrician is already knowledgeable about installing network cabling [...] no initial problems but over time things start going astray.

His eyes didn't glaze over completely when I mentioned I wanted some home networking, but I'm sure it's not something he does a lot. I assume he'll punch the wires into the jacks. Is there anything I should watch out for with that? Should I request he use a particular pattern like T568A? I see there are standard and pass-through ends for making cables; is there anything like that for jacks? Is there a style that ensures a better connection?

Just my thoughts on the matter.

All great advice. Thank you.[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

 

[Ralston18]

To identify paths for any given cable run you can use a multi-meter or a simple tool designed for that purpose.

For instance

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Lan-Scout-Jr-Cable-Tester-VDV526-200/316914005

Unfortunately, many such tools only confirm connectivity and not the quality of the connection per se.

As for punch downs - 568B has always seemed to be the preferred choice when I was involved. Key is consistency and the quality of the work itself.

Cabling can be solid or stranded. The correct terminator (plug) must be used.

Just do a bit of research. For example:

https://lazyadmin.nl/home-network/home-ethernet-wiring/

https://community.fs.com/blog/how-to-get-a-wired-home-network-with-ethernet-cable.html

After reading a few such tutorials, etc. you will likely have a sense of what all is involved.

Check your local codes - depending on where you live any electrical work may need to be inspected before the walls are closed in.

Likewise for telephone, audio, video, and networking installations. Depends on the local codes for low voltage circuits.

I will grant the electrician the benefit of the doubt. Basically the work is straight forward and he may mean well.

Electrical runs can be routed and securely stapled in and be quite okay. Networking/telephone cabling is less forgiving if over done.

The devil is in the details......

 

[Pyneappel]

Electrical runs can be routed and securely stapled in and be quite okay. Networking/telephone cabling is less forgiving if over done.

What separation should there be between the network cable and electrical wires? There are places where he has mounted the electrical box on one side of a stud and the network box on the other.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/iuQojTed4qU4mdZHA
I also noticed one place in the ceiling where the network cable is right next to the electric wire;
https://photos.app.goo.gl/uiYYiSeSKRaAh7Z79

 

[kanewolf]

What separation should there be between the network cable and electrical wires? There are places where he has mounted the electrical box on one side of a stud and the network box on the other.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/iuQojTed4qU4mdZHA
I also noticed one place in the ceiling where the network cable is right next to the electric wire;
https://photos.app.goo.gl/uiYYiSeSKRaAh7Z79

The first picture I would wonder what the purpose is. There is no cable to connect to. Maybe that installed pulls the cable through, thinking that it is safer and they can then pull the ends back. I don't know.
The second picture bothers me because they used electrical wire staples and it looks like they over hammered them. That is not the correct method, IMO, for mounting low voltage cable.

 

[bill001g]

Mostly they want electrical wires separated from power for safety reasons. On the other side of stud is more than good enough both for safety and any interference.

The tiny bit in parrel also will not hurt. Normal electrical power does not cause interference with ethernet. It is more something that causes large surge in the electrical. If you would for example plug a welder into the electrical wire and had ethernet running next to that it might cause a issue.

We used to have massive amount of power cables and ethernet running next to each other in the back of server racks. You have massive number of cables when there are 20+ servers each with 2 power supplies and at least 3 ethernet connections. It was hard to even get all the cables installed some times. We never had interference issues and there were many hundreds of racks cabled like that.

The only time I have see power cause interference was when someone ran a ethernet cable though a ceiling light fixture. The ballast for the light caused all kinds of issues. It is completely against electrical codes to run low voltage like that anyway.

 

[Pyneappel]

The first picture I would wonder what the purpose is. There is no cable to connect to. Maybe that installed pulls the cable through, thinking that it is safer and they can then pull the ends back.

I assumed that was the case. There is a 2-ft service loop coming out the bottom of the boxes and loosely attached to the stud. I assumed that was to keep it safe during drywalling since it is more wire than can be tucked into the box.

The second picture bothers me because they used electrical wire staples and it looks like they over hammered them. That is not the correct method, IMO, for mounting low voltage cable.

For the places where they ran two ethernet cables--down a stud or along a joist--yes, they have stapled it similar to the electrical wire about every 3-4 feet. For bundles of cables along joists before they fan out to just two they have used plastic cable ties and larger diameter cable clamps.

 

[Ralston18]

@Pyneappel

I noticed the staples as well and had much the same reaction as @kanewolf.

Curious: What is printed along the lengths of the blue and black wires being shown?

Verify: the two blue cables going through the outlet box and out the bottom and curving left actually end in two seperate loops that are stapled to a stud. Note: I would not count on the drywall installers popping those staples off.....

And no dry wall installation is permitted until the electrical connections and other wiring has been inspected and approved: correct? Check your local codes.

Also read the following example/reference links and peruse a few other similar installation websites to get a broader sense of what all in involved.

https://stevessmarthomeguide.com/wiring-home-network/

https://levelup.gitconnected.com/networking-your-home-ethernet-1dc94cdf6c1e

(I am not going to promote or endorse any specific link. As you read and learn you will probably be able to raise your own questions within the bigger picture that you know.)

I suggest taking a few more photos. Do so: 1) to post here, and 2) to document what is being done.

More eyes needed I think.

 

[Pyneappel]

Curious: What is printed along the lengths of the blue and black wires being shown?

The black wire is RG6 coax;
https://photos.app.goo.gl/uTbkTQHoSDmKtTCE9
I'm honestly not sure if I will need or use that, but since he was running cable I did ask for it to be run from the media panel location to each network locations where there might also be a TV. I do have a question about that, but this probably isn't the correct forum.

It is hard to get a picture of the printing on the network cable;
https://photos.app.goo.gl/eCVtENT2swVt4f2j9
but it does sat CAT 6 and 23 AWG.

 

[Ralston18]

Photographs are clear enough to see.

I do not have any immediate concerns about either of the cables per se. If the cables meet local codes and were purchased from a reliable source (lots of fake cable out there - especially Ethernet) then the cables are probably okay.

For wall outlets you expect to have something like the following product installed - correct?

Wall Jack (two Ethernet ports, one Coax)

Likely any issues will be with 1) wall jacks and 2) the terminations therein. It is a must that the installer conducts full tests that go beyond just connectivity. Poor installations and terminations will degrade performance.

Keep watching, reading, photographing etc.. You are your own best advocate. Even well-meaning installers can go astray.

As for "correct forum" If you have other concerns, feel free to post here accordingly.

And continue to post photographs as you deem applicable and appropriate. Someone may offer other comments and suggestions.

Or catch some error of omission or commission on my part. I have no problems with that.

 

[Pyneappel]

For wall outlets you expect to have something like the following product installed - correct?

Wall Jack (two Ethernet ports, one Coax)

Yup.

As for "correct forum" If you have other concerns, feel free to post here accordingly.

I'm personally not a big A/V person, but would like the house to support more of that than it currently does. Also, I do foresee myself switching back and forth between fiber and cable internet as each ratchets up the prices for existing customers after a year or two.

Currently the cable service that comes into the house was done at time of construction 3 years ago. It has a splitter in the box outside as shown;
https://photos.app.goo.gl/rngMXWGzPa2S9EAx6
These go in near the basement ceiling and go up to the first floor; the living room TV is above and relatively close to where those cables enter, the other location is a master bedroom and that cable runs across the ceiling of the first floor and down the wall. That's maybe a total run of 50 ft. and definitely was the simplest and best thing to do at the time rather than running it through the basement ceiling joists. Now for this new project, they pulled the two ethernet cables from the media panel area up to these two wall jack locations through the floor, but they didn't pull a coax to replace that existing coax.

So, right now I sort of have two separate sets of coax cables; one for the first floor connected to outside through a splitter and one for the basement not connected to outside as home runs to the media panel location.

I'm not sure of the best way to connect and/or re-wire these. Should I try to get them to remove the splitter, run a single cable to the media panel, run new coax to the two first floor locations? If so, how does that work in the media panel re splitters or patch panels or what not? Can you have one signal from outside go to 3 or 4 jacks in the house or do you need some sort of signal amplifier or something? OR, if a 3-way splitter is a thing, perhaps they replace the 2-way splitter outside with a 3-way splitter, leave the cables for the first floor as they are, and run this third cable over to the media panel that could then direct that signal to one of the four locations in the basement through a coax patch panel?

How is coax usually handled in one of these structured media enclosures or whole house low voltage wiring projects? If it matters my first concern would be a cable modem located in the server room, my second concern would be cable tv. I'm not as concerned right now about coax that might be related to a sat dish or OTA antenna, nor am I concerned about using coax for CCTV.

Someone may offer other comments and suggestions. Or catch some error of omission or commission on my part.

Your replies have been very helpful. I've come across some videos on a small YT channel named AVDreamer that seem to show a good install. For better or worse I thought it was better to go with the electrician the GC was most comfortable with than trying to seek out one who might sub-specialize in low voltage wiring, both because I wasn't sure how to find or interview one, nor was I aware the work might be different from and might require a bit more care than AC electrical wiring.

 

[bill001g]

In most cases you can just have everything patched together with splitters and it has no issues. If the cable signal coming into the house is marginal then the extra splitters might reduce it too much but in general the modern splitters are hard to even see the db loss without special equipment. In general you would want to
disconnect anything from the splitters you were not actually using but again most times this makes no difference.

It is always nice to have the modem in the cabinet with everything else but if you really run into a issue doing this you can put the modem/router in any room and then use the ethernet cables to feed the signal back to the central closet. You just have a very long cable going between the router and the switch rather than a short one.
Some people intentionally do it this way because putting a wifi router in a media closet tends to not have the optimum coverage. If you can put the router in a more central room and you can avoid doing things like putting in AP connected to the ethernet cables to solve the wifi coverage issues.
This is also what people do when a fiber ISP does not want to run the fiber to media closet and just goes into the wall of the nearest room to outside.

I have never figure that crap out where to get the best prices you hop back and forth between the ISP. You would think they know people do that, and after the initial install you can just install the equipment yourself so it not like you have to take a day off work to swap.