First full blown Network question

[-RYknow]

Hey all. My fiance and I have just purchased our first house. :rock: One of my main projects is going to be building my office/mancave, and building a nice home network. Luckily all the bedrooms (and Office room) are on the second floor, so running cable from the attic should be fairly simple.

I plan to use a gigabyte switch, and run cat 6 to each of the bedrooms. I guess my first question is, should I be using shielded cables? Or are unshielded going to be fine?

My next question is for the living room. The living room is on the first floor, so I plan to run a cat6 line down there. I have an HTPC and my 360 that will be needing internet. My question is, can I just run one cat6 line down there, and use a small switch to connect the two devices to the network, or will I need to run more then one cat6 cable down? I plan to stream tv shows and movies off my server to the HTPC (some 1080p movies), so will standard 100mbps be enough? Only reason I say 100mbps, is I already have a decent little switch that I can use, but it's only 10/100.

Thanks for any input.
-RYknow

[pik4chu]

If you are going the route of wiring the whole house then I would go all the way and add 2-3 drops near the TV area. Better to do it all at once and be done with it :)

As for shielding it would depend on two things primarily Id say. first is cost, if shielded isnt much more than non Id probably go with it. Secondly if you are running the cable near a lot of electrical wire (like the cat6 and electrical are touching) then you will want to use shielded.

[arcanise]

shielded is best used near other elctrical sources such as main power lines and other high voltage lines, other than that shielded is used for outdoors since your indoors id say unshielded is fine.
~drunk

[-RYknow]

Ok cool. I'll go with the unshielded, primarily because the electrical comes from the basement (and I'll be coming down from the attic), and I can kind of put the cat6 where I choose.

So I've been searching around on newegg, and I have probably one of the most noobish questions there are. So be gentle. :chair:

I have been looking into this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817111031) switch. I don't notice an uplink port, and I assume that thats normal for a switch? I'm wondering if with using this switch I will have the ability to give all the rooms/all the devices internet?

If thats not going to work I'd like some suggestions. I was hoping to have the cable modem next to the switch, connect the modem directly to the switch, and then have all the devices connected to the switch (giving them connection to each other and the internet)? I've never setup a full home network before, so I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing. So please help me out! haha.

I have 8 computers, and a 360. I already have a wireless router that I can attach to the switch to provide wireless for the laptops. I guess my main question is, is using a switch the right choice? Or is a switch simply to connect all the computers in a network, and won't provide an internet connection to all the computers?

-RYknow

[thideras]

An uplink port is used to connect multiple switches together without loss of performance. Since you are running a single switch, you don't need this feature.

This is actually the same switch I'm using in my rack (http://thideras.com/images/projects/project_rackmount_overkill/hp_rack/hp_rack_running_5.JPG). That switch is fine for an unmanaged one. You can't do anything fancy with it, but it is a fast/simple switch.

[-RYknow]

I envy your rack! :beer:

I just searched around on the net, and it would seem like a good way to set the network up would be:

Cable Modem --> linksys Router --> Dlink 24 port switch and netgear wireless router (wireless for laptops and wii)

Any input on this method? Also, the Dlink switch is pretty good then? I don't plan to do anything fancy. Streaming music, movies and TV shows. I also transfer large files and back things up regularly, but I figure this to be pretty common practice for the average home network. I just wanted to speed things up. the 10/100 setup gets it done, but if I can speed things up I want to.

-RYknow

[thideras]

I'm considering selling mine, but that is because I want a fully managed switch (to do virtual LANs, packet routing; enterprise stuff, basically). For a basic home network, it is a simple plug-and-play device that will work for whatever you want.

The setup you want to use is fine and similar to mine. Make sure to turn off DHCP on your wireless router.

[-RYknow]

Ok, thanks for the tip.

I did just have one other question. When connecting the switch to the router, is there a specific port I would want to use (port 1?)? All the machines connected to the switch will have internet, correct? I feel like an idiot. I feel like these are probably stupid questions, but since we are buying the house I don't want to make any mistakes with purchases.

Thanks again,
-RYknow

[thideras]

Nope, just connect it to whatever port you want. I use 1 on mine so it is easy to remember (I use the same color wiring now, that picture is old).

Don't worry about the questions, I've asked stupid (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=461363) ones myself when (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=462192) I was new (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=498387).

[-RYknow]

HAHA!! Thanks, I appreciate the advice and patience.

You mentioned you've switched over to all the same cable color. I was thinking about running difference colors for each room. (MB=red, Daughters room=green, living room=yellow, etc.) Is this suggested? I was still planning to lable each cable at the switch. I'm guessing you switched to all the same color to help keep things looking good?

-RYknow

[pik4chu]

HAHA!! Thanks, I appreciate the advice and patience.

You mentioned you've switched over to all the same cable color. I was thinking about running difference colors for each room. (MB=red, Daughters room=green, living room=yellow, etc.) Is this suggested? I was still planning to lable each cable at the switch. I'm guessing you switched to all the same color to help keep things looking good?

-RYknow

color coordinating cable runs can get tedious due to limited choices for colors in the proper length. However, you should definitely label the runs you do, you can get little labels that wrap around the cable and you can write on them.

The way I color code drops is I have one color for all normal runs, then 1 color for cables that go between other networking equipment like other switches and WAPs. Then a final color for connections to the web (like the cable that goes from router/firewall to cable modem).

I dont have a current picture of my setup as im about to move but what I have is the runs for all systems are white since its readily accessible. Then for patch cords I use blue for PCs/server, green for media devices (xbox, stereo receiver, and media extender), red for interconnects between switches and extra networks and orange to the internet.

[PeddlerOfFlesh]

I just wanted to speed things up. the 10/100 setup gets it done, but if I can speed things up I want to.

For the sake of limiting hassle in the future, I would go with a gigabit setup if the price is right. I would also make at least one extra drop to areas that already have multiple network devices. HTPC and 360 need one now, but you never know what'll happen in the future. If you're going to make difficult drops, I would use CAT6A UTP (unless something better and almost as affordable has come along). I've never had problems running cables next to power lines. I don't even remember what the standard distance is. Maybe 12"? You could keep that distance to be safe.