Data Installation Wiring and Terminating

[mgnelec09]

I have just installed power and lighting to a small office building and the client would like me to install data also.

If Im honest, I have only ever pulled cat 5 data cabling into positions from where the hub would be to the data outlet points.

I have never terminated any cabling though.

He also would like a central printing point within the office so that evry computer sends to the one printer.

can anyone advise me on the best way to wire? terminate and possibly the best kit to use.

There are 8 desks each with a PC.

Many Thanks

 

[One_of_them]

rj45 data points usually have colours on the back that correspond with the CAT5 cable. Use a push down tool http:// www tlc products GPT107 to attach to the data point

I imagine there is going to be some sort of server/network setup going on and tbh like you I've never played with this. I think the principle is the same for terminating cables however there are things called swtiches and hub and i never now where im terminating what so I hopw this helps a little but im out of anything further

 

[KFH]

You need to run the cables to a central point, usually the cleaners cupboard where you put in a patch panel. It is usual to run more cables than required so that there is room for changes in the future and to terminate these in the patch panel. You would normally have a hub or switch(network not power) by the patch panel this will link all the PCs/Printers/Servers as connected from the patch panel as the hub or switch will normaly have fewer connections than there are cables in the installation (connections in thepatch panel). You can get small cabinets to keep everything tidy.

Get a simple network cable tester to ensure that all the punchdowns have worked (they often don't), keep the twist going to as close to the punchdown as possible. The tester will only test connection it will not test the ability of the cable to work at network speeds (1/10 Gbps or even faster) Your client want to consider Cat 6 cabling, more expensive but provides a degree of future proofing.

Switches are now not much more expensive than hubs and should give greater throughput, basically they switch each packet to the appropriate output by knowing the address of each computer and reading the destination address from each packet.

 

[mgnelec09]

Can you recommend a good switch and a rough idea of what one could cost? also are they easy enough to terminate into?

 

[gutterball]

http://www.meteorelectrical.com/ind...02YP9QKE/ref=mp_s_a_15?qid=1307417440&sr=8-15 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000Q84THG/ref=mp_s_a_2?qid=1307417557&sr=8-2 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000NOOOQ4/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1307417642&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000Q6EBNA/ref=mp_s_a_2?qid=1307417642&sr=8-2 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B004GDDSKQ/ref=mp_s_a_10?qid=1307417902&sr=8-10 hope all the links work.

 

[KFH]

Try Patch Panels - Network Cat5 and Cat6 Patch Panels, Coaxial Patch Panels, Twinax, Blank, Etc. - ComputerCableStore.com and

5 Port Gigabit Switch | Broadbandbuyer.co.uk

Sorry one of them was American but it will give you the idea of what to look for.

 

[Timbo_1975]

Terminate on a patch panel within a small rack cabinet into which you can also rack-mount the switch / router / firewall / voip box etc etc. Punching down even just 25 cables (x 8fiddly cores) is a test of dexterity and patience!!! LOL

Run far more cables than necessary to all points in the building where one may be needed, especially where the PC's are going to be. Guarrenteed in 6 months they'll want a network printer on the end of the desk for example so will be looking for a spare cat5 to plug it into.

Occasionally you will get a cable that won't ring out on all the cores because it had kinked during pulling in - they can be abit fragile- so have a spare or two.

Switch - ask their IT man, they may want a managed one or particular spec. Industry standard would be HP or Cisco.

 

[Timbo_1975]

PS - the punch down tool is called a 'Podger' ! Buy a good quality Krone one.

 

[aptsys]

Get a simple network cable tester to ensure that all the punchdowns have worked (they often don't), keep the twist going to as close to the punchdown as possible. The tester will only test connection it will not test the ability of the cable to work at network speeds (1/10 Gbps or even faster) Your client want to consider Cat 6 cabling, more expensive but provides a degree of future proofing.

In enterprise applications, I'd suggest you never rely on those cheapo cable testers. They're maybe ok for domestics, but when you are doing a proper install it is well worth hiring or buying a Fluke NetTool (or similar), or even getting a company in to commission the network to ensure it performs correctly.

 

[KFH]

I agree with aptsys but at a purchase cost of over £1,000 and requiring a knowledge of network protocols even hiring one of these may not solve your problems. Unless it is a large installation I would suggest running spare cables to every point (convince the customer that he needs a double socket at each point anyway for flexability) and if one does not work when connected to the PC swap the cable over. Having first determined the PC will work with another cable to ensure the PC is not causing the problem. It is more expensive on cable but if done at the same time does not add to labour costs and provides a degree of flexability for the future. If there is a portable PC available you can carry it around and check it connects and does a file transfer from each socket. Time the file transfer and they should be substantially the same, if one is much longer then you may have a problem due to retransmitted packets. Also check the speed of connection to ensure they are all at the right rate. Be warned however that if the customer does not have network experiance on site or available on site it can be a pain trying to proves that faults are/are not from the cabeling.

Generally unless you have done something silly with the cable if it works at DC it will work at network speeds. But if doing a large installation you will normally have to provide the test results as per Fluke etc for each cable as part of the installation.

As an aside I hate Microsoft Network configuration with a vengance as I will never do enough of it to be competant and even if I got competant they will change it all with the next release and reading the Microsoft Knowledge Base to try and understand what the different settings mean generally gives me a headache so I try and stick to the simple stuff.

You can get network analysers for a PC at various costs but these generally operate at the packet level and not at the hardware level so do not give noise etc on a cable. I am never up to speed on the latest available so it may be worth a search on the net.

 

[RWJ]

A good old time domain reflectometer! We've got one that I'm probably not allow to use it's a few years old and cost several thousand.

You can really see the difference with untwisted just a few mill more than others..
Plus it'll tell you where the fault is to +/- 9mm