Designing a house with networking in mind

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shant

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Jul 31, 2019
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Hi, new user here.
I wanted to take the opinions of experienced people, we are about to design a house to build but the electrical engineers in the country we want to build in don't regularly design the wiring with networking in mind.
Can you all give me a summary of essential things to have designed/implemented in the house wiring and things to be aware of?
The house would be a duplex one, GF and 1st floor, it will have a simple NAS either in the basement or the attic used for file storage and video streaming, an ethernet hub in each room, I also wanted to make the house IOT ready so I may need to have thin wiring running to all the ceiling lightings and such, I cannot decide on where to put a patch panel or switches, or if I should even make a special closet on each floor for the patch panel/switch, should I ask tubing in a specific way as well?
The house will be made of stone if that matters, I will probably use 1 Gbit hardware to keep costs down but may use CAT6A to future proof wiring if 10gbit hardware costs go down.
Thank you.
 
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BLinux

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Jul 7, 2016
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personally, I would consider running fiber, as 10GbE with fiber has really come down in price. but probably more important than any of that, is to consider running conduit with curved bends. this way, you can re-run or replace the copper/fiber at any point in the future. I personally think there's going to be a transition from 1Gb to 10Gb for home users coming soon, and probably already happening for those tech savvy enthusiasts. so, do your install in a way that allows you to make changes later on easily as I think there's a tech transition in the near future.

i would also consider designing a central "data center" closet, with appropriate ventilation/cooling, with enough room perhaps for a half height or small rack. run your conduit to that location from all the other locations in the house. if you ever plan to use enterprise grade server gear, consider running 240V circuits as well. perhaps add good sound insulation to that closet, and you don't have to worry about noise pollution from the servers ; noise vs cooling is often a trade-off one has to make so if you have good noise insulation and good ventilation/cooling for that tiny closet, you will save yourself a lot of time/money trying to engineer quiet cooling solutions.

i'm not a professional home builder, just someone who isn't shy to pull out some tools and do some DIY projects on my own house. these are just my opinions based on my own experiences.
 

NashBrydges

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Apr 30, 2015
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Echoing others a bit...

- Conduit with rounded elbows (be sure it is properly fire rated for your location)
- Make sure to install pull string in the conduit while the conduit is being installed (you'll kick yourself later if you ever want to run more wire or replace one)
- Run twice the drops than what you expect to use for each location. Cabling is super cheap and when your walls are opened up, now is the time to run cabling cheaply.
- Consider drop locations on at least 2 walls in each room you want to run cabling to and the walls should likely be opposite each other. If your spouse is like mine, there's always a chance furniture will be moved around and suddenly your cable drop is no longer convenient.
- While fiber would be nice to have, you can still get 10Gbe with CAT6 so if you want some future proofing, run CAT6A. Much cheaper than fiber.
 
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mb300sd

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Aug 1, 2016
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I'd go with MPO fiber to every room. I ran LC when I had my walls open, and now have a huge headache getting 40GbE upstairs. As future-proof as you can get since it'll run 1/10/40/100/200/400GbE.
 
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Scott Laird

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- If you do a "server closet", then pay a lot of attention to cooling and noise. I tried to jam a pair of Dell C6220s into a non-profit office closet that was *designed* for this sort of thing, and (a) they were too noisy for people to cope with, (b) the closet overheated, and (c) there really wasn't enough power *or* space in the closet, anyway.
- Ideally, you have ~3' of depth for the rack, ~3' in front of the rack (so you can un-rack things), and another couple feet behind the rack so you can run wiring.

- 10 GbE is *probably* the end of the road for Ethernet over standard twisted pair. There are standards for 25Gbase-T and 40Gbase-T, but they need Cat 8, which IIRC isn't really something that you can easily terminate in the field today.
- There may be a future equivalent of Nbase-T that gives > 10 Gbps over Cat 6[a], but I wouldn't hold my breath, or expect it to become standard within the next decade.
- For most home or enterprise desktop use, there's still a lot of headroom in GigE, much less 10Gbase-T. So I don't really expect a demand for cheap copper >10G hardware for quite a while, if ever.
- >10G over *fiber* is easy (and cheap-ish, using off-lease enterprise gear), but not completely trivial. Multimode (OM3/OM4) is cheap and easy, and has more future than Cat 6, but has limited distance*bandwidth that hits in the 100 Gbps range. Single mode doesn't have that limit, but costs more and is pickier WRT dust and cleanliness, plus the optics cost ~2x. Currently, speeds over 25 Gbps need multiple fibers, with the correct flavor of MTP/MPO connector. Pulling future-proof fiber is hard, because there are 4 or 5 choices to choose from, and pulling all of them is dumb and expensive.

Personally, I'd pull 2x Cat 6 (maybe 6A, depending on costs) to each room that I didn't expect to actually need much network. Then I'd pull 4-6x to office spaces, plus conduit, and probably pull pre-terminated OM3 through the conduit. You can buy it from Monoprice; it's not that pricy. You can get LC/LC keystone jacks for finishing it off.
 
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Jeggs101

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Dec 29, 2010
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Did we say conduit yet? :cool:

I'd also look to do a walk-through of the design plans and map where you want to out wireless access. Make sure your ready to run PoE or have another power source nearby.
 
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ttabbal

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Mar 10, 2016
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Never say never. I installed copper to every room, terminated to a nice patch panel. Said to myself, "I don't need fiber".

Guess what I did about a month ago? :) To be fair, it was over 10 years later.

That said, I only pulled it to my office. Most high speed makes sense in the rack, but not many computers need the bandwidth around the house. At least not yet anyway. My office has way too much stuff in it, 4x1G hasn't been enough and I needed a switch. However, half the stuff in there is 100M, printer, 3D printer, raspberry pi based stuff, etc.. So it's more about ports than bandwidth. A cheap consumer switch handles them fine.

Don't neglect the copper. It's super useful even if you aren't using ethernet over it. I have some running RS-485, people do video, etc.. And there's always POE. Awesome for things like cameras and WiFi APs.

If I were to do it again, I would do what I did, but also add conduit from the network rack to my office, and a couple other locations. Mostly areas in the now finished basement. I have good access to the main floor via the attic, but none for the basement.

Don't forget power. The guy that did power for my rack added it to the light circuit. Irritating when you need the power off to add an outlet etc.. Not to mention is was a 15A circuit. sigh. Make them run a dedicated line or you will end up doing it later. If it's not going to be easy to get to, make them run at least 2 20A circuits. Dedicated lines and breakers. Make it clear you won't sign until it's done. I had to fight with them over that and a 220V line in the garage. No idea why, I was paying for it. They just couldn't grasp that I had reasons for it. If you think you'll go nuts, have them put a subpanel next to the rack. :D
 
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mb300sd

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I would recommend doing fiber plus cat6a. Any devices that don't need high speed or need PoE run off the copper, and then I have a fiber ports all over to plug my laptop (with thunderbolt to qsfp nic) into.
 

shant

New Member
Jul 31, 2019
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1
personally, I would consider running fiber, as 10GbE with fiber has really come down in price. but probably more important than any of that, is to consider running conduit with curved bends. this way, you can re-run or replace the copper/fiber at any point in the future. I personally think there's going to be a transition from 1Gb to 10Gb for home users coming soon, and probably already happening for those tech savvy enthusiasts. so, do your install in a way that allows you to make changes later on easily as I think there's a tech transition in the near future.

i would also consider designing a central "data center" closet, with appropriate ventilation/cooling, with enough room perhaps for a half height or small rack. run your conduit to that location from all the other locations in the house. if you ever plan to use enterprise grade server gear, consider running 240V circuits as well. perhaps add good sound insulation to that closet, and you don't have to worry about noise pollution from the servers ; noise vs cooling is often a trade-off one has to make so if you have good noise insulation and good ventilation/cooling for that tiny closet, you will save yourself a lot of time/money trying to engineer quiet cooling solutions.

i'm not a professional home builder, just someone who isn't shy to pull out some tools and do some DIY projects on my own house. these are just my opinions based on my own experiences.
Good info, thank you.
I was looking into 10gbit but it seems that if i run fiber over the house then how would i convert that into rj45 ethernet sockets to each room? sounds like it would be costly.
Any idea where would a network closet be optimal in a house?
 

shant

New Member
Jul 31, 2019
5
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1
Echoing others a bit...

- Conduit with rounded elbows (be sure it is properly fire rated for your location)
- Make sure to install pull string in the conduit while the conduit is being installed (you'll kick yourself later if you ever want to run more wire or replace one)
- Run twice the drops than what you expect to use for each location. Cabling is super cheap and when your walls are opened up, now is the time to run cabling cheaply.
- Consider drop locations on at least 2 walls in each room you want to run cabling to and the walls should likely be opposite each other. If your spouse is like mine, there's always a chance furniture will be moved around and suddenly your cable drop is no longer convenient.
- While fiber would be nice to have, you can still get 10Gbe with CAT6 so if you want some future proofing, run CAT6A. Much cheaper than fiber.
-IS the pull string to pull cables in the future? wouldn't that remove the string if I pulled a new cable through it? I guess I can pull a new string with the new cable.
-The drop location idea is very useful thank you.
-I checked the switch prices and 10gbit ethernet switch prices are crazy expensive, and then there's the SFP+ switches that are more affordable but that would create the problem of not having ethernet sockets, unless I use expensive converters from sfp to ethernet.
 

BLinux

cat lover server enthusiast
Jul 7, 2016
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Good info, thank you.
I was looking into 10gbit but it seems that if i run fiber over the house then how would i convert that into rj45 ethernet sockets to each room? sounds like it would be costly.
Any idea where would a network closet be optimal in a house?
you don't have to go 10GbE everywhere.. you can run a combination of copper and fiber, with fiber to the places you are most likely to want to high speed. BTW, SFP+ 10GbE NICs can be found on eBay for $20, so it's really not that expensive anymore. what might be expensive is a 10GbE switch, but Mikrotik has some options now that are very reasonably priced ($300-$400?).
 

shant

New Member
Jul 31, 2019
5
0
1
- If you do a "server closet", then pay a lot of attention to cooling and noise. I tried to jam a pair of Dell C6220s into a non-profit office closet that was *designed* for this sort of thing, and (a) they were too noisy for people to cope with, (b) the closet overheated, and (c) there really wasn't enough power *or* space in the closet, anyway.
- Ideally, you have ~3' of depth for the rack, ~3' in front of the rack (so you can un-rack things), and another couple feet behind the rack so you can run wiring.

- 10 GbE is *probably* the end of the road for Ethernet over standard twisted pair. There are standards for 25Gbase-T and 40Gbase-T, but they need Cat 8, which IIRC isn't really something that you can easily terminate in the field today.
- There may be a future equivalent of Nbase-T that gives > 10 Gbps over Cat 6[a], but I wouldn't hold my breath, or expect it to become standard within the next decade.
- For most home or enterprise desktop use, there's still a lot of headroom in GigE, much less 10Gbase-T. So I don't really expect a demand for cheap copper >10G hardware for quite a while, if ever.
- >10G over *fiber* is easy (and cheap-ish, using off-lease enterprise gear), but not completely trivial. Multimode (OM3/OM4) is cheap and easy, and has more future than Cat 6, but has limited distance*bandwidth that hits in the 100 Gbps range. Single mode doesn't have that limit, but costs more and is pickier WRT dust and cleanliness, plus the optics cost ~2x. Currently, speeds over 25 Gbps need multiple fibers, with the correct flavor of MTP/MPO connector. Pulling future-proof fiber is hard, because there are 4 or 5 choices to choose from, and pulling all of them is dumb and expensive.

Personally, I'd pull 2x Cat 6 (maybe 6A, depending on costs) to each room that I didn't expect to actually need much network. Then I'd pull 4-6x to office spaces, plus conduit, and probably pull pre-terminated OM3 through the conduit. You can buy it from Monoprice; it's not that pricy. You can get LC/LC keystone jacks for finishing it off.
I will let the architect know of the cooling and noise issue, maybe we can install soundproofing and have some kind of airflow through there, with keeping dust in mind.

If i pulled fiber and LC/LC jacks in the rooms, how would I get that to work over ethernet without spending a lot of money or having big converters?, something plug and play?.
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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you don't have to go 10GbE everywhere.. you can run a combination of copper and fiber, with fiber to the places you are most likely to want to high speed. BTW, SFP+ 10GbE NICs can be found on eBay for $20, so it's really not that expensive anymore. what might be expensive is a 10GbE switch, but Mikrotik has some options now that are very reasonably priced ($300-$400?).
Could you not use SFP+ to SFP and then use normal\home\affordable Switches too ?
 

shant

New Member
Jul 31, 2019
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1
Never say never. I installed copper to every room, terminated to a nice patch panel. Said to myself, "I don't need fiber".

Guess what I did about a month ago? :) To be fair, it was over 10 years later.

That said, I only pulled it to my office. Most high speed makes sense in the rack, but not many computers need the bandwidth around the house. At least not yet anyway. My office has way too much stuff in it, 4x1G hasn't been enough and I needed a switch. However, half the stuff in there is 100M, printer, 3D printer, raspberry pi based stuff, etc.. So it's more about ports than bandwidth. A cheap consumer switch handles them fine.

Don't neglect the copper. It's super useful even if you aren't using ethernet over it. I have some running RS-485, people do video, etc.. And there's always POE. Awesome for things like cameras and WiFi APs.

If I were to do it again, I would do what I did, but also add conduit from the network rack to my office, and a couple other locations. Mostly areas in the now finished basement. I have good access to the main floor via the attic, but none for the basement.

Don't forget power. The guy that did power for my rack added it to the light circuit. Irritating when you need the power off to add an outlet etc.. Not to mention is was a 15A circuit. sigh. Make them run a dedicated line or you will end up doing it later. If it's not going to be easy to get to, make them run at least 2 20A circuits. Dedicated lines and breakers. Make it clear you won't sign until it's done. I had to fight with them over that and a 220V line in the garage. No idea why, I was paying for it. They just couldn't grasp that I had reasons for it. If you think you'll go nuts, have them put a subpanel next to the rack. :D
Well noted, the dedicated power is a must, thank you.
 

kapone

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May 23, 2015
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I guess I'm the odd one out... I think while all suggestions are good, they are..well, fairly over the top, given the OPs described scenarios.

We're talking about a simple NAS and a few IoT thingies here...not a data center. :)

IoT thingies by nature are low bandwidth products. If they were high bandwidth...well, they won't really be called IoT, but I digress.

The OP mentioned "file storage and video streaming" as the functions for the NAS. Even high bitrate 4K video streams rarely top 100mbps (in practice, not theory), so unless you're watching 10 streams at the same time , a gigabit network is more than enough. Same goes for File storage. Unless you want your file transfers to go at XXX speed vs xxx speed, that dictates your network.

I've yet to see any IoT thingies that require a hardwired network. Hell, majority of them don't even have an ethernet jack...just wireless (BT/WiFi etc).

A good Wireless Access Point with a good backhaul should be more than sufficient for a two story house. If it's not, add another access point with a backhaul. I'd focus on good access point locations and just running backhaul lines to those locations, not every room.
 

Scott Laird

Active Member
Aug 30, 2014
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-IS the pull string to pull cables in the future? wouldn't that remove the string if I pulled a new cable through it? I guess I can pull a new string with the new cable.
-The drop location idea is very useful thank you.
-I checked the switch prices and 10gbit ethernet switch prices are crazy expensive, and then there's the SFP+ switches that are more affordable but that would create the problem of not having ethernet sockets, unless I use expensive converters from sfp to ethernet.
The string is for pulling new wires through later. If you have conduit without a string, it's actually pretty easy to pull new string, if it's not too full--tie a plastic baggie (or something light that will catch the air) to a new string, then feed that in one end of the conduit. Then use a vacuum to pull from the other end. Ideally, it'll shoot right through the conduit. If not, you have a string to pull it back out and try again.

You'd only rarely want to use any sort of fiber/copper converter. They're expensive and only rarely the best way to solve a problem. If you're pulling fiber, then use switches and NICs with SFP/SFP+/SFP28/etc ports and use fiber the whole way. You can probably get a switch with some SFP and some copper ports. If not, you can buy a 1000baseT SFP (or 10GbaseT SFP+) and use that to wire a SFP switch and a copper switch together. Optimize for price, and don't buy things now that you won't need until later. (Do as I say, not as I do...)

Practically speaking, what you'll probably want to do is something like this:

- Use 1000base-T over Cat6 for practically everything today. Plan on upgrading some of it to 10Gbase-T eventually, if you need more bandwidth and it becomes cheaper. Given the cost curves, it's cheaper to put it off until you actually need it. Practically speaking, even 100base-T is still fast enough for a lot of uses (even streaming 4k video), so gigabit Ethernet will be fine for decades to come for a lot of uses.
- If you need high bandwidth connections (mostly just for storage, really), then figure out where you'll need them and plan on a few 10G links. If your network is simple, then having 2 different-brand switches, one handling 10G and one handling 1G isn't a big deal. For short range (1-3 meters, mostly), SFP+ DAC cables are dirt cheap.
- If all of your high-bandwidth devices are in one room, then put a 10G switch in that room and be done with it. If it's an office, then maybe pay attention to how much noise most rack-mounted switches make. They're not pleasant to work around.
- If you need high-bandwidth links between rooms, then compare prices on 10Gbase-T vs fiber. It's going to get interesting.
- For home networks, there's rarely more than one device talking on the network at a time. So don't worry about aggregate bandwidth. If you had (overkill...) 2 48-port Gigabit switches full of normal home devices, you'd probably be fine interconnecting them with a single gigabit link. Don't feel like you need 10G for that; you're probably not going to have enough traffic to matter. When interconnecting switches or other devices, just worry about the fastest network stream that you care about passing through the link. So, if your desktop is plugged into one 10G switch and your file server is on another 10G switch, then you'll probably want a 10G link between the two switches.
- Consider pulling Ethernet for WiFi APs and security cameras. I've retrofitted a couple ceiling-mounted APs and one front-door camera, and it would have been *much* easier to do earlier.

I should probably throw this in: there's really only one place in residential use where you really *need* to use fiber: when connecting outbuildings, or anyplace where you're not guaranteed to have identical electrical ground potentials. Copper wiring in this case can actually end up carrying a shocking amount of voltage and being a safety hazard. So use either fiber or bridge over WiFi. This is probably the only case where fiber/copper converters make sense to me--terminating the link to another building where there's no other fiber anywhere around. Even then, it's likely cheaper to buy a switch with copper and SFP(+) ports.
 
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ttabbal

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I recently bought a switch for about $100. 4 SFP+ 10Gb, 48 1Gb POE. It can get loud when it wants to, but it rarely does as it's running way under its ratings. I imagine running all 48 POE ports would make it loud, but I only have a few devices that pull power. I use 1 10Gb in the rack for the storage server, and one to my office workstation. Everything else is 1Gb copper, a bunch with of 100M devices on the other end. The POE is nice for WiFi and cameras. Due to the loudness of used enterprise gear, which is the way most of us can pay for this stuff, it's nice if you can put the rack somewhere that muffles the noise so it's not too annoying to the others in the home. Mine lives in the utility room with the furnace and such.

Do I NEED 10Gb in my office? No, but it sure is nice. The server being on 10Gb is nice as it gives more room for the many devices I have pushing data around the network. Even with all the media devices and backups going, it wasn't getting starved, but it's nice not to have to think about it.

Some of this is overkill for a home setup, but so are big servers and that's why we're here, right? :) There are a couple things to consider, once the walls are up, adding is difficult. Putting it in now is easy. That said, if you're not planning to stay for a while, it might not be worth going real nuts with it. I also don't think running the whole house with fiber is really worthwhile. A few locations makes some sense, but most stuff just doesn't need the higher speeds and there's not much home gear that could even connect at 10G.