Need Help With Structured Wiring Project

[htrieu]

I am looking to complete a structural wiring project in my house. To give you some background, the builder who built my house had prewired it for data/tv/phone but he left the drops unterminated. He installed a 24" On-Q/Legrand enclosure in a closet and left the bare drops hanging in the enclosure -- no patch panel or anything. In addition, he placed receptacles OUTSIDE of the enclosure. Here's a photo of the enclosure in it's current state. The FiOS guy put a coax splitter and telephone punchdown block in there temporarily and I've been making do with it for the past 4 years.

I'm looking to remove that 24" enclosure and replace it with a 48" enclosure (or two) with hinged door so I can locate my network equipment inside (Actiontec MI-424WR FiOS Router/Modem, Cisco RV042 Router, HP ProCurve Gigabit Switch).

Since the telephone cables are Cat5e, I'd like the wall ports to be able to switch between data and voice. I have decided to go with Leviton enclosures and modules. For phone and data, I have my eye on this 24-port distribution port. Does this mean I will need to have a 24 port switch to accomodate it? Would a 24-port gigabit switch fit in the enclosure?

Also, is there a UPS/battery backup solution that will fit inside a 42" enclosure?

Thanks

 

[thiggins]

You don't need a switch port for every drop. You only need a switch with enough ports to handle the number of drops that will be in use. You can always add another switch if you decide you need more active ports later.

Gigabit switches can generate a lot of heat, especially ones with a lot of active ports. I would mount such a switch outside an enclosure unless the enclosure has fans.

Unlikely you'll find a UPS that will fit in that cabinet. Maybe the APC BK350, which is 3.6 inches wide?

This article might help:How To: Diary of a New Home Network- Part 2

 

[htrieu]

Hi thiggins,

Thanks for the reply. The reason I'm trying to squeeze everything in the enclosure is because this home builder put the structural wiring box in a guest bedroom closet. I don't have the luxury of putting a rack in there (or maybe I do?). It's just not very versatile and I would imagine it costs a fortune to relocate everything to the garage. Do you have any ideas as to how I could make everything fit/stay neat yet keep the devices cool?

Any downside to daisy chaining switches?

Thanks again!

 

[thiggins]

For cooling, you either need to not generate heat in the first place or remove it. Easiest thing would be to remove the door.

Daisy chaining switch ports is only a problem if you have > 1 Gbps of data flowing in each direction simultaneously. Then the port becomes a bottleneck.