More cat5e runs, or a switch?

[tmbrown97]

I find it hard to believe that 99.99% of home users (including the technical types from here) would need the bandwidth of multiple home run gigabit cables.  A switch with 1 should do just fine, no matter how much video or other things you have going on.  Besides - what are they all connecting back to - a HTPC or storage device that only has a single connection to the switch anyway?  Even streaming bluray will work just fine over 10/100.  And gigabit is so cheap nowadays there's no good reason NOT to do it for home.  I'm not saying I prefer a switch over a regular wire - just responding to the people who comment on "high bandwidth" applications like they're pushing several gigs of data at any given time.
 
I've tested some really large file transfers across the netgear switches and they do handle full wire speed - but depending on what you're doing and the computer itself there will be overhead and other things that reduce the overall speed you'll get.

 

[drvnbysound]

I've seen (4) 11MP cameras stream data over a business class Netgear switch (GS108). I have (2) of them in my network SMC. I ran what I thought was enough wired drops to each TV location and I haven't maxed that out yet. 
 
The only place in my home that I have a local switch is my office... which is where the STV server is currently, but I'm planning to migrate that to the utility room (beside all my structured wiring) sooner than later.
 
Having said that, I've watched BluRays on my PS3... which you can press the Select button during playback and watch the data rate at the top of the screen... during BluRay playback I've never seen it get higher than 35-45Mbps. I couldn't imaging maxing out a Gbps link on a local switch; on the primary switch, maybe...

 

[fcwilt]

It's really not a question of the limits of the local switch but rather what does that local switch connect to. By having a separate run or two you have more options back at "electronics central". In my case all of the media players and media storage units are on their own small switch which in turn connects to the main switch. Before I isolated them I had some problems when multiple players were in use - along with everything else that the family uses the network for - now I don't.
 
You need to do what works, whatever that may be.

 

[drvnbysound]

Sure, but a local switch at a TV is probably only going to connect to a few devices (e.g. TV, media extender, PS3, Xbox, Serial to Ethernet converter, etc)... and how many of those are active at a single time?  I can only watch 1 source at a time If that source happens to be a BluRay which has been ripped to my media server, that's the 35-45Mbps that I was talking about above... it's unlikely that any of those other devices are utilizing any substantial bandwidth to come close to loading a Gb link to the centralized switch.

 

[fcwilt]

I agree - the local switch is very likely not going to be a problem but the central switch may be. You can certainly spec a high performance central switch and minimize any issues but you might be paying for more switch then you need. For instance to isolate those media players you could use a good quality managed switch and setup a VLAN for them but you can also use (as I did) a small switch (in place of the VLAN) and a simpler less expensive large switch. I needed 48 ports but most of it was very low bandwidth devices (IP to serial for instance). To pay more for a 48 port managed switch just to get 5 ports on a VLAN seemed unwise when a 48 port and a 8 port pair provided the desired isolation for less money and simpler setup.
 
I've done both approaches and both worked - one was less expensive and simpler - albeit less flexible.
 
Every setup is different and needs to be analyzed to determine what works satisfactorily, taking into account what you might need in the future.
 
As I said whatever works for you is good.

 

[pete_c]

I have been building my Gb network slowly and currently have it set up as follows:
 
1 - Managed Gb #1 24 port switch on the "server rack" taking care of the servers - TP-Link TL-SG1024DE - tiny thing
2 - Managed Gb #2 24 port switch in the media panel taking care of some house stuff - TP-Link TL-SG1024DE
3 - Managed Tycon (old) POE 24 MS324 injector  -  from this POE injector I also use Tycon upstream POE mini switches 5-8 port (mostly for testing). Just realized I can utilize Gb with it.  (I do have an unmanaged Gb switch on top of it).   BTW I have never previously played with a midstream injector.  I have taken apart this injector and it is very robustly built.  Thinking mostly originally utilized for POE access points.
 
http://tyconpower.com/products/files/TPS_POE_Midspan_Injector_Spec_Sheet.pdf
 
I also have 24 port unmanaged Gb switches and a bunch of 8 port unmanaged Gb switches around all directly connected to the above two managed Gb switches. (a collection of el cheapo generic and some Dell and HP 8-16 port unmanaged switches). 
 
I have though consolidated all my network wiring to patch panels in one location and over the years have added more patch panels / cables.  Its easier for me to see all of the cables that way.
 
I redid the family room a few years back and did indeed add some 6-8 network cables to the area.  It did originally have maybe two and I did have a small switch in the area for networked devices.
 
My home office has an adjacent walk in closet which I turned into a printing paper supplies room.  That said there are some 4 network connections in the room plus some 4 network connections adjacent to my desk plus recently added 2 more to the almost on the ceiling LCD TV area.  Testing stuff one of the four network connections is POE and one is connected to a small footprint Gb switch.  So this "room" has some 10 network connections in it all going to the basement patch panels.

 

[fcwilt]

Pete C:
 
I think you need some more ports. ^_^

 

[johnboy70_99]

I agree with the folks that say pull more copper. I have been running home runs for everything and terminating to a panel. It makes it really easy to change things and try out new things, everything is labeled.
 
The only remote switch I have is in my office, which is on the opposite side of my house from my server rack and panel. I have 6 devices that need Ethernet, and occasionally I work on computers there and need more. I did run 5 runs of Cat5, and it was run before I did some finishing and it would be very tough to run  more now or I probably would. I have 6 devices that need Ethernet there plus the switch is one of my old routers which also doubles as a wireless access point, providing better coverage for parts of the house and yard far away from the server room.

 

[Neurorad]

Good tip on the Netgear GS108T, Todd.  POE for remote switches.  Thanks!

 

[Monk]

Run the copper and spend on easier infrastructure elsewhere. The more network hardware, the more choke points and more items to go wrong. Copper is cheap.

I agree with DELInstallations (wire is relatively inexpensive), Pete and others suggesting home runs.
You will be glad later. No extra hardware to fail. No concern about the powering of extra hardware and the flexibility to later do POE if whatever you are wiring for is re-purposed.

 

[tmbrown97]

I keep two switches in my home office - maxed out the first 8-port and had to add a second - the netgear POE one listed above...  then again I have 4 VOIP phones on my desk too right now powered by POE...  Unfortunately there's not a lot of homerun wiring in this house and it's hard to add more, so a single gigabit fanless netgear GS116 does the trick back in the closet.  
 
Frederick - did you really mean VPN as way to separate two networks at home?  That seems like overkill to create a virtual tunnel between networks within the same home - normally that's for creating a secure/encrypted tunnel to go across the internet.
 
If you have trouble with broadcast traffic and all that, VLANs are generally the thing to look into; unfortunately I don't think more consumer routers handle VLANs unless you do one of the open source router firmwares.  That said, I've used Cisco, Netgear UTM, or even Mikrotik routerboards or the $99 Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite - they all will let you create multiple vlan's, VPN into the house, etc.  The learning curve is a bit steep for all of them but there are plenty of tutorials online.  Luckily though most people will be fine either getting a single halfway decent gigabit switch, or separating out the high-bandwidth consumption devices onto their own small gigabit switch and having the rest of the house on a 10/100 even.

 

[fcwilt]

Work2Play:
 
Did I say VPN? :wacko: Typing faster then I think. Yes VLAN, of course.
 
I generally don't go that route BUT I have had several folks tell me that is the "correct" way. I can see in some corporate environments that may be rather fluid in their configuration a high performance managed switch is a good investment. But given a home environment, which I suspect is much more static, I think it's more often then not overkill.
 
However whatever works for folks is fine by me.

 

[tmbrown97]

When you work with VLANs all day they make sense and are easy to set up... but yeah I rarely see that being an issue in a home.  I had no choice because I had a hardware VPN for my work phone so I needed to have at least 2 different network segments into my office over one wire, so the netgear switches were perfect.  Since that was already set up, tossing in another for guest network access only took a few seconds.  At one point I had stubbed out others for video but video compression is evolving just as fast as everything else, so we're still able to push a lot of video over pretty reasonable links.

 

[IVB]

Sorry for going dark, 4 days in NYC for both a former consulting company reunion and a fraternity reunion. To say I drank a lot in the last 96 hours is putting it mildly.
 
Thanks for the input. I suppose the one good thing about pulling more wire is the ability to reconfigure. Plus its free, I have the wire, I don't have a spare switch. Although, I did fall on a granite floor in my drunken stupor Saturday night and have seriously banged up knees, so that crawlspace is gonna suck

 

[EyeofSauron]

Fully agree with the posters advising the extra runs of cable.
 
You can NEVER have enough cable.