[TriLUG] structured wiring switch

[Aaron Joyner via TriLUG]

Networking and computing equipment is not nearly as sensitive to hot and
cold as you might imagine.  I have a similar structured wiring box in my
current garage, with a few dozen ports of structured wiring terminated in
it.  I've cut a hole in the front of the box, and run a bunch of 25 foot
patch cables out of it into the full height 19" enclosure that sits in
front of that box.  That rack contains a handful of boxen, including a few
big switches, some Cisco and Avocent toys, a Dell PowerEdge R610 that
serves as the internet gateawy, an R720XD as a media server, and a UniFi
CloudKey Gen 2+ managing access points and cameras.  Over the last decade
I've had a variety of standard PCs thrown into the bottom of that rack,
and   The temperature fluctuates from the low 50s to the mid 80s, and
nothing much cares.

There's a separate question to consider if you plan to use a single
commercial combination router / wireless access point.  It's probably a bad
idea to put your AP inside a metal box in the garage, so you may not get
much value out of having the structured wiring run to that location.  If
you can get a small switch and a router in that box (eg. a switch and a
UniFi USG) and place the APs elsewhere it can be a very nice setup,
especially if you don't have a practical need to visit that box often.

On Wed, Dec 8, 2021 at 11:28 AM Brian Henning via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
wrote:

> I would agree that this sounds like a poor choice of locale; keeping
> sensitive electronics in a non-climate-controlled area doesn't sound wise.
>
> Has any of the structured wiring been built out yet?  Is there a
> climate-controlled area in the house where such a termination point might
> be more reasonable, for example, a utility closet?  Would your builder be
> willing to change the plan?
>
> My uneducated guess is that it is where it is because there's not an ideal
> place within the HVAC envelope.  My house has a utility closet off the
> kitchen that is 80% occupied by the water heater.  All my networking
> equipment is in a bedroom closet, which is fine for me because that bedroom
> serves as my office, but wouldn't be fine for someone that wanted to use
> the bedroom as a bedroom.
>
> My house's main breaker panel is in the master bedroom, which I would also
> not peg as "ideal."  It was also built in 1971, when people thought about
> things differently.
>
> Cheers,
> -Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TriLUG <trilug-bounces+bhenning=pineresearch.com at trilug.org> On
> Behalf Of Thomas Ingram via TriLUG
> Sent: Wednesday, December 8, 2021 11:16 AM
> To: trilug at trilug.org
> Subject: [TriLUG] structured wiring switch
>
> We're in the process of building a new house, and our builder includes
> structured wiring for four ethernet ports as standard. The wires all
> terminate in a panel in the garage (inside on the outside wall), along
> with a fiber optic line from outside. When closed the panel resembles
> a breaker box mounted in the wall. There's no shelving with the panel
> for extra equipment.
>
> The builder is talking about this being the location of the network
> switch and fiber modem. I've never had access to a setup like this,
> and I'm concerned about keeping a bunch of network equipment in the
> garage. (For context I'm used to consumer router/switch/access point
> combo devices, but I'm happy to upgrade to something better. I also
> have a home server I intend to keep in my office closet with access to
> one of the ethernet ports.) I'm hoping someone here can help me make
> sense of this setup. I don't know a lot about networking, but I don't
> understand keeping everything in the hot/cold garage. I also don't
> know why I'd want my networking hub to be in such an inconvenient
> location (no shelves et cetera).
>
> --
> Thomas Ingram
> --
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