[geeks] Wiring

[Greg A. Woods]

[ On Wednesday, September 5, 2001 at 13:57:01 (EDT), Mike Dombrowski wrote: ]
> Subject: [geeks] Wiring
>
> On the topic of wiring is there a standard "this is how you should do 
> wires"? I ask because in the near future I will have to be wiring a 
> building's datacenter and a couple residences and I don't know all that 
> I need to. It took me a looong time to realize what a 110 tool was for 
> because I've never used one and only had catalogs to look at to figure 
> out what they're for. Everything I know has been from personal 
> experience(be sure to use real cat5 wire, not faux cat5. Also, use the 
> standard color code not your own) or random bits picked up from 
> places(don't coil cat5/run it along power cables). Borders has some 
> books on this topic but I'd like to know if there are any 
> reccomendations.

Most important of all is to get someone qualified at Ethernet LAN design
to look at the building and the suggested layouts, etc., especially if
the building is of any significant size.  With 100baseTX the bit timings
(affected by cable length and quality, component quality, termination
quality, installation quality, etc.) are VERY VERY critical.  If you
ignore any of these issues you could lose from 10-30% of your network's
potential capacity, and even on a lightly loaded network that will cause
noticable issues for users.

I'd also advise getting a CAT-5/e certified installer to do the actual
work, and make sure every run and every jack is tested and approved to
full CAT-5 (or even CAT-5/e).  Installers around here can do that for
well under $100/pull, including all the parts and cable.  Unless you do
cable for a living you cannot do it that cheaply yourself.  CAT-6 though
is at least twice as expensive still, and probalby not worth it unless
you're a multi-media kind of company.

If you're going to do it yourself because your time is effectively free,
or some such, make sure you learn all these issues and make sure you get
a wiring tester that is capable of doing all the normal short, open,
pair mis-match tests, as well as one that can qualify a connection as
meeting CAT-5 or better.  You don't want to find these problems after
you go live.

-- 
							Greg A. Woods

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