Corporate networking/cabling Questions

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Crashsector

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 10, 2001
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Hey everyone. I've recently undertaken the task of bringing the network at my job up to standards. I've been with the place since it opened (3 years ago) and it's a small coffee shop and bookstore.

So far I've purchased a 15U 4-post frame rack as well as a 24-port Dell switch (I'll post pics in a few days). All of that is going pretty well. There are however a few issues I've come up against.

First - the area we USED to store the networking equipment in is a bit closer to where the cables come into the room than where I currently have the rack. As a result of this, the cables are about a foot too short to bundle and track along the wall neatly. There is no way I can "pull slack" out of the lines, they're pretty much taught. What are some feasible ways of solving this problem? I was thinking of just a standard punchdown block mounted on the wall with the current runs coming in one side and extensions going to the rack coming out of the other. I've read that punch down blocks are fine for phone lines and token ring, but don't really meet the standards of Category 5 cabling. Does anyone have any info about this? If this is a good solution, where do I find the punch down blocks? I don't really know what to search for, and what I do search for doesn't give me good results.

Second - the phone line situation is a mess as well. I'm going to be implementing a consumer-level VoIP solution (Vonage) and I want to clean up the cabling in the process. Right now we just use pre-made cables and the slack is really annoying to deal with. I understand making RJ11 connections is just like RJ45, but there is another thing I'm wondering about. What is the common way of splitting lines with this process? Meaning I have three internal pairs that need to be connected to one external pair. Do I just use a punch block like about and just stack the three pairs on top of each other on the posts on one side?

Third - I have some questions about my UPS deployment. As it stands right now, I have two servers (one running XP Pro for the POS software, the other one with SBS2003) and the networking equipment (switch, modem, router, soon to be VoIP gateway). I have two consumer-level UPS's right now - a 750VA for the networking equipment and the POS server, and a 500VA for the Win2k3 server. The 2k3 server isn't mission-critical yet. What would be the ideal way for me to set up my UPS's? Should I buy some rack-mountable managed UPS's and have one for each server and a seperate one for the networking equipment? Length of backup doesn't matter because if we have no power the store is closed. However, within a few months the 2k3 server will be hosing our company email and sharepoint info.

Well I have to run to work now because apparently the power just went out (ironic). Thanks in advance for any help!

--Andy
 
On the first question, what you are thinking of is a patch panel. They are common for Cat5 use to my knowledge, and I use one where I work at. I'm able to run Gbit ethernet speeds through it with no problems, so that shouldn't hold you back at all.

I don't have any knowledge on the second question, so I'll skip it.

On the UPS question, where I am we have a big daddy ups capable of hours of power to critical things for our business, and I'm also using a 1500 watt APC UPS to backup 3 of my servers because I don't fully trust the big daddy ups after it failed a couple of times. I think the best bet would be to get a powerful rackmount UPS and make sure everything critical on the rack is on it. Remember you still need the switch and router working in order to get net access during an outtage. I'd get enough capacity for at least 30 minutes, and maybe more if you're going to run a mail server, so you don't loose mail. Also make sure it is capable of shutting your servers down after a certain amount of time to ensure they get a proper shutdown. Bringing them back up is a nice feature as well, but if you have a monitoring problem page/email you when there is a problem, you can get back to it when needed.
 
Thanks for the input. The more I think about it, the more sense one large consolidated UPS makes. I'll spec out my wattage this week and start shopping.

I am familiar with patch panels. However, I'm wondering if there is a way to go from bare wire to bare wire, without crimping more ends on. I know this sounds nit-picky, but I already have a patch panel in the rack and having two just seems wasteful.

Thanks a lot though!
 
Crashsector said:
I am familiar with patch panels. However, I'm wondering if there is a way to go from bare wire to bare wire, without crimping more ends on. I know this sounds nit-picky, but I already have a patch panel in the rack and having two just seems wasteful.
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Bad idea. You'd be breaking all kinds of standards and allowing all kinds of intereference into the mix. I'd move the wallmount rack if possible. If all else fails, I guess you'll be running new Cat5. :D

As for your phone punchdowns, you can get clips that would connect the two center posts for your pair of phone lines, but punch down one side, let's go with left, then in the second punch down your second line, then on the third from the left punch down your third line, then have your dialtone (or whatever the Vo-IP equivalent is) on the farthest right. It should work, at least it does for analog. I'm not sure if you'd have to do some funky party call system with your digital setup or not. It's possible, I'm sure. Then you wouldn't have to monkey around with wires.
 
I figured as much about the Cat5. I will probably getting an RJ45 Female-Female wall-mount patch panel for the extensions. I can't move the rack. It's not a wallmount and it's as close to the wall where the wires come in as possible.

I'll have to look into the punch downs some more.
 
We have hundreds of punch blocks where I work and we run Cat-5-ethernet through it with no problems. Just be sure to get a spool of twisted pair wire to do the jumps with. Also come up with a good labeling solution. Punch blocks with no labels can quickly become a nightmare.
 
You can use a 110 block as a splice point on your cat 5/5e, just make sure it is rated as such. I know the Lucent/Avaya blocks are, as I used to work for a dealer.

Inserting one splice point with a 110 block was allowed as part of the Lucent/Avaya official spec.

It actually makes for quite an ellegant solution for extending short cables en masse.
 
As for the UPS's, just so long as they provide sufficient uptime to allow a proper shutdown, they are fine. Bigger isn't always neccessary.
 
valve1138 said:
As for the UPS's, just so long as they provide sufficient uptime to allow a proper shutdown, they are fine. Bigger isn't always neccessary.
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That's fine unless you have services that need to run. It's also nice to have some extra capacity to add more/more powerful servers in the future. It mainly depends on the needs of the business. Where I am we have plenty of capacity to hold out through a power outage w/ a diesel generator as a backup. We run a website and mail server over here though, so we want to make sure those services stay up.
 
sandmanx said:
That's fine unless you have services that need to run. It's also nice to have some extra capacity to add more/more powerful servers in the future. It mainly depends on the needs of the business. Where I am we have plenty of capacity to hold out through a power outage w/ a diesel generator as a backup. We run a website and mail server over here though, so we want to make sure those services stay up.
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True, but in that case I would suggest an automatic generator. Leaving the UPS's to power the gear during the delay that it takes the generator to fire up.
 
OK, so hypothetically, I have one large UPS and two servers. How do I get the UPS to shut down BOTH of the servers? Most of the ones I've looked at just have the usual USB/Serial connection to connect to one computer.
 
You buy interface adapters for the UPS, that allow multiple simultaneous device connections to a single UPS. Then, the UPS software will have agents that install on the other servers. They control the stateful shutdown sequence.
 
Crashsector said:
OK, so hypothetically, I have one large UPS and two servers. How do I get the UPS to shut down BOTH of the servers? Most of the ones I've looked at just have the usual USB/Serial connection to connect to one computer.
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APC provides software whereby one UPS/system can signal as many other systems as you need via the network for graceful shutdown. No need for multiple serial or USB cables.

Checkout the datasheet.
 
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