patch panels

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lone wolf

Gawd
Joined
Feb 4, 2003
Messages
705
Question:

how many networking people here still ACTIVELY use patch panels? I have a network with 110 nodes, I have the panels, but am debating using them. For some reason, it seems like a lot of extra cabling.

Thanks for the reply
 
Im the Network Admin for a public school district, and we have close to 600 computer and an assortment of network printers. Patch panels are worth it. They will make you closet much more organized, and make switching ports on switches ect much easier. You wont have to hunt around each time you need to make a change. Make sure you get a good map going, these are as good as gold. When you have a good map then is is just a matter of finding the right patch panel and making the switch.
 
~100 users (workstation + phone at most seats) Definitely use patch panels...saves my sanity.

That's assuming I had any to begin with :D
 
Even my customers with only 10 workstations get patch panels :p It turns out so much neater and easier to manage.
 
lone wolf said:
Question:

how many networking people here still ACTIVELY use patch panels? I have a network with 110 nodes, I have the panels, but am debating using them. For some reason, it seems like a lot of extra cabling.

Thanks for the reply
Click to expand...
What's this "still" business? Is there a better way to run network cabling than patch panels? We're using it now. We're also moving offices and I've had it installed at the new location as well.
 
2,500 users and 250ish printers. every cublice has 2 netwrok drops and two phone drops. all goto patch panels. make switching wiring arround and active/deactivate poorts so easy. Don't for get to label your ports at both ends. you don't want to be trying to tone out a single drop in 2500 =)
 
How else would you do a network of that size? Just crimp ends onto the station cables and go straight to the switch?

I've cleaned up those messes, it's not pretty, and half the ends get all screwed up.

Patch Panels are the way to go.
 
oakfan52 said:
2,500 users and 250ish printers. every cublice has 2 netwrok drops and two phone drops. all goto patch panels. make switching wiring arround and active/deactivate poorts so easy. Don't for get to label your ports at both ends. you don't want to be trying to tone out a single drop in 2500 =)
Click to expand...


HELL YES! QFT!!! There's no point in saving an hour of work now, only to add 6 hours of tracing down the road. Spend a little bit of time now, or you WILL spend a whole lot more later. That is a fact. Shit happens, and it's the Admin's job to either prevent it or find a timely solution.
 
the only way to do it is with patch panels... if you dont you are going to end up damaging the drop cables when they are laying on the floor etc... patch panels make everything nice and clean and keep your wiring "internal"... you dont want a cable to break so you have to splice it in your floor.... go with patch panels... ortronics makes a nice one....
 
I appreciate all of the feedback. I came into this job (nightmare wiring :) ) after the old admin was asked to leave a year ago. Now we have replaced the majority of the site with new systems, the old ones were Pentium 166 at best. I am now working on the wiring, as stated we have the patch panels available but none has ever been used. And yes, unfortunely, in my main closet there are 2 24 port switches with direct data plugins. I have toned the majority but I'm still setting up the game plan for the rest. Our entire site was wired in 1992 with Cat 3 and punchdown blocks. I have my work cut out...
 
Unless it's for "billy bob's big em network", patch panels is the only way to go. The only reason you could get away without them is maybe if all your devices (users, servers, and networking gear) are all in the same room.

Word on the labeling. I've come into way too many environments that are a disaster. Document, label, document, label, and after you get done with that document some more ;) Once you enter the enterprise arena, not having his process down will not only potentially cost the company prolonged outages due to your lack of ability to successfully troubleshoot, but big $$$ as well (which could mean your job).

Honestly, if I was you, unless the company is COMPLETELY BROKE or just hates technology, I wouldn’t worry about fixing the environment. I would lean towards a new solution, including some cable that has been used in the last decade (sadly enough you still see CAT3 pulled some places, but you get the idea) ;)
 
the school district im temporarly working for has roughly 4,000 computers and every closet in all 15 schools has patch pannels. Yes it adds alot more cabling with those hundreds of 1 foot cables, but your life will be SO much better by using them
 
only about 100 comptuers but there are alot more cables then that at my old HS

that is ONE of the 3 patch pannel rooms, if i didn't have 75% of the computers i own under my switch, i'd use one! :D


Tho's were the good ol days when i got to actually play with that stuff.
 
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My company does network consulting for various types of businesses Hospitals, Schools, SMB's...etc. One of the schools we work for has 700 computers, 250 printers and not a single patch panel or a single cable with a label on it. It's hell when a cable goes bad, you have to hook a cable toner up and hope to god that you can guess the direction that the cable leads. One of the hospitals that we consult for has just 40 PC's and maybe 10 network printers, the last network admin didn't believe in patch panels/labeling cables. This wouldn't have been terrible but they did a major renovation of the building and the old admin didn't think it necessary to remove the old cat5 when they put new drops in the new office space/rooms. So we have like 200 pairs of cat5 that just run nowhere and since they arn't labeled they may or may not still be plugged into a switch still.

I would always suggest using patch panels / good labeling pracites if for no other reason than for the people that will come after you!
 
I do network cabling for a living and if a customer doesnt want patch panels they are finding a new structured cabling outfit. Its just generally nasty, the only exception is if you're going to structure some type of 110 block scheme, which is a biger pain in the ass.

If youre doing vlans and such, patch panels with colored cables are a perfect solution.

Today alone I did 40 drops with 2 patch panels, yesteday was doing the cabling on 250 drops with patches, and then a fiber run to an IDF and then another 25 patch cables.

I stress the patch panels heavily.
 
Yes, patch panels are definitely the way to go.

We've got about 320 drops throughout 5 locations, they ALL go to patch panels. I only punched down two of the 48-port panels, but still. :)
 
Kaos said:
the only exception is if you're going to structure some type of 110 block scheme, which is a biger pain in the ass.
Click to expand...

110 blocks are what you get when your boss is an old Ma Bell telco tech.
Closets upon closets upon closets of 110 blocks...

Fun times.
 
Malk-a-mite said:
110 blocks are what you get when your boss is an old Ma Bell telco tech.
Closets upon closets upon closets of 110 blocks...

Fun times.
Click to expand...


Or an AT&T tech! :D
 
Oh god, you guys are starting to scare me. My dad "graduated" after 30 years with Ma Bell/Ameritech. He still mumbles 25pair color codes in his sleep...
 
w/o o w/g b.... sorry for that.... you also might want to look at having an telecom install company come out and sort that cable situation out for you... it might save your compnay time because they will be able to fix it all in a day or two and gaurenty their work..... just an option....
 
Footer4321 said:
w/o o w/g b.... sorry for that
Click to expand...
ahhhh you had it wrong anyways...

25pairdetailed.bmp


more color

25_pair_color_code_chart.png
 
hey lugtagz-in that first pic, it looks like they used audio cable for telephones...never seen that (looked like 2 pair shielded cable) I also noticed wirenuts and it doesn't look like any color code was used on the feed cable...sorry but I have an eye for detail. where is this phone room?
I use patch panels for everything too. I did an office with only 8 drops and I put a patch panel in. It makes troubleshooting much easier.
 
Kaos said:
ahhhh you had it wrong anyways...

25pairdetailed.bmp


more color

25_pair_color_code_chart.png
Click to expand...
i was actually doing 568b... but gj for getting me on it... i havent punched down a feeder cable for a good amount of time (thank god)
 
jeffmoss26 said:
hey lugtagz-in that first pic, it looks like they used audio cable for telephones...never seen that (looked like 2 pair shielded cable) I also noticed wirenuts and it doesn't look like any color code was used on the feed cable...sorry but I have an eye for detail. where is this phone room?
I use patch panels for everything too. I did an office with only 8 drops and I put a patch panel in. It makes troubleshooting much easier.
Click to expand...


My old HS that i graduated from in may. This is the 7th? i believe year the school has been up. I think it most of the school is wired with Cat5 and some fiber between switch stations. The people who built the school SUCKED. In out town you use the school for classes from 7th grade on, and i was there from the start! I think they pry hired some dumbass to wire the joint!

AND somone, what where all them wires you posted!
 
Kaos said:
ahhhh you had it wrong anyways...

[MG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/KaosX/Work/Wiring%20Diagrams/25pairdetailed.bmp[/IMG]

more color

[MG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/KaosX/Work/Wiring%20Diagrams/25_pair_color_code_chart.png[/IMG]
Click to expand...
Second image is a godsend. Never seen the first.

Ours isn't so pretty as it should be...Need to take a solid week and tone everything out to label properly. The network drops are even worse, absolutely no organization. The thing is, I don't really care!

And when I wired up a local company's network, I absolutely could not install a patch panel without running wires through some major conduit...I didn't feel like stiffing them with a $1000 bill instead of $200.
 
ambit said:
Good cable managment, but YIKES on stripping the jacket back way too far and untwisting the ends too much.

Did someone else do that? I'd love to see a Pentascanner run on some of those.
Click to expand...

Hehe, yeah that's a lot of exposed wire. But heck, I love how organized it is.
 
I honestly have no idea who wired it, i was only in 7th grade when they put it in :D I didn't get to be an Aid for the admin till my sr year. I actually snuck up to take the pics when he was gone but im sure he wouldn't mind! There are 3 of them patch pannels because the High School, Middle School and Elementry are combind. Small school, 49 in my graduate class :)
 
Patch pannels are great. For networking, audio equipment, recording studios....Almost anything where you need to change inputs and outputs it's the way to go.

Patch pannels by themselves are not the save all. You need to make sure you map out the network connections, rooms and ports.

Here is a great example of a switch room mess that I had to straighten up.
from this
3.jpg
to this
12.jpg

I would have spent some more time taking some of the tension off those cables but the boss wanted me to move on to the next closet.

If that wasnt a patch pannel I'm willing to be it would have been even more of a mess.
 
honestly the stripping is clean and organized, it's the twists that matter. If you look the farthest cable up is the brown pair, which isnt used unless theyre on gigabit, so the connection itself is probably solid, plus f they ever have a wire work its way out of a punch they dont have to re arrange each pair to re punch it, thats very neat, very organized A+.
 
jeffmoss26 said:
hey lugtagz-in that first pic, it looks like they used audio cable for telephones...never seen that (looked like 2 pair shielded cable) I also noticed wirenuts and it doesn't look like any color code was used on the feed cable...sorry but I have an eye for detail. where is this phone room?
I use patch panels for everything too. I did an office with only 8 drops and I put a patch panel in. It makes troubleshooting much easier.
Click to expand...
its just single pair shielded. using strand wire sucks when punching to 66 blocks
b-line makes some....or maybe it was commscope.

and I hear you on the wirenuts stuff.....ick, buttons if anything. Wirenuts belong with speaker wire and thats it.

it's too bad you live so far over in ohio, i could offer you a job doing professional premise wiring for the company i work for in PA
 
always use em.

I did a job just recently(still incomplete as the building is still being made)
Gonna be about 60 drops. 2 data 1 voice per office. with some extra thrown here and there for random shit. Now the voice will go towards its own puncdown block. but the rest are being thrown into a 48port patch panel. Which will then go down to two switches.



Server will be on the same rack(Small closet/server room being built)
 
Kaos-thanks :) too bad I have one year left in HS, or I would come there and work!
I have done work with my dad's company so I have seen a lot of messed up phone rooms. I also do work for people, doing voice, data, and video cabling...working in old houses is usually a pain, but I have learned a lot about construction. My work in a hardware store is coming in handy with that. I was at my school today helping the admin organize some stuff in the server room. Our new fiber internet line was being installed when I was there.

Jeff
 
Upon further inspection, I took a look at some of the labeling on the phone patch picture. It appears that they are connections for a Dukane StarCall system, which is a PA system. My dad's work installs them, and I know they do use shielded cable for the stations. I believe it is one pair shielded for voice, and one pair unshielded for contact closure. I still don't understand the color code they used.
 
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