Everyone knows you gotta do home networking at 3am when the family is sleeping. 🤣 Nice video. I love using keystone panels, makes things so much easier.
I love Keystone Jack Patch Panels.... I have actually rack mounted my main desktop, run some USB ports & such to the front and bam, it's like a front loading USB port.
I went keystone as I live in an apartment, actually keystone connectors F2F. I realize it adds another point of failure or two, but has the flexibility I need to go with apartment life. Now if I can just figure out what AP to use since the Ubiquiti one I was choosing is now on the EOL list.
@@PoeLemic not easily on the pictures. But what I did is bought a male to male usb cable. Plugged one end into the back of my rack mounted desktop, plugged the other end into the keystone jack in my patch panel (which is really just a super small female to female converter). And now I can if I plug anything into that usb port it's just like a normal one I also have a capture dongle. And it runs an hdmi to a hdmi jack. I have other devices connected to other HDMI jacks and a little 4 inch hdmi cable that I can move to switch inputs
Awesome Dude. I asked about the patch panel in the last video and you just over-delivered it! Really nice solution, way more modular than the ''regular'' patch panel. Great idea, that is an awesome setup you got there. Cheers!
I've just begun the process of building my own networking infrastructure for personal use in the home, so this video proves to be very well timed as I have myself a small "19-Inch 7U Networking Cabinet" that I got for free from the roadside a few months ago and I plan to install all of my hardware into it (Well, except from the Wireless AP, because a metal cage around a Wireless Access Point is a bad idea haha). My plan is to build a PFSense 1U Box that is low power, then hook that up to a "1U, 48-Port Gigabit Network Switch" and have my Wireless AP hook up to the network switch. I just purchased and recieved my new (and cheap) Wireless AP the other day, it is a "TP-Link Archer C7 (V5 Hardware Revision)" which set me back about £70. I have flashed OpenWRT onto it and started setting it up, so stage 1 is well under way. Next I plan to buy the hardware for the 1U system that will operate as a PFSense Router. Not sure how I am going to tackle this part yet as it seems like much of the 1U, Short Depth (250mm) Chassis on the market are either poorly built + overpriced, or, NOT sold in the UK/Suitable for UK 240V...... So if anyone reads this and has any kind of recommendations then please do post a reply as I'm really struggling with this part.
this is a perfect solution for my apartment rack, i did not want to deal with terminating cables on the back, i just want a plug and play type setup so keystone seems like a great option. this option is a tad expensive at $18.99 for the panel and if your populating all 48 ports your up to $40 for the keystone attachments roughly.
Rack mount the switches in the rear. No patch panel required. Added bonus of not having to run longer cables through the middle/sides of the rack from rear to front. But, to each their own. Looks cool regardless.
The rear of the rack sits just far enough from the wall to open the doors. I can barely squeeze my fat ass in there. I'm not sitting on the hot side of the rack with t-rex arms to work on the switches. I've lived that life already.
just curious. You have plenty of open ports in your patch panel. Any reason you didn't align your ports with your switch so the connections were more direct
I love that you're somewhat local to me. It's awesome seeing all my favorite beers on here. Have you tried any beers from De Garde? Crazy stuff they're putting out.
The back is symple. Power up one side and cable up the other side. Connection split out of bundles horizontally with enough slack so that you can service things without having to disconnect everything.
A beer tree. I was getting ready to book a trip to paradise. I'm just shocked that no one came running out and complaining that the internet was down. Regardless of telling them. Mine would of freaked out still...or started hyperventilating....or both.
You convinced me to go buy a keystone patchpanel. I just ordered it :) I already have a patchpanel, but that is one of which you said you didn't want. I've had it for 1,5 years now and I never had the motivation to do anything with it.. xD
in our DC if we have front mounted network/switch gear we stack a maximum of 2 devices ontop of each other, seperated by a brush guard on the U's above and below the group. This allows you to run any cables you need through the brush guards and never have a cable crossing over another device. If you have a switch fail, the last thing you want to worry about is the 10-20 cables draping over it preventing you from pulling it out of the rack :)
Your content just gets better and better. I added you to my monthly Patreon. Glad that you made the life-change. I believe in what you are doing for you and your family. Keep up good work.
Now I need to rack all my servers 6 4u chassis and 2 2u currently in my makeshift rack. Well 4 are on the floor in a stack. If I could fit a 42 U in my attic i would but I will just have to wait until I move. Great Video. On the cable management.
Nice, but put a 1u cable manager in between you patch Panel and switch for an even cleaner look.. it will also allow you to hide the fiber patch.. then you can use 1m or .5m cat 6 patch cables and hide the excess cable within the cable manager..
For cable management I generally use Panduit products and switches I generally mount at the rear of the rack rather than facing the front as it has the effect of reducing the length of the cables i need to manage. Sure, i can't see blinkenlights at the front but I can live with that.
Nice simple video man. I agree this is a very useful simple way to manage the rack but, and please don't take this the wrong way I would personally feel like I was cheating if I did not terminate each cable (except for the fiber) to the patch panel. I am weird like that but, most people do not enjoy that tedious part of making cables. Anyway looks good man!
Should of mentioned the polarity for the LC fiber, using a single patch panel like that will require you to flip the polarity on one of the cables in the run
Jeff, of course you may have realized, if you attached the fiber connectors to spots 1 & 2 (not sure why you skippepped one at the other end), you could have made it look a 'little neater :) Sorry, just being a jealous hard-as, so forgive me.
I don't see the amazon link to the butterfly bottle opener. We use those panels at my office and they work great, if I could only get them to switch to the short patch cables to go with them. When's the rack cooling solution video coming out? I'm trying to find ways to cool my 1U blade before I get it set up in my garage.
You didn't cable manage anything, you just added an unneeded extra layer. Your rack is on wheels so there is no reason to have cables at the front at all. Put the switches in the rear, that's where the server network ports are, so that's where where switches are needed. Cabling from the rest of the house goes into a patch panel, also at the rear, because that's where all the cabling is done. When you get to the actual cable management, getting things organized in the rear, you will have a hard time reaching the back of that patch panel in between those two switches. You'll need to keep track of what the reverse order of the front is, and you'll probably need a torch to see any labeling on the ports, or maybe you run the back of the patch panel unmarked for that extra bit of excitement? it's SO much easier if you just have the switches facing the rear, you can actually see what you're doing rather than having to run each cable through the depth of the rack.
ubiquiti devices don't support changing airflow direction, and they run really hot. they'd be pulling from the hot side if rear-facing. It would be different if this were a production environment, but for a home/test lab having front access to switchports can be handy, plus you pay good money to see all those blinky lights lol
This is nice but I would only do this for the house wiring for CAT6 wire. For my server level connection I do only wire connections from switch to server or switch to switch. My switch to switch is fiber so that is easy. For my CAT 7 and 6 cables server connection I use wire managers with pass thru holes in the back of them to hide the excess wire. I have had issue with breaking the wire connection RJ-45 patch panels and wall mount female RJ-45 ports. Single wire connection work best for me with no CRC errors like I get with patching out the connection. Check out my video on my dual rack setup some time. I also talk to cooling and many other factors in support of a server and storage rack setups.
More accurately those are pass through keystone jacks meant to be used with patch cables only. Regular keystone jacks you terminate the CAT5/6 (etc) cables into them much as you would for punch panel but yet are intended for wall plates. 4:35 Thats monoprice for ya. I have bought from them in bulk and I get them in 1 large bulk packaging filled with each in their own packing lol It is cheaper to buy them that way in bulk for them selves as they can send 1 or a 100
I always leave at least 1/2 U free space in between switches. They heat up and placed against each other even more. Whatever air-cooling or air- distribution system you're going to put in is going to work better with air flow between the switches. Just my 0.02€
What about buying a 1 uu cable passthough organiser? right now you have a mess in the back that you do not see ;) plus you have to note what cable goes to the back of the keystone panel.
Would love to see a video that answers 1) What do you do with your home server? 2) What all can one do with a home server? 3) Do I need a home server??
Maybe you're explained it in previous videos, what are you using your fiber for (Storage, 10Gbps internet, etc.), and did you or will you be posting your network architect (what connects to what), I ask because I'm hoping to wire my small office similar to yours. Thx for posting.
Question. My house was a new build and it was wired with CAT5e cables to every room. The cables are not terminated in the box in my closet. Do I need to do this or can I just terminate the cables and plug them straight into the router?
I like keystone panels as well particularly the panduit brand. I have never used pass-through jacks - I would really like to test that pass-thru jack out with a fluke certification tester. I have also lost count the number of plugs I have had to remove from solid core cable and replace with a socket (CJ688TGBL) with plenum rated box (CBX1IW-A) with fly-lead to wireless access points/bridges and IP security cameras to achieve a long-term reliable fix to equipment "spontaneously" dropping off the network. Something about the movement of the solid core against the very small insulation displacement blade on each conductor/pin held in the strongest of materials working their way loose over time. (Caveat) No techy wants a phone call from a client at 10PM "My media player in the bedroom all of a sudden stopped playing my movies and can't find anything on the network". One of the reasons why we also use HDMI cables that have plugs that lock into the socket like the display-port cables do. That being said it looks like you're using stranded-cable flyleads so not so much an issue there with the exception of how well those pass-through jacks perform at high frequency ranges in line with the category of cable/patch-leads you are using. I would use a Network Traffic Generator and Stress Testing Software to push the link to it's limits and supposing your switch is managed, check the statistics such as throughput, lost/dropped and retransmitted frames. Getting back to wire/patch management: Some 1RU blank panels with affixed black slotted duct might be the better way to go for DIY'ers on a tight budget or source them already made (WMPFSE). Note they have space in the panel to pass cables through from the back of the rack as well. I would keep patch panels for their original intended use, terminating premises cable for patching to networking equipment such as switches/routers/firewalls/Security NVRs etc...
5:45 - I just realized you're running a Sangoma FreePBX. I had to learn to admin those systems in my last job...after never having used a PBX before in my life. I loathe that system!
The double-ended RJ45 makes sense for servers inside the rack, but for premise wiring you'd need a standard RJ45 to T-568A/B breakout keystone. Just thought I'd point out the obvious.
@@estusflask982 Because of how I was trained. Premise wiring has jacks, patch cables have plugs. There's nothing electrically wrong with this, it's just not how I was trained, and I didn't realize that this configuration was common.
I'm not a fan of adding additional connections, you could just use the brush panel you mentioned to hide the cables. We are using Keystone panels for all our cableruns these days but I didn't know they are so versatile with those couplers.
I have that same MikroTik CRS328 PoE switch, and I have another MikroTik CSS610 connected to it, being powered by PoE - but the CRS328 would not send power unless I set that specific port to force-on - now I have to worry about accidentally connecting something else to that port. Is this how it should be?
I object. I am a believer in terminating the RJ45 to keystone's and then adding them to the patch panel. In general you get a faster and better termination if you do female. The fiber is ok as terminating / splicing fiber requires expensive tools. We just terminated some fiber at work but out parent company loaned us the tools.
@@CraftComputing have you tried the belden reconnect Jack's? You pay a hefty price premium $12-$20/jack but they are so easy to terminate. As you crimp a core you can replace a jack or swap male for female without terminating again
Professionally I take great care when it comes to server rack optimisation and cable management. My own rack however... I cannot even begin to count the number of things wrong with it. (Everything works though.)
@@CraftComputing My rack was under the stairs for a while. Just sitting there half built and barely functional. Then I gave it its own room, took care setting it up and well... 3 years later its in a right state.
Nice! I'm wondering, what are your maintenance costs for everything regarding network? Did you check how much energy your network uses? Is electric energy expensive in your country? In germany 1kwh costs about 0.29€ which is pretty expensive. If you get yourself an vps most of the time the vps cost itself is cheaper than the energy costs of a home server alone lol.. Of course industry gets energy cheaper but still..
I can see how these make sense but they cost over twice as much since you need to buy keystone couplers and modular plugs that work with solid core cable. If I was going to swap to a keystone panel I would probably go with regular punch-down keystones.
Everyone knows you gotta do home networking at 3am when the family is sleeping. 🤣
Nice video. I love using keystone panels, makes things so much easier.
"It's ok, I only needed 8 of them in there." Shows 10 keystones installed. Lol
See... still had two to spare. I could have dropped more.
@@CraftComputing channeling your inner Linus
finally, a video that explains what a patch panel is and is for. Thanks for the tip about using keystone.
Don't threaten me with a good time 🤣
I'll threaten you all I want! Now go drink your beer like I told you to!!!
@@CraftComputing It's 9am, however an order is an order. Beer drinking time!
I like the cable matters keystone rack as they have a bar to zip tie the cables to
I love Keystone Jack Patch Panels....
I have actually rack mounted my main desktop, run some USB ports & such to the front and bam, it's like a front loading USB port.
I went keystone as I live in an apartment, actually keystone connectors F2F. I realize it adds another point of failure or two, but has the flexibility I need to go with apartment life. Now if I can just figure out what AP to use since the Ubiquiti one I was choosing is now on the EOL list.
Nova ... Can you show a picture of how your desktop was rack-mounted? That's an interesting idea.
@@PoeLemic not easily on the pictures. But what I did is bought a male to male usb cable. Plugged one end into the back of my rack mounted desktop, plugged the other end into the keystone jack in my patch panel (which is really just a super small female to female converter). And now I can if I plug anything into that usb port it's just like a normal one
I also have a capture dongle. And it runs an hdmi to a hdmi jack. I have other devices connected to other HDMI jacks and a little 4 inch hdmi cable that I can move to switch inputs
I've always been curious about running a home lab and your videos have definitely convinced me to do so.
Awesome! Stay tuned, as I'm doing a couple videos on low-cost home lab servers soon!
In it for the back side rack video 🤙🏻
Awesome Dude. I asked about the patch panel in the last video and you just over-delivered it! Really nice solution, way more modular than the ''regular'' patch panel. Great idea, that is an awesome setup you got there. Cheers!
I've just begun the process of building my own networking infrastructure for personal use in the home, so this video proves to be very well timed as I have myself a small "19-Inch 7U Networking Cabinet" that I got for free from the roadside a few months ago and I plan to install all of my hardware into it (Well, except from the Wireless AP, because a metal cage around a Wireless Access Point is a bad idea haha).
My plan is to build a PFSense 1U Box that is low power, then hook that up to a "1U, 48-Port Gigabit Network Switch" and have my Wireless AP hook up to the network switch.
I just purchased and recieved my new (and cheap) Wireless AP the other day, it is a "TP-Link Archer C7 (V5 Hardware Revision)" which set me back about £70. I have flashed OpenWRT onto it and started setting it up, so stage 1 is well under way.
Next I plan to buy the hardware for the 1U system that will operate as a PFSense Router.
Not sure how I am going to tackle this part yet as it seems like much of the 1U, Short Depth (250mm) Chassis on the market are either poorly built + overpriced, or, NOT sold in the UK/Suitable for UK 240V......
So if anyone reads this and has any kind of recommendations then please do post a reply as I'm really struggling with this part.
Well done and great timing. My wife and I are planning to build a new home and having a well-managed server closet is one of my priorities.
this is a perfect solution for my apartment rack, i did not want to deal with terminating cables on the back, i just want a plug and play type setup so keystone seems like a great option. this option is a tad expensive at $18.99 for the panel and if your populating all 48 ports your up to $40 for the keystone attachments roughly.
Nice very nice. my OCD is satiated.
Rack mount the switches in the rear. No patch panel required. Added bonus of not having to run longer cables through the middle/sides of the rack from rear to front. But, to each their own. Looks cool regardless.
The rear of the rack sits just far enough from the wall to open the doors. I can barely squeeze my fat ass in there. I'm not sitting on the hot side of the rack with t-rex arms to work on the switches. I've lived that life already.
Nice. I've heard of these keystone thingies. But never seen them installed / in action like that. Thank you.
Not only did this video leave me wanting to cable manage my rack but it also left me wanting a beer.. Thumbs up... but now you owe me a beer.
just curious. You have plenty of open ports in your patch panel. Any reason you didn't align your ports with your switch so the connections were more direct
I love that you're somewhat local to me. It's awesome seeing all my favorite beers on here. Have you tried any beers from De Garde? Crazy stuff they're putting out.
Love De Garde. Used to head out there quite a bit. Haven't been lately for obvious reasons.
De garde has one of my favorite Goses.
The back is symple. Power up one side and cable up the other side. Connection split out of bundles horizontally with enough slack so that you can service things without having to disconnect everything.
Yep! Just waiting for my power bars to come in.
A beer tree. I was getting ready to book a trip to paradise. I'm just shocked that no one came running out and complaining that the internet was down. Regardless of telling them. Mine would of freaked out still...or started hyperventilating....or both.
You convinced me to go buy a keystone patchpanel. I just ordered it :)
I already have a patchpanel, but that is one of which you said you didn't want. I've had it for 1,5 years now and I never had the motivation to do anything with it.. xD
In the beginning there are cables going to the ubiquity devices but at the end there are none...
I was confused about this as well. Is there an answer to this? @Craft Computing
I just got the UniFi devices. Haven't even powered them up yet. Review coming in a couple weeks.
He did say he just added some cable to make it more messy in the beginning - probably the blue and yellow "messy" cables :D
Bingo. They were plugged into the correct places if the USW and UDM were ready to go, but obviously the cables could have been shorter.
@@CraftComputing We question because we care. Also your beer choices are always spot on.
in our DC if we have front mounted network/switch gear we stack a maximum of 2 devices ontop of each other, seperated by a brush guard on the U's above and below the group. This allows you to run any cables you need through the brush guards and never have a cable crossing over another device. If you have a switch fail, the last thing you want to worry about is the 10-20 cables draping over it preventing you from pulling it out of the rack :)
What is the best way to cable manage a DAC cable? Is a brush panel the only way?
Should've drank a Key stone beer in this one
For keystone ports not used I have 'blank' black keystone jacks for a pro look. Thanks Jeff!
Your content just gets better and better. I added you to my monthly Patreon. Glad that you made the life-change. I believe in what you are doing for you and your family. Keep up good work.
Thank you for the video. Can you link or add to the description the back of the rack video if you ever made it . Cheers.
I liked as soon as you said "fresh squeezed"!
I have bought patch panel. Bu after your video i have changed my mind and i am going to buy blank patch panel and couple keystone modules.
You had me a "can't beat fresh squeezed" Jeff!
Love the opening to this video. "Can't beat freshly squeezed".
Having a patch panel with multiple different types of cables plugged into drives my OCD crazy.
I just got a entry job setting these up including cable management.
Now I need to rack all my servers 6 4u chassis and 2 2u currently in my makeshift rack. Well 4 are on the floor in a stack. If I could fit a 42 U in my attic i would but I will just have to wait until I move. Great Video. On the cable management.
Thanks! Have you looked at any of the flat pack racks on Amazon? I upgraded from this from a 27U that was only ~$130.
I will check it out!
Awesome! Love it. Thank you.
Nice, but put a 1u cable manager in between you patch Panel and switch for an even cleaner look.. it will also allow you to hide the fiber patch.. then you can use 1m or .5m cat 6 patch cables and hide the excess cable within the cable manager..
For cable management I generally use Panduit products and switches I generally mount at the rear of the rack rather than facing the front as it has the effect of reducing the length of the cables i need to manage. Sure, i can't see blinkenlights at the front but I can live with that.
Nice simple video man. I agree this is a very useful simple way to manage the rack but, and please don't take this the wrong way I would personally feel like I was cheating if I did not terminate each cable (except for the fiber) to the patch panel. I am weird like that but, most people do not enjoy that tedious part of making cables. Anyway looks good man!
Should of mentioned the polarity for the LC fiber, using a single patch panel like that will require you to flip the polarity on one of the cables in the run
Brush panel can be used to pass all cables through, which is nice for homelabs where you keep changing gear around.
Jeff, of course you may have realized, if you attached the fiber connectors to spots 1 & 2 (not sure why you skippepped one at the other end), you could have made it look a 'little neater :) Sorry, just being a jealous hard-as, so forgive me.
I don't see the amazon link to the butterfly bottle opener. We use those panels at my office and they work great, if I could only get them to switch to the short patch cables to go with them. When's the rack cooling solution video coming out? I'm trying to find ways to cool my 1U blade before I get it set up in my garage.
I feel like the patch panel is begging you to start at port #4 or so so they all line up with the switch ports
Fresh Squeezed is on my "easy to find and not hard to buy" list next to Little Sumpin', Torpedo, and Stone.
Very clean cable management.
Thanks.
I need a patch panel.
I love Deschutes IPA! It's so goooood!!
You didn't cable manage anything, you just added an unneeded extra layer. Your rack is on wheels so there is no reason to have cables at the front at all. Put the switches in the rear, that's where the server network ports are, so that's where where switches are needed. Cabling from the rest of the house goes into a patch panel, also at the rear, because that's where all the cabling is done.
When you get to the actual cable management, getting things organized in the rear, you will have a hard time reaching the back of that patch panel in between those two switches. You'll need to keep track of what the reverse order of the front is, and you'll probably need a torch to see any labeling on the ports, or maybe you run the back of the patch panel unmarked for that extra bit of excitement? it's SO much easier if you just have the switches facing the rear, you can actually see what you're doing rather than having to run each cable through the depth of the rack.
ubiquiti devices don't support changing airflow direction, and they run really hot. they'd be pulling from the hot side if rear-facing. It would be different if this were a production environment, but for a home/test lab having front access to switchports can be handy, plus you pay good money to see all those blinky lights lol
I'm trying to do the back of my rack... yeesh it's a pain in the ass... but at least I can make the front look nice!
nice video sir, did you has another videos about cabling method among racks?
This is nice but I would only do this for the house wiring for CAT6 wire. For my server level connection I do only wire connections from switch to server or switch to switch. My switch to switch is fiber so that is easy. For my CAT 7 and 6 cables server connection I use wire managers with pass thru holes in the back of them to hide the excess wire. I have had issue with breaking the wire connection RJ-45 patch panels and wall mount female RJ-45 ports. Single wire connection work best for me with no CRC errors like I get with patching out the connection. Check out my video on my dual rack setup some time. I also talk to cooling and many other factors in support of a server and storage rack setups.
I find jacks much easier to terminate successfully than plugs, and having a patch panel makes this tidy.
Thanks for sharing Sr.
Do you have a video describing what all that gear does/serves?. Love how the rack came out.
More accurately those are pass through keystone jacks meant to be used with patch cables only. Regular keystone jacks you terminate the CAT5/6 (etc) cables into them much as you would for punch panel but yet are intended for wall plates. 4:35 Thats monoprice for ya. I have bought from them in bulk and I get them in 1 large bulk packaging filled with each in their own packing lol It is cheaper to buy them that way in bulk for them selves as they can send 1 or a 100
Thanks! Just putting my together my first rack and there is very little info on cable management. I would love to see a video about the back.
its because there are as many solutions for cable management as there are opinions on the internet.
I always leave at least 1/2 U free space in between switches. They heat up and placed against each other even more. Whatever air-cooling or air- distribution system you're going to put in is going to work better with air flow between the switches.
Just my 0.02€
I like your humor :)
What about buying a 1 uu cable passthough organiser? right now you have a mess in the back that you do not see ;) plus you have to note what cable goes to the back of the keystone panel.
Would love to see a video that answers 1) What do you do with your home server? 2) What all can one do with a home server? 3) Do I need a home server??
Hops are my life!
i really like the intro 🤣🤣🤣🤣
loved the opening.
Personally I went for keystones that you punch in properly but thats because all my incoming is solid core ethernet rather than long patch cables
How do you fix a spaghetti bowl of cables within a timeline without disconnecting the cables?
Maybe you're explained it in previous videos, what are you using your fiber for (Storage, 10Gbps internet, etc.), and did you or will you be posting your network architect (what connects to what), I ask because I'm hoping to wire my small office similar to yours. Thx for posting.
What rack are you using. I've been looking for something similar to what you have. Thanks!
I miss the FiberNinja, his old videos are great for super small home/office setups.
Now i am waiting for the re-cabling video of the back of the rack ;-)
We don't talk about the back of the rack. Just close the door and pretend it doesn't exist 🤣
Viewing from Beijing in the morning while drinking Asahi beer ;)
Good morning!
Question. My house was a new build and it was wired with CAT5e cables to every room. The cables are not terminated in the box in my closet. Do I need to do this or can I just terminate the cables and plug them straight into the router?
Waiting for back of the rack.
Best video for Thomas219 aka ΚΝΠ in order to tide his rack some day!
No way now. Maybe next year
I like keystone panels as well particularly the panduit brand.
I have never used pass-through jacks - I would really like to test that pass-thru jack out with a fluke certification tester.
I have also lost count the number of plugs I have had to remove from solid core cable and replace with a socket (CJ688TGBL) with plenum rated box (CBX1IW-A) with fly-lead to wireless access points/bridges and IP security cameras to achieve a long-term reliable fix to equipment "spontaneously" dropping off the network. Something about the movement of the solid core against the very small insulation displacement blade on each conductor/pin held in the strongest of materials working their way loose over time. (Caveat) No techy wants a phone call from a client at 10PM "My media player in the bedroom all of a sudden stopped playing my movies and can't find anything on the network". One of the reasons why we also use HDMI cables that have plugs that lock into the socket like the display-port cables do.
That being said it looks like you're using stranded-cable flyleads so not so much an issue there with the exception of how well those pass-through jacks perform at high frequency ranges in line with the category of cable/patch-leads you are using. I would use a Network Traffic Generator and Stress Testing Software to push the link to it's limits and supposing your switch is managed, check the statistics such as throughput, lost/dropped and retransmitted frames.
Getting back to wire/patch management: Some 1RU blank panels with affixed black slotted duct might be the better way to go for DIY'ers on a tight budget or source them already made (WMPFSE). Note they have space in the panel to pass cables through from the back of the rack as well.
I would keep patch panels for their original intended use, terminating premises cable for patching to networking equipment such as switches/routers/firewalls/Security NVRs etc...
Have you done the cooling video yet really interested in it?
Standing in my garage as we speak filming the install.
5:45 - I just realized you're running a Sangoma FreePBX. I had to learn to admin those systems in my last job...after never having used a PBX before in my life. I loathe that system!
The double-ended RJ45 makes sense for servers inside the rack, but for premise wiring you'd need a standard RJ45 to T-568A/B breakout keystone. Just thought I'd point out the obvious.
The two ports on the left are my premise wifi. Still works just to terminate male ends and use a passthrough jack.
Why?
@@estusflask982 Because of how I was trained. Premise wiring has jacks, patch cables have plugs. There's nothing electrically wrong with this, it's just not how I was trained, and I didn't realize that this configuration was common.
I'm not a fan of adding additional connections, you could just use the brush panel you mentioned to hide the cables.
We are using Keystone panels for all our cableruns these days but I didn't know they are so versatile with those couplers.
Great tips and great opening skit :)
I have that same MikroTik CRS328 PoE switch, and I have another MikroTik CSS610 connected to it, being powered by PoE - but the CRS328 would not send power unless I set that specific port to force-on - now I have to worry about accidentally connecting something else to that port. Is this how it should be?
I like rj45 patch panels they usually cheaper too
I object. I am a believer in terminating the RJ45 to keystone's and then adding them to the patch panel. In general you get a faster and better termination if you do female. The fiber is ok as terminating / splicing fiber requires expensive tools. We just terminated some fiber at work but out parent company loaned us the tools.
You're a madman!
@@CraftComputing most of the time my rack is clean and tidy but the rest of the server room is a dumpster fire as it's used for storage 😟
@@CraftComputing have you tried the belden reconnect Jack's? You pay a hefty price premium $12-$20/jack but they are so easy to terminate. As you crimp a core you can replace a jack or swap male for female without terminating again
So funny, so almost different to anything we do in Europe ;-)
Oh buddy, you are my whole rack ❤️❤️❤️
Professionally I take great care when it comes to server rack optimisation and cable management.
My own rack however... I cannot even begin to count the number of things wrong with it. (Everything works though.)
Two years ago, my home server sat in the bottom of my upstairs closet.
@@CraftComputing My rack was under the stairs for a while. Just sitting there half built and barely functional. Then I gave it its own room, took care setting it up and well... 3 years later its in a right state.
Has one used the "Rackstuds" cage nuts? They seems pretty useful, especially in a homelab environment
Im also curious, in europe they are quite expensive to get.
I must have bought some crummy keystone wallplates back in the day because 95% were crap. No satisfying click, just frustration.
Please can you go over the simple/starter for free pbx system. How to setup voip system
Thanks for the video
Business in the front, party in the back
Did you ever find server rails for that rosewill 4u chassis?
Shis that blade action was smooth.......
Fastest bottle opener in the west.
You and bitwit need to team up on jokey intros :-D
so wait, are you not using the brand new ubiquiti gear?
I haven't even turned them on yet... get off my back! Sheesh! ;-)
@@CraftComputing lol! BTW, that beer is legit!
is there a followup for the back of the rack yet?
Still waiting...
Do all different brands keystone's fit in those panels? It was never really clear to me. This is why I opted for regular patch panel.
How do I know I’m a total tech nerd? Because I enjoyed this video.
Nice! I'm wondering, what are your maintenance costs for everything regarding network? Did you check how much energy your network uses? Is electric energy expensive in your country?
In germany 1kwh costs about 0.29€ which is pretty expensive. If you get yourself an vps most of the time the vps cost itself is cheaper than the energy costs of a home server alone lol.. Of course industry gets energy cheaper but still..
I don't know where he lives, but for me it's kWh rate (flat rate) $0.106764
@@Solkre82Ok, and where do you live?
What I am more curious about is what that Sangoma networks box is doing, this is no ordinary hardware even for enterprises :D
I can see how these make sense but they cost over twice as much since you need to buy keystone couplers and modular plugs that work with solid core cable. If I was going to swap to a keystone panel I would probably go with regular punch-down keystones.