bligh001g Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 Hi all, So our Trust is opening a brand new school in Sep 2020... how would you go about the network set up? The most minimal yet functional set up possible? I'm thinking def. cloud based, but what about on site stuff?
FN-GM Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 What do your other schools do? Wouldn't you want to have a common setup with them all? 1
bligh001g Posted March 11, 2019 Author Posted March 11, 2019 A lot of our schools have suffered from bodging up over the years .. plus most have a dual system with network drives, Google Drive etc. We want a simple system to start with which isn't a replica of the current bodge jobs! 1
FN-GM Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 Oh right. I assumed you already had a standardised system. 1
DrBeaker Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 Depending on available ££'s obviously - but .... 10G fibre backbone to the edge/core cabs. At least 1x 48-port PoE switch in each edge cab 1G to the desktop PoE WAPs + wireleess controller VoIP Phones On-site File servers seem to becoming redundant? At least 2x hosts for virtualisation UPS in each edge cab Big-ass UPS in main cab Generator (pipe-dream I guess) 1
FN-GM Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) Keep the number of cabs / coms rooms to a minimum. I would expect only 2 in a typical new build 1,200 capacity secondary school. Edited March 11, 2019 by FN-GM
DrBeaker Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 Keep the number of cabs to a minimum. I would expect only 2 in a typical new build 1,200 capacity secondary school. Only 2? No plans for IT suites?
DrCheese Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 Yes - One of the annoying things about our old (1982) building is the layout means we have multiple two switch stacks around the building, I hate it as the cost of replacing them all adds up (Granted they last forever but that's not the point) - Whereas our newer buildings just have two main stacks of 3/4 switches for the entire building as it was built with networking in mind. Keep it low where you can. In terms of server provision, you won't really need much now with most stuff going up the cloud...
FN-GM Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) Only 2? No plans for IT suites? Yep - all our secondaries have 2 cooms rooms where all data points go back to (including IT rooms). In these they have stacks of switches. All within 100m on the points. No point having more cabinets if you don't need to. Pic attached. Edited March 11, 2019 by FN-GM 2
DrBeaker Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) Yep - all our secondaries have 2 cooms rooms where all data points go back to (including IT rooms). In these they have stacks of switches. All within 100m on the points. No point having more cabinets if you don't need to. Pic attached. No the less cabs the better, sometimes you've got to play the hand you're dealt though if you work in an older school for example. A lot of ours is listed so what can be done is limited. All within the distance run of Cat5/6 etc too? That's amazing and an incredible achievement! Are your schools relatively new builds? Edited March 11, 2019 by DrBeaker
FN-GM Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 Yes - One of the annoying things about our old (1982) building is the layout means we have multiple two switch stacks around the building, I hate it as the cost of replacing them all adds up (Granted they last forever but that's not the point) - Whereas our newer buildings just have two main stacks of 3/4 switches for the entire building as it was built with networking in mind. Keep it low where you can. In terms of server provision, you won't really need much now with most stuff going up the cloud... One of our old builds was like that. They had comms cabs all over the show. Much better in the new buildings. Cheaper and easier to manage. An example of it being cheaper is that not all the switches need to be POE. We just patch up POE ports where required. When we had cabs all over the show all of them needed to be POE so the cost increased.
FN-GM Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) No the less cabs the better Thats what I said? No the less cabs the better, sometimes you've got to play the hand you're dealt though if you work in an older school for example. A lot of ours is listed so what can be done is limited. Exactly - but the OP has new building. Luckily! Are your schools relatively new builds? The secondaries are 6 year old. All CAT 6 within distance. Edited March 11, 2019 by FN-GM
SVM Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 We have a few new schools opening, one secondary new build will be setup as FN-GM said, all cables run back to the Server room with no additional cabinets around school (6 x 42u cabinets) vs an old building with 16 switch cabinets spread around Same with a primary opening soon, everything is run back to the one room. I would make sure ducting is put in outside so BT and Virgin can use in future, ceiling height network points for WIFI, points where you may want digital signage and CCTV etc the designers will group network points together so check at front of classrooms
dsmith8 Posted October 8, 2019 Posted October 8, 2019 We are in a very similar position having 160 place special school completing late 2020 so would love to open some dialogue with others in similar situations to see what they'd do if anyone would be happy for some email/calls?
Jcx500 Posted October 9, 2019 Posted October 9, 2019 Opened a school last year, one central comms cab
DrBeaker Posted October 9, 2019 Posted October 9, 2019 Opened a school last year, one central comms cab How does that work with the far edges of the school and getting connectivity?
Jcx500 Posted October 9, 2019 Posted October 9, 2019 The School isn't that big of a building so we have all our patch panels in one rack 1
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