Network patch panels

[KWestos]

I am going to tidy my server room, namely my server and cabinets.

 

What I am proposing is to tidy my core switch/server links to a new patch panel in my cabinet. This patch panel will then uplink to a new patched cabinet above the server, which then goes off to another patch panel where these all go off to their respective end switches.

 

What I want to know is, is there any limit or 'ideal' number of connections, i.e patch panel connections a link should have. It is possible from the server, through the core switch to the end switch there may be 4 patch panel connections. Is there any degradation in the quality of the data over a possible connection which only went through one patch panel.

 

I ihope I have explained myself correctly

[plexer]

I believe cat5e specs are patch cable - patch panel - structured cabling - patch panel - patch cable so in effect 2 breaks one at each end for patch panel.

 

What you are proposing doesn't follow the standard, thats not to say it won't work.

 

Ben

[Jamman960]

Your going to get some deteriation each time the data comes accross a joint in the cable so ideally you should keep the number of patch panels to a minimum, as long as each of the joints meet the standards for installation the deteriation at each point should be minimal. I doubt you would run into any problems until you started having many more patch panels along the route.

[powdarrmonkey]

In theory you should stick to the book, but in reality you're really not going to notice any difference with one or two more panels in the chain. It sounds like a good plan to tidy up with, server room panels are a nightmare.

[eduabncs]

It 'should' work but I'd rather put a switch in there somewhere if the total length of all the patch connections is over 150 metres. Servers are best placed to be connected as close to the schools core switch as possible (or to it directly) so as to minimise the number of network hops and therefore latency between the servers and the workstations.

 

Have you looked at a fibre link between the two locations?

Edited November 27, 2008 by eduabncs

[Michael]

Generally speaking you don't cable patch panel to patch panel. You'd be much better off cabling switch to switch. In a large networked environment, it's preferable to have a core switch (most likely gigabit) linking to other switches.

In a smaller environment, it's more common to link switches to each other, creating a gigabit link across all switches.