New home network setup

[gabbaii_]

Hi all,

 

In the process of building a new home and keen for your thoughts, recommendations and potential 'gotchas' with iteration 1 of my plan.

 

 

For better or worse, I've been using the ubiquiti website to play around with what I'll need but not wedded to any particular platform at this stage.

Running from the switch to the in-wall means I only need one cable run between those two points, then the inwall splits between what ever devices I want wired in the room.

[Bdavis]

If you buy the dream machine pro special edition instead of the standard one it has POE built in and you could possibly avoid buying the switch depending on how many ports you need. This will also power your cameras.

 

I haven't used any of the in wall access points but you may want to find more information or reviews on their coverage vs their other access points. They might be fine, but I won't give advice on something I haven't tried.

 

If you do get a switch I would get one with two or more sfp+ ports so you can have 10gb networking for your desktop and server. The dream machine pro only has one 10gig sfp+ port for the lan. The other is a WAN port.

 

Your layout should work fine, however every time you connect a gigabit switch to another you limit the throughput of all the devices connected to it to 1gb back to the main switch. Having fewer switches, or connecting your switches with faster connections such as sfp+ allows for greater switching capacity. Your layout has 4 switches 1 on the dream machine, 1 Poe, and 2 on the unifi6 in walls. If your just sending internet it should be fine, but if you put two PCs on the switch built into the unifi6 in wall they will have to share a gigabit connection back to the main switch.

 

Ethernet cable is pretty inexpensive, and it's almost as easy to pull multiple cables to the same location as it is to pull one.

[gabbaii_]

7 hours ago, Bdavis said:

If you do get a switch I would get one with two or more sfp+ ports so you can have 10gb networking for your desktop and server. The dream machine pro only has one 10gig sfp+ port for the lan. The other is a WAN port.

Good call. Upgrades to the desktop and server are the next in line once this build is done =)

7 hours ago, Bdavis said:

Ethernet cable is pretty inexpensive, and it's almost as easy to pull multiple cables to the same location as it is to pull one.

Agreed, trouble is given it's a new house build, going to cost $175 per cable run.

 

I guess the follow up question is, how hard is it to run additional ethernet to the same spots once an existing run is there?

[ToboRobot]

22 minutes ago, gabbaii_ said:

 

I guess the follow up question is, how hard is it to run additional ethernet to the same spots once an existing run is there?

Are they installing conduit?  If so, additional runs are easy.

[gabbaii_]

40 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

Are they installing conduit?  If so, additional runs are easy.

Very question I've got the with the builder when we catch up next =)

 

For iteration 2 of this plan and may be a dumb question, are there any material performance differences / considerations that need to made / best practice if the ISP connection goes into a switch or a wireless router first? Below are the all the wired connections.

[Bdavis]

ISP goes to router first, then router connects to the switch. The router is what assignes IP addresses to all your devices and is usually your firewall thus it must go first.

 

That is a little expensive price per run. The difficulty of adding runs later depends on your house design. If you have an unfinished basement or an attic that's accessible it can be done. It's much easier when the walls ore open though. Make sure and ask what type of cable they plan to run cat6 would be the minimum spec I would permit, and cat 6a is what I would prefer. Cat 8 may future proof you a little, but I see fiber as the future for speeds greater than 10gb and not copper.

 

Ubiquiti has a tool that will allow you to upload your floor plan and place access points to check for coverage. Just FYI, ubiquiti's normal round access points like the 6pro and 6lite usually work best when ceiling mounted. If you have a back yard I like having an outdoor access point such as the 6 mesh but it's not necessary.

[LapsedMemory]

3 hours ago, gabbaii_ said:

Very question I've got the with the builder when we catch up next =)

 

For iteration 2 of this plan and may be a dumb question, are there any material performance differences / considerations that need to made / best practice if the ISP connection goes into a switch or a wireless router first? Below are the all the wired connections.

 

What doorbell has an RJ45 jack?  

[LapsedMemory]

4 hours ago, gabbaii_ said:

Very question I've got the with the builder when we catch up next =)

 

For iteration 2 of this plan and may be a dumb question, are there any material performance differences / considerations that need to made / best practice if the ISP connection goes into a switch or a wireless router first? Below are the all the wired connections.

 

Besides what Bdavis already stated (ISP goes to Router, then router to switch), if you're going to go with an access point AND a wifi router, you'll need to make sure they match and can do Ethernet-backhaul Mesh networking, not all of them do.

 

Your other option is to get a standard router (non-wifi) and just install 2 access points.  This usually provides the best coverage and options for setup.  Unifi, Netgear, and TPLink make some pretty good APs that can do seamless SSID transferring and balancing.  

[Alex Atkin UK]

5 hours ago, gabbaii_ said:

Very question I've got the with the builder when we catch up next =)

 

For iteration 2 of this plan and may be a dumb question, are there any material performance differences / considerations that need to made / best practice if the ISP connection goes into a switch or a wireless router first? Below are the all the wired connections.

Is this now with a ceiling mounted AP rather than in-wall?

 

Reason I ask is in-wall is more designed for a single room, potentially better for direct line-of-sight due to the signal aiming in a specific direction.  Ceiling mounted APs are more intended to cover a single floor in all directions.

[gabbaii_]

18 hours ago, LapsedMemory said:

Besides what Bdavis already stated (ISP goes to Router, then router to switch), if you're going to go with an access point AND a wifi router, you'll need to make sure they match and can do Ethernet-backhaul Mesh networking, not all of them do.

yup, planning on going with a platform - ubiquiti, tp link etc - so shouldn't be an issue.

 

17 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Is this now with a ceiling mounted AP rather than in-wall?

 

Reason I ask is in-wall is more designed for a single room, potentially better for direct line-of-sight due to the signal aiming in a specific direction.  Ceiling mounted APs are more intended to cover a single floor in all directions.

yes, planning on doing ceiling mounts now for more coverage.