What is a patch panel?

[JackDoyne]

Can someone explain this?

 

I'm confused, i've looked online and the information i get is poor

[Guest]

The network one?

 

Its supposed to hold RJ45 female connectors that are connected with the switch respective ports and serve as interconnectors to network outlets.

 

Thats how i see it.

[MrMarriarty]

its for server rooms mainly and simplistically its fancy cable management

[JackDoyne]

1 minute ago, Goku-sama said:

The network one?

 

Its supposed to hold RJ45 female connectors that are connected with the switch respective ports and serve as interconnectors to network outlets.

 

Thats how i see it.

Yep, A networking patch panel, 

 

Could you simply explain it? i've only recently started working in networking and telecoms and i'm trying to get to grips with the networking side as i was hired as part of their technical team. 

[Guest]

Just now, JackDoyne said:

Yep, A networking patch panel, 

 

Could you simply explain it? i've only recently started working in networking and telecoms and i'm trying to get to grips with the networking side as i was hired as part of their technical team. 

Im not the person that can explain to you in detail about this :/.

 

What i know is that they come in 24, 48, 72 and 96 port flavours (probably there are more custom ones available too) and that they are mostly used to ease cable management since you can attach tags to them to represent what ports of the switch they are using and possibly use different patch panels to group multiple switches onto one and even repurpose older Cat5E patch panels to work with CAT6A and similar thicker cables with older ones.

 

Its mostly for safety features too, since you can have a less secure closet with patch panels in the hallway and the switches in the main, secured room alongside the routers and servers.

 

Sorry if i cant help any further .

[knightslugger]

2 minutes ago, JackDoyne said:

Yep, A networking patch panel, 

 

Could you simply explain it? i've only recently started working in networking and telecoms and i'm trying to get to grips with the networking side as i was hired as part of their technical team. 

...really...

 

i think you'll be looking for a new job soon when they find out you don't know jack squat about BASIC networking equipment.

 

It's basically for organization. a wad of cables come through the wall. You don't know where anything goes, and the only way to organize it is to put little flags on the end of each cable. NOT IDEAL. It's far simpler to wire them into a panel of outlets and assign each cable a number than it is to look for a faded flag (if it's even there at all).

[The Benjamins]

A patch panel, networking or not, is just a connection panel to make it easier to connect/swap connections on devices or locations.

 

a network patch panel could be wired to all the rooms in a building then the panel can be easily connected to a switches or routers.

[beanhubbleday]

7 minutes ago, JackDoyne said:

Yep, A networking patch panel, 

 

Could you simply explain it? i've only recently started working in networking and telecoms and i'm trying to get to grips with the networking side as i was hired as part of their technical team. 

Hey man, so the ethernet cables are ran from RJ45 plug sockets in the wall or floors or wherever in a room and they are ran through ceilings, floors whatever is easiest then they come to the patch panel and you strip the end and split the colours into the back and it basically means you plug the wall socket into the switch to make it live as you would 'patch' your cables from the socket into the patch panel and and then link the patch panel front ports to the switch making the ports live

[JackDoyne]

2 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

...really...

 

i think you'll be looking for a new job soon when they find out you don't know jack squat about BASIC networking equipment.

 

It's basically for organization. a wad of cables come through the wall. You don't know where anything goes, and the only way to organize it is to put little flags on the end of each cable. NOT IDEAL. It's far simpler to wire them into a panel of outlets and assign each cable a number than it is to look for a faded flag (if it's even there at all).

Woah, i'm an apprentice so i knew some stuff like what a switch did what routers do, but not everything, i'm looking at certifications so i wanted a clear understanding of the basics before i jumped in at the deep end 

 

My understanding was we had to plug into a patch panel port number 1-56 and that number would represent the port in floor box upstairs that we could then plug devices into 

[beanhubbleday]

2 minutes ago, JackDoyne said:

Woah, i'm an apprentice so i knew some stuff like what a switch did what routers do, but not everything, i'm looking at certifications so i wanted a clear understanding of the basics before i jumped in at the deep end 

 

My understanding was we had to plug into a patch panel port number 1-56 and that number would represent the port in floor box upstairs that we could then plug devices into 

Kinda, a slong as they've bene patched in to match then yes..

[JackDoyne]

1 minute ago, JackHubbleday said:

Kinda, a slong as they've bene patched in to match then yes..

Yeah thanks for the help 

 

For example, 

 

Downstairs in the comms room we have a patch panel and a switch below it, 

 

A huge wad of cables come down into the back of the patch panel with ends cut off 

 

they then go into our switch 

 

and upstairs we have floor ports with each of the rj45 jacks marked with a number that corresponds to the switch port number back down in the comms room

 

the other day i was connecting phones,

 

and i connect a small switch upstairs to port 54 in the floor and then connected our router downstairs to port 54 on the switch and the all the phones came to life with the power of POE