Expansion of network including IP Cams and extension of UniFi products

Question

I am in charge of a small network in very rural Guatemala. Currently it consists of 1 Poweredge server running 5 virtual machines, 1 NVR with about 26 cameras, 15 clients on a domain, databases for property management etc, lots of PoE devices, Ubiquiti UniFi.

I now need to extend my LAN to a new building that is 200M away via internal posts (think hotel spread over an acre of land) I have used Ubiquiti's M5 nano with good effect in other places but the new building does not have LoS.

I used to install property cabling and patch panels for telecoms companies so I have my place wired out with Cat5e currently, but now have to add a lot more IP cameras at various points and extend the Guest Wifi network to all buildings.

I am also rolling out Elastix pbx to all stations about 16 ip phones in total. So. I don't want to have to buy a bunch of M5s and do a point to multi point install, with so many trees and variables it would be a pain in the behind.

For the distances to be run one end of the property to the other is around 400M in a c shape, there are private internal electricity posts with streetlights for hanging cables but also the install is to have at least 2 security cameras per post installed 6 for the first section.

How do I go about this? Any distribution point will have to have a fat UPS as we lose power often and the backup generator is set for a 10 TDES.

I have been looking into Fiber which seems a lot less of a process now as to how it was when I was in the trade, or at least terminating a simple connector is simpler. I have never worked with it and am only looking at it now as I need to run out to 200M no L.o.S.

I see my L2 switches have SFP ports so I am guessing I need to buy the Fiber adapters and terminate a run to another L2 switch with SFP which will take care of the 200m run, but I want to add at least 6 IP cameras into the existing system, into this run of fiber, a possible future move of the MDF along this run also.

I have checked with my distributor and he says he can get anything but I was thinking 8 core multi-mode which was actually quite a reasonable price, would give me 4 breakouts, well 2 ends and 2 breakouts for copper.

Any thoughts would be appreciated I am a quick study but I don't want to overlook something silly and then be kicking myself but it is pretty much all DIY out here and I am looking to future proof a little, 16 IP televisions, 36 IP phones, shared internet and PLEX media server, a bunch more cameras, future automation.

Thanks, Chris

Answer 1

IMHO, Multi-Mode is pretty much dead, though it's still kicking due to knee-jerk assumptions and previously installed infrastructure. This was my developed opinion on doing a new install from scratch 6 years ago, and it hasn't changed. I also started that install thinking I'd be using multimode, but the numbers did not add up that way.

The formerly huge cost differential on hardware has shrunk a lot, and the cost of fiber is actually less for Single-Mode.

12 is the standard basic unit of fiber cables, and often trivial in cost differential since most of the cable cost is in the rest of the cable, not the glass.