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I have a project where I'm wiring my home for ethernet. I have four bedrooms upstairs, all of which are getting two ethernet connections each, and then a few rooms downstairs as well. I was thinking of a few options, tell me what's best. Obviously cost is an issue, and it's probably more in labor than anything else :)
First option: Wire the bedrooms directly to the patch panel in the basement, meaning that I have two LONG runs from each bedroom to the basement. Then I'll have a single switch and patch panel, but probably very high in labor costs.
Second option: Wire each bedroom to a patch panel/switch in the attic, and then run a single cable to another switch in the basement. In this case I'd have two switches, and two patch panels. My worry of course, is about the throughput from a single cable to cascade or bridge the two switches together. I don't mind running two long cables from that switch down to the basement, but how do I use them in conjunction to get better performance? Any budget switches you'd recommend here for that uplink purpose?
That's about it... if there's a third option, I don't know it, so any help is greatly appreciated!
2Per the [faq], Server Fault is a community for professional systems administrators that are managing systems or network in a professional capacity. Wiring your home does not fall into this category. – MDMarra – 2012-01-23T16:45:28.630
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For any kind of cabling project, may I suggest doing some research into Structured Cabling, and making your work match the relevant standards/practices as closely as possible? Also include excess capacity (more cables than you think you'll need) -- You will thank yourself later.
– voretaq7 – 2012-01-23T17:03:31.337