On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 09:58:48 +0100, "Rob Convery"
wrote:

I am going to be putting a network/phone hub into my new house. There will
also me a small NAS working from the same area. Where do people recommend
for running this from? I was thinking of one of two places..

1 )- I have an area under the stairs which is dead space - I was going to
put it there and build a small cupboard around it which would provide easy
access if there were any problems.
2) - In the loft - Main worry is the heat in the summer as the NAS might get
a bit too warm and lack of easy access

I am going to be running 3 cables to each room (1 for network, 1 for phone
and 1 for future) i.e. there are going to be alot of cables - 12 in places -
what are the rules in terms of running this through conduit or is it just
common sense i.e. not crushed, away from mains etc?

I am midway through a similar project, which has currently been put on
hold and temporarily 'gone wireless' due to other immediate DIY needs.
I decided that despite the heat issues the loft represented a far
better space in my house as it has reasonably convenient access. As I
currently have a Wifi AP in the loft this has the added advantage that
it broadcasts over rather than through the internal walls (and all the
way to the bottom of the garden too). I have a 1950's house so the
internal walls are mostly brick.

With regard to heat in the loft, one thing to watch is that the
temperature gradient is very steep, i.e. the apex is usually very hot
but at floor level the heat usually isn't too bad. My firewall and
server PCs (two low profile Compaq SFF PCs) cope very well in the
summer despite having passive heatsinks and the whole PC being cooled
by the PSU fan. I am currently on the lookout for a 12U cabinet and
will be looking to rack mount the servers as it will be much easier to
bring in cool(er) external air and ventilate a small cabinet than cool
the entire loft space.

I am going to run some cable downstairs in the near future and was
going to follow the wet services down through the airing cupboard and
the small duct between the living room and kitchen. Since there are
only data cables and no voltages involved I see no major problem with
this.

Regards,
Jason.

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