Just redone my core network and WiFi plus experimenting with IP cameras:

https://www.ubnt.com

I've got their 16 port PoE+, controller "dongle" and WiFi AC-Pro access
point (3xMIMO radios) and I have to say, I am *massively* impressed. The
system is very friendly and has the feel of enterprise grade kit with
prosumer pricing.

The switch was relatively expensive - and you don't need it to run just
an access point - those come with a PoE injector as a backup option.
However, it's low noise (has fans, but it's not engaged them yet) and I
will be adding enough PoE parts to justify it (8 port edge switches can
be PoE powered as are the cameras and WiFi points).

The controller can be done as software on linux (I preferred a "dongle"
for my core network, but ran up the video recorder stuff as software on
one of my linux servers).

WiFi signal is solid and impressive - getting excellent dB readings,
even on 5GHz and the behaviour of the Roku and casting has been much
improved over the old AP I had.

Camera ecosystem looks promising - very easy to configure and the
recording is good. Light on features (no masking or area motion detect,
just overall motion detection) but image quality is good and access over
a web browser or phone app is solid (either the camera or the recorder
software - the cams can run managed or standalone).

No connection - just a happy customer.

Next plan is to get a 19" wall cabinet in somewhere with a patch panel,
drop some permanent Cat6a cables (I fancy the look of the Excel keystone
toolless jack system) and mount up this switch properly

On 02/04/2018 00:31, Tim Watts wrote:

Next plan is to get a 19" wall cabinet in somewhere with a patch panel,
drop some permanent Cat6a cables (I fancy the look of the Excel keystone
toolless jack system) and mount up this switch properly

The Excel stuff is my kit of choice for any data wiring these days. Well
made and nice to use...


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Of course you are aware of the boxing up sods law syndrome? Whenever back in
the 70s, I made an electronic device that hung together on bits of wire on a
bench, its performance was flawless, but box it up and make it look good and
it never works properly... grin.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...
Just redone my core network and WiFi plus experimenting with IP cameras:

https://www.ubnt.com

I've got their 16 port PoE+, controller "dongle" and WiFi AC-Pro access
point (3xMIMO radios) and I have to say, I am *massively* impressed. The
system is very friendly and has the feel of enterprise grade kit with
prosumer pricing.

The switch was relatively expensive - and you don't need it to run just an
access point - those come with a PoE injector as a backup option. However,
it's low noise (has fans, but it's not engaged them yet) and I will be
adding enough PoE parts to justify it (8 port edge switches can be PoE
powered as are the cameras and WiFi points).

The controller can be done as software on linux (I preferred a "dongle"
for my core network, but ran up the video recorder stuff as software on
one of my linux servers).

WiFi signal is solid and impressive - getting excellent dB readings, even
on 5GHz and the behaviour of the Roku and casting has been much improved
over the old AP I had.

Camera ecosystem looks promising - very easy to configure and the
recording is good. Light on features (no masking or area motion detect,
just overall motion detection) but image quality is good and access over a
web browser or phone app is solid (either the camera or the recorder
software - the cams can run managed or standalone).

No connection - just a happy customer.

Next plan is to get a 19" wall cabinet in somewhere with a patch panel,
drop some permanent Cat6a cables (I fancy the look of the Excel keystone
toolless jack system) and mount up this switch properly

On Mon, 2 Apr 2018 00:31:25 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

I've got their 16 port PoE+,

Is that real IEE802.3af or IEE802.3at PoE? Some Ubiquity "PoE" is
passive 24 V DC straight onto pairs of the cable with no interlock.
This put me off Ubiquity kit a year or so ago, far to easy to give
somethinga 24 V surprise and let the magic smoke out.

Next plan is to get a 19" wall cabinet in somewhere with a patch panel,
drop some permanent Cat6a cables

Cat5e will run Gigabit and is easier to handle than Cat6...

(I fancy the look of the Excel keystone toolless jack system) and mount
up this switch properly

How do you terminate the cables without a tool? Either to fit an RJ45
to plug into the keystone or to strip back the jacket to arrange the
wires correctly into some other connection on the keystone?

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 03/04/18 00:51, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Mon, 2 Apr 2018 00:31:25 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

I've got their 16 port PoE+,

Is that real IEE802.3af or IEE802.3at PoE? Some Ubiquity "PoE" is
passive 24 V DC straight onto pairs of the cable with no interlock.
This put me off Ubiquity kit a year or so ago, far to easy to give
somethinga 24 V surprise and let the magic smoke out.

802.3at+af but the ports *can* be programmed for 24V passive - something
I'm keen to avoid for similar reasons (more to do with cable faults
blowing the polyfuse in the port which can happen, as reported by
someone on a forum).

One of the cams is actually 24V passive, but comes with an inline
converter to 802.3af - which at least means consistent settings on the
switch and I put the converter near the end device.

In theory, as I understand it, all PoE (including passive) put DC
*between pairs* rather than across wires in a pair, so really, nothing
should be going bang as the isolating transformers in any given device
will provide decent inter-pair isolation:

https://www.alliedcomponents.com/ite...R14-3682-2.jpg

and 24V is on the low side for things expecting power.

Or am I missing something?

I did put 24V onto the af side of the inline converter to see if bad
things might happen and in that case, they didn't.

The main reason I prefer to avoid it is the risk of the cable
(installation) cable being damaged and blowing the port.

But I would certainly suggest it to Ubiquity, to have a master config
setting that says "only PoE+ or nothing".


Next plan is to get a 19" wall cabinet in somewhere with a patch panel,
drop some permanent Cat6a cables

Cat5e will run Gigabit and is easier to handle than Cat6...

Yes indeed - but for installation cable, I'm going for future proofing
Mac Pro's already come with 10000baseT ethernet - it's not that far
over the horizon that we'll all be saying "pah - gigabit???".


(I fancy the look of the Excel keystone toolless jack system) and mount
up this switch properly

How do you terminate the cables without a tool? Either to fit an RJ45
to plug into the keystone or to strip back the jacket to arrange the
wires correctly into some other connection on the keystone?


They mean no special crimping or punchdown tool. I think strippers are
allowed

Tim Watts wrote:

Dave Liquorice wrote:

Cat5e will run Gigabit and is easier to handle than Cat6...

Yes indeed - but for installation cable, I'm going for future proofing

10Gbase-T won't do the full 100m over cat6 (though I suppose 55m is fine
for most houses, if not then use cat6a, shielded for maximum future
proofing).

cat5e can be used for MultiGig (2.5 or 5.0 Gbit), but so far I've only
seen APs using that rather than PCs, but it seems gaming laptops are
starting to support it.

On 03/04/18 09:10, Andy Burns wrote:
Tim Watts wrote:

Dave Liquorice wrote:

Cat5e will run Gigabit and is easier to handle than Cat6...

Yes indeed - but for installation cable, I'm going for future proofing

10Gbase-T won't do the full 100m over cat6 (though I suppose 55m is fine
for most houses, if not then use cat6a, shielded for maximum future
proofing).

Yes indeed - Cat6 *may* manage 10g, but it's not properly ratified by
any standards. I meant 6a (as in my original post, the above was a typo).

On a related note, Cat7a seems to be making an appearance with twice the
raw bandwidth... I won't be going that far


cat5e can be used for MultiGig (2.5 or 5.0 Gbit), but so far I've only
seen APs using that rather than PCs, but it seems gaming laptops are
starting to support it.

Andy Burns wrote:
10Gbase-T won't do the full 100m over cat6 (though I suppose 55m is fine
for most houses, if not then use cat6a, shielded for maximum future
proofing).

If you're doing the full future proofing thing, I might consider fibre for
higher bandwidths. Terminating it is easier than 10GBASE-T (unless your
equipment only has an RJ45 and nothing else).

cat5e can be used for MultiGig (2.5 or 5.0 Gbit), but so far I've only
seen APs using that rather than PCs, but it seems gaming laptops are
starting to support it.

Gamer desktops are also starting to support it - eg chips from Aquantia.
However the current lack (as with 10G) is affordable switches.
(in the case of 10G, ex-datacentre kit is a good option at this point).

Theo

On 03/04/2018 13:12, Theo wrote:
Andy Burns wrote:
10Gbase-T won't do the full 100m over cat6 (though I suppose 55m is fine
for most houses, if not then use cat6a, shielded for maximum future
proofing).

If you're doing the full future proofing thing, I might consider fibre for
higher bandwidths. Terminating it is easier than 10GBASE-T (unless your
equipment only has an RJ45 and nothing else).

cat5e can be used for MultiGig (2.5 or 5.0 Gbit), but so far I've only
seen APs using that rather than PCs, but it seems gaming laptops are
starting to support it.

Gamer desktops are also starting to support it - eg chips from Aquantia.
However the current lack (as with 10G) is affordable switches.

Another work round is link aggregation - i.e. using multiple 1G links
aggregated at layer two on a smart switch.

For example my NAS connects to my LAN via 4 x 1G ports aggregated
together giving it 4GB/s total connectivity. Needless to say the
bottleneck is the single 1G connection to the desktop - but at at least
it can saturate the connection to more than one machine at a time.

(in the case of 10G, ex-datacentre kit is a good option at this point).



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 03/04/18 13:12, Theo wrote:
Andy Burns wrote:
10Gbase-T won't do the full 100m over cat6 (though I suppose 55m is fine
for most houses, if not then use cat6a, shielded for maximum future
proofing).

If you're doing the full future proofing thing, I might consider fibre for
higher bandwidths. Terminating it is easier than 10GBASE-T (unless your
equipment only has an RJ45 and nothing else).

cat5e can be used for MultiGig (2.5 or 5.0 Gbit), but so far I've only
seen APs using that rather than PCs, but it seems gaming laptops are
starting to support it.

Gamer desktops are also starting to support it - eg chips from Aquantia.
However the current lack (as with 10G) is affordable switches.
(in the case of 10G, ex-datacentre kit is a good option at this point).

Theo


Looks easy enough to me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQvkFiT2Av0

On 03/04/2018 13:12, Theo wrote:
If you're doing the full future proofing thing, I might consider fibre for
higher bandwidths. Terminating it is easier than 10GBASE-T (unless your
equipment only has an RJ45 and nothing else).

If you're doing the full future proof thing you'll make sure that you've
run conduits anywhere you might need them when you are redecorating. (or
rewiring, etc). Then when you've guessed wrong you can just stuff
something different down it.

Andy

On Tue, 3 Apr 2018 08:45:13 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Is that real IEE802.3af or IEE802.3at PoE? Some Ubiquity "PoE" is
passive 24 V DC straight onto pairs of the cable with no
interlock.
This put me off Ubiquity kit a year or so ago, far to easy to give
somethinga 24 V surprise and let the magic smoke out.

802.3at+af but the ports *can* be programmed for 24V passive - something
I'm keen to avoid for similar reasons

Ah that's not so bad.

In theory, as I understand it, all PoE (including passive) put DC
*between pairs* rather than across wires in a pair, so really, nothing
should be going bang as the isolating transformers in any given device
will provide decent inter-pair isolation:

But not in cheapo cable testers. B-)

and 24V is on the low side for things expecting power.

Or am I missing something?

Well there will be twice the current and twice the voltage drop along
the cable for a given power compared to 802.3a*.

Cat5e will run Gigabit and is easier to handle than Cat6...

Yes indeed - but for installation cable, I'm going for future proofing
Mac Pro's already come with 10000baseT ethernet - it's not that far
over the horizon that we'll all be saying "pah - gigabit???".

Lots of kit has Gigabit ports, lots of kit hasn't a hope of
saturating that port. Future proofing? Single mode fibre. B-)

(I fancy the look of the Excel keystone toolless jack system) and

mount up this switch properly

How do you terminate the cables without a tool? Either to fit an
RJ45
to plug into the keystone or to strip back the jacket to arrange
the
wires correctly into some other connection on the keystone?

They mean no special crimping or punchdown tool. I think strippers are
allowed

Not "toolless" then is it? Bloody marketing... B-)

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 04/04/18 01:30, Dave Liquorice wrote:

They mean no special crimping or punchdown tool. I think strippers are
allowed

Not "toolless" then is it? Bloody marketing... B-)


You can't trip Cat6a with your teeth? ;-

On 04/04/2018 08:46, Tim Watts wrote:
On 04/04/18 01:30, Dave Liquorice wrote:

They mean no special crimping or punchdown tool. I think strippers are
allowed

Not "toolless" then is it? Bloody marketing... B-)


You can't trip Cat6a with your teeth? ;-

I tend to trip with my feet ;-)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/