HOME NETWORK on a BUDGET 

Me again: On a second look, I saw that Marc is actually using a Krone tool to punch down. I can only say this is industry standard, if yours is not working properly or if it is not cutting reliably, this can be for two reasons: Either the tools is already old and the included scissors are not sharp enough anymore, or (and that is the much more likely problem) the sockets are of not such good quality and thus the distances that they keep the wires in are not accurate and thus the tool does not work intended. I can only tell I used a lot of those Krone tools in the past and a lot of cheaper and more high quality patch panels and the reason for crappy results using such a tool are usually the sockets!

That’s incredibly useful feedback, many thanks - awesome!

Many thanks Ric, my newer videos don‘t have background music 😉

Thank you ;-)

My son other day saw a wall phone and asked what the heck is it. When I said it's a phone, he asks me where is the screen. That was hilarious

Very funny 😂

Hi Baden, many thanks - that is very kind of you. Greetings from the other end of the world ;-)

I get that one a couple of times ;-) Thanks for watching ;-)

Many thanks for the feedback - happy you liked it ;-)

Ok - thanks for the comment ;-)

You're welcome - Thanks for watching!

Thank you Thilo ;-)

Many thanks ! ;-)

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you - but I can assure you that I am a simple human 😂😂

Switches by purchase price: 19 inch switch > 8 port switch > old wifi router with 4 Gbit ports that makes a perfectly stable managed switch In terms of running costs, more cabling means zero additional running costs (cables don't ask to be fed) while eg. an old wifi router turned into a 4 port Gbit switch with wifi disable will still draw about 3W. And while a few watts of energy consumption doesn't seem much, it adds up quickly if you run a few of those switches 24/7 (something like 10 EUR/year) as opposed to buying more ethernet cables instead to be able to run less switches at home. Keeping the number of switches low and doing more cabling can be more cost effective after all if more cabling is an option in your home at all.

@@diacritic8508 "zero additional cost" is not totally true. The "green ethernet" switch spec indicates that the shorter the cable, the lower the consumption. So a center switch uses a max amount of power to maintain a good signal/noise ratio, while same-room switches use much less power. You still have a point, considering that any switch has a fixed base power consumption.. but the balance is not as obvious. In addition I have a secondary firewall that protect a "private" network without WiFi, where our desktops and backup NAS are. The iot equipment and home theater stuff are behind the first firewall, where the WiFi is, a DMZ of some sort. This also lead to a star + satellites topology.

@@pascalmartin1891 Thanks for pointing this out, I definitely haven't thought about longer cables making ethernet switches to consume more energy. If you have switches with green ethernet sticker and have cable runs close to 100 m this might be something to account for. In my home, I only make like a 10 m cable run to do 20 m instead so nothing close to 100 m and I believe a green switch wouldn't save enough on such short cable lengths to be easily measurable. But point taken, might be relevant under different circumstances. Also, I think not many people do this, but the greenest device is a device switched off when not used and you can simply switch off your home networking gear when not used eg. at night or nobody's home. There are some services you want to run 24/7 like security cameras, home automation etc. but those are typically low power and you can save almost 1/3 of your energy bill by switching the rest of your home network off for the night. Not sure if this "2 tier" home network service concept has a name, but I do something similar running only low power basic services 24/7 and in my case the energy saving is quite significant as I serve the second tier eg. NAS, desktop OSes etc. on a workstation with virtualization using Proxmox.

@@diacritic8508 I have to admit that I do not know what cable lengths are significant from a saving point of view. I might check, just for fun. My trunk cables are 10m, except one is 20, while the satellite cables are between 1 and 3m. I also use a smart wifi plug to switch some of the computers off. Then the green switch consumes next to nothing for these ports, according to the user manual. Rather than using virtualization, I use multiple raspberry pi, except for the security video server (which I plan to replace). A regular PC uses too much energy, a switch is little in comparison.

Great discussion, it's true that there are many other points than just the purchase price to be taken into consideration. The TCO ("Total cost of ownership") is difficult to calculate in advance though because power and MTBF go into the calculation.

Hi, many thanks for your feedback! I am sorry that the video did not fulfill your expectations - I would just love to understand better how you found the video in the first place (did you do a search on youtube or was it suggested to you?) and of course what you were looking for or - in other words - which parts were missing ? Many thanks for your help.

Thanks a lot ;-)

Well, you know - I'd say that depends on the use case and also a little bit on the environment. If you have 10 outlets in wooden walls then keystone. If you have 40 cables in concrete I'd still go for LSA.

I'll be back ;-)

Thank you ! I would say that it is not so much the size of your home that matters but rather the number of cables or outlets that you want to connect. If you have to pull 3 cables then a patch panel might be overkill. If you have however to connect 20 or 40 devices then you will quickly be lost without. A a rule of thumb I'd check the number of connectors on your WAN router. Typically there are 4 connectors. If you have more devices then think of putting a patch panel in. If you have 8 or fewer then a smaller model might be OK. For more than 8 I would definitely go for a 19" patch panel. I hope that helps.

Hi, many thanks for your feedback and questions! You can reuse the free slots - just make sure you leave enough spare cable so that you can take it out of the wall again. In theory you could patch Cat7 onto a Cat5e patchpanel, even though it might be challenging because the wires are thicker, and the pairs are shielded etc. Exact make and model - honestly, I don't know... I just bought the cheapest on ebay 12 years ago ;-)

@@OneMarcFifty Thank you. I meant the punched down connections, can you open those keystones and punch down new ethernet wires in the future? If that's not possible then a modular patch panel might be a better option. Great insight once again!

Ah Ok I see - yes I‘ve done that before - of course if you do it 10 times they will probably wear out but it is possible.

Thank you! :)

Hi David, you can go without a patch panel. The second episode answers your question: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gHdhOfIZ1i4.html

Hi Sailendra - well - in theory you could, provided that your metro switch has an ethernet port and also knows how to route stuff etc. but - honestly - that's a bit off scope for the average home network user... What's your use case behind this ?

@@OneMarcFifty Thanks for responding. I mistakenly brought the wrong online. NSH-5509SV-TS20 www.volktek.com.my/usr/product.aspx?pgid=4&id=21&grpid=15

Isn't that just a normal managed switch after all ? I mean, it's got Ethernet ports so - yes - looks good to me ;-)

Hi, many thanks for your comment! A patch panel is the point in the house where al cables come together. You don't necessarily need one but you can have one. Please also see the other comments or the second episode ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gHdhOfIZ1i4.html where the question is answered ;-)

I'd personally go with CAT6 or even CAT7 wires these days even though you can get Gigabit Ethernet with CAT5e - but in the lights of POE (thicker wires) I'd consider CAT7. Even if you just patch them to a (cheap) CAT5 panel.

@@OneMarcFifty Thank you, what about type, is UTP good enough?

@@ziksanizuz8590 I use CAT5E UTP in my house - works fine - if you use CAT7 it will always be shielded. Now if you have a 400V heavy machinery next to the wire then you might go for shielded.

@@OneMarcFifty Thank you, no i have nothing that heavy 😅, i will go with cat6. I plan to put router and switch on attick, and wire everthing through Attick down to rooms.

Hi Dori, there are many options. You mean connect to the Internet right ? It depends on where you live. In some countries, the phone providers offer DSL connections. Cable TV providers tend to have internet offerings as well. Alternatively there are 4G Routers which enable you to hook your network up to a 4G based internet connection

Many thanks for your feed-back! I don't think that small companies really need data centers. Even less at home. What I do think however is that a structured cabling in the house makes a couple of things easier, e.g. throw in a second access point on another floor etc. To me personally, the benefit of having "some" IT at home is mainly two things: First, I can provide a certain number of services to my family such as stable internet, Video on demand, share photos etc. and second, I admit it is a kind of "playground" for me where I can test stuff and play around with it - yes, I'm a techie ;-) Ultimately, in my opinion the choice if you need any of this is up to everybody on their own - you _can_ have it (because the stuff is available and affordable) but you don't have to ;-)

@@OneMarcFifty thank, but I ever seen small room contain network device and cable at small company e.g small bank, startup, small hospital, IT consultant, health clinic etc. so what the purpose of that small room. Is that small room just for easy management their network?

I'd say it is just a matter of putting the stuff "somewhere" - in an Ethernet environment typically the cables come together at one point (it's a "Star" shaped architecture rather than a "bus" architecture) - that's the main reason. The cables just come together at one point. Typically this is the location where you would connect central equipment to such as a server or a router. Furthermore, you do not want everybody to go there and maybe disconnect cables and take down your network. So you want to have a certain level of access control. Hence the reason this equipment is typically in a room that can be locked.

@@OneMarcFifty Great answer. Thank a lot sir. One more question, is that ok if small company dont have one point place to put their network device on to rack server because of limit budget.?

@@adiflorense1477 Well, I can't really recommend on "OK" or "not OK" - the reason is that you need to evaluate yourself what it means. Ask yourself the following questions: What happens if something catches fire ? You might circumvent just by switching devices off at night etc. What happens if somebody pulls a cable ? Can the devices/hard disk/PC be stolen more easily ? It's mainly around security and/or safety. If you can cover those or if they are of no issue then go for it.

I love that! I have just made too many efforts of being unprofessional ;-)

@@OneMarcFifty oh yes. in my shack, if there isn't at least one tripping hazard, i'm doing it wrong. ;)

Basically structure. If you only have 2 or 3 cables running through your house then you would not really need it. I have more than 20 so I definitely need it in order to not get lost in the maze ;-)

Oooh Yes. I know that feeling. I thought it was pretty awesome at that time to have buttons instead of the ring dial. But hey, ageing is totally OK. There are few alternatives anyhow ;-)

Hi Dori, usually that would be your phone or cable provider. But it depends on the country you live in.

My friend said she doesn't pay ISP But I don't know how to setup a home network without paying ISP

@@dorianascomedy I am afraid that I don't know neither, sorry. I am paying mine. But maybe you ask your friend how he/she is doing it ?

Hi - I haven't thought about this to be honest. I personally prefer to buy stuff second hand - hence the purchase price is always lower (at the expense of not having warranty etc.) - but yes, you are right. Hadn't thought about a 100$ Limit yet though - that might be a tough call. Even though - an old Wifi AP, using it as a switch plus maybe a thin client or old PC with a larger SSD as a small server. I'll give it a thought ;-) Thanks for the feedback!

@@OneMarcFifty Everybody has an old desktop they didn't throw out or give away that just got obsolete - I have two - one that is still used for graphics - anything of modest bandwidth. It's got a big monitor and I can use it for teaching like a visual aid during calls or videos. And a fast laptop that replaced it. I also have a laptop for carry. That's before I get to android devices. I just need to share files and have a single repository for organizing and to back up. Shouldn't be this complex. Internet by cell phone hotspot is part of the deal. I think we're all brainwashed. I think there must be a simple solution that costs less than $99.99 like switch and cables and open software. Sounds like a good title in there somewhere.

@@OneMarcFifty Now that I know what to search for I immediately found a year-old Linus demo that actually uses my own #2 desktop - so hey - I might save $999.99 cause I even have a box new router-switch I never used. Your Old PC is Your New Server - RU-vid, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zPmqbtKwtgw.html

Hi Khalid, I am not sure if I understand correctly - are you suggesting that a Wi-fi 6 router makes a cabled installation obsolete ?

Point taken - however - you know - I am not telling anybody _what_ to do, I am just showing _how_ to do things. That's what all how-to's do. In essence it's like giving a phone number to someone. It's better to have a phone number than not to have it. If you call it or not is up to you.