Patch Panel Connections

  DwnFR            DwnBRM       Attic       Kitchen                         LftFire
+------+   (3)   +------+    +------+    +-------+               (2)    +-----------+   (4)
| PP#4 +---------+ PP#5 |    | PP#9 |    | PP#12 |           +----------+  PP#6     +----------+
+--+---+         +--+---+    +--+---+    +-+-----+           |          +--+--------+          |
   |                |           |          |                 |             |                   |  SideRm
   |                |           |          |(1)              |      +------+               +---+---+
   |                |           |          |                 |      |                      | PP#10 |
   |(1)             |(1)        |(1)       |                 |      |    RtFire            +---+---+
   |                |           |          |                 |      |        +------+  (3)     |
   |                |           |          |                 |      |        | PP#7 +----------+
   |                |           |          |                 |      |        +------+
   |                |           |          |                 |      |
   |           +----+-----------+----------+-----------------+-+    |(2)
   +-----------+                  PP#1                         |    |
               +-+-----------+------------------+------------+-+    |
                 |           |    Toolroom      |            |      |
                 |(1)        |                  |            |      |
                 |           |                  |(5)         |(1)   |
            +----+--+        |(9)               |            |      |
      Hutch | PP#11 |        |               +--+---+    +---+------+-+
            +----+--+        |               | PP#2 |    |    PP#8    |
                 |           |               +--+---+    +---+--------+
                 |(2)        |          Outtool |            |
                 |           |                  |            |
                 |           |                  |            |
                 |           |                  |            |
                 |           |                  |(1)         |(3)
                 |           |                  |            |              Table
               +-+-----------+------------------+------------+-+   (3)    +-------+
               |                  PP#3                         +----------+ PP#13 |
               +-----------------------------------------------+          +-------+
                                         Rack

Diagram completed at http://asciiflow.com/.  Rectangles are patch panels, connecting lines have the number of Ethernet cables between.

Tips #1 - Patch Panels and Markings

In my network, I have found that the best way to maintain my understanding of how my house is wired with Ethernet is how that I document my Patch Panels.  I have a few rules that maintain a cohesiveness to this:

• Patch Panels serve to be the ends of Ethernet wires.  In general, I will not have a stray Ethernet cable coming out of a wall.
• I use keystones in all patch panels.  This gives me the choice of terminating Ethernet wires either in a punch-down keystone, or a straight through keystone which has an Ethernet female on both sides.  
• The advantage with using keystones is that they are easy to move around in a patch panel, or in the case of the straight through keystone, Ethernet connections behind them.  Normally equipment moves and cables stay put; the keystones are a way of augmenting that "staying put".
• I refer to an individual keystone as a "port" in a patch panel.  Each "port" must be numbered from 1 to the total number of ports on the patch panel.
• All patch panels in my house are numbered.  If the patch panel serves only to connect to another patch panel on the other side of the wall, I may number it with the same number but I have to use the same "port" numbers on each side.  So if I use "port" 1 on one side, then I must use "port" 1 on the other side so there is no confusion. In this case each patch panel gets the same patch panel number.  I must also ensure that the Ethernet cable is straight through.
• The full designated "port" identifier is patch_panel_number-port_number, e.g. PP#3-12 would refer to keystone (or "port") 12 on patch panel number 3.
• I use a labeler to mark each "port" on each patch panel.  When I mark a specific "port" I label it with the "port" that it connects to on the other end of the Ethernet cable.  For instance, if PP#3-12 connects to PP#1-6 then on patch panel number 1, "port" 6 would be labeled PP#3-12, and on patch panel number 3, "port" 12 would be labeled PP#1-6.  That way I always know where the Ethernet cable is connected and to what patch panel.
• If a cable is moved from one keystone to another on a patch panel, the label goes with it and I make up a new label for the port that it connects to so I am consistent.  For instance, if PP#3-12 connects to PP#1-6, and I move the Ethernet cable from port 12 to port 10 on patch panel 3, then I move the PP#1-6 label from port 12 to port 10 on patch panel 3, then I make up a new label of PP#3-10, go to patch panel 1, remove the label on port 6, and replace it with the new label of PP#3-10.  I also make note of it on any note that I have.
• Patch panels can always be used as "patch panels", i.e. I have places on patch panels that have a patch Ethernet cable between "ports" on the same patch panel.  That way, it can form one long Ethernet connection.

Cataloging Patch Panel Connections

So I was busy over the last two days trying to get the patch panel connections documented.  If you have never tried to do this at your house, it is quite an eye opener.  What you originally thought that you had connected, turns out to be incorrect.  I have prided myself on documenting how the home network is wired together.  However, in the heat of battle, sometimes you fail to record the subtle differences, especially if you make a sudden change to the wiring because of a problem you find.  I finally settled on giving each patch panel a number (i.e., PP#1).  I also designate a connection that the port is connected to (i.e., PP#1-5 for patch panel 1 port number 5).  I had designations on the patch panels to record what device I was connected to.  However, this became a problem since I started rearranging the patches to suit different things that I was doing at the moment.

I now have labels on each patch panel port that tell me what patch panel (and associated port) contains the port connection.  I also have labels on the patch panels that tell me what number the patch panel is. What this means is that the label on the patch panel end points back to the opposite patch panel port.  Even though the numbering on the patch panel doesn’t tell me the signal it does tell me the infrastructure (that which doesn’t change) pieces so that I can trace a signal as necessary.  I also record patch cord connections to equipment in my iPhone; generally something like this:

PP#1: (toolroom)

15, 16 empty

1- To Kitchen/Dining Rm Ethernet plug (patch to .115-3)

2- To TIVo Mini downstairs (patch to PP#1-4)

3- To Computer Rm-Hutch wall (n/c)

4- to PP#2-1 (patch to PP#1-2)

5- to cable20 / cable21 .114-1 (patch to PP#1-11)

6- to PP#2-4 (patch to PP#1-9)

7- to black cable2 PP#6-2 (patch to Unmgd sw)

8- to light blue cable6 PP#6-1 (patch to .115-7)

9- to dark blue, PP#5-Y (patch to PP#1-6)

10 - to PP#2-8 (n/c)

11- to PP#3-19 (patch to PP#1-5)

12- to PP#4-X (patch to .115-5)

13- to PP#2-2 (patch to .115-2)

14- to PP#3-20 (patch to .115-4)

Notice that this setup allows me to see at a glance what signal is flowing through that patch panel port.  It also tells me if I have some empty ports (for expansion later).  Notice that I have in parends a patch cord designation that tells me the device or patch panel port connection.  The .xxx-x indicates a device IP number and the device port.

I tried hard to rearrange the port wiring so that patch panel ports for the most part connect to other patch panel ports.  After all, that is what patch panels are for.  Now I can rearrange the patch cords as necessary for different devices that are added or vlan connections that need to be made.

Added some patch panels to the network over the weekend

Well, I broke down and finally added a couple of patch panels (PP) to the homelab over the weekend.  I was getting tired of having to reconstruct connections whenever I wanted to move equipment from one room to the next.  My homelab is distributed across the house and I like to think that I can move and update things at will.  The problem was that I could not conveniently switch things around because of having to move existing Ethernet cables from one location to the next.  What I needed was a set of Ethernet cables that didn't move but still allowed me to connect at will, hence the use of patch panels.

Right now I am concentrating on getting the minimal number of patch panels up along with keeping equipment and connections the same.  This is little more than routing an Ethernet cable to a patch panel and then using a patch cable to go from the PP to the device.  In the throes of putting the initial two PP together, I made the mistake of routing a piece of equipment to the patch panel as though it were part of the infrastructure.  I now know to keep lines primarily from PP to PP within the network.

I started out with a 16 port and one 24 port PP that I placed in two locations.  The first location was in the tool room where my main switch is located, that got a 16 port PP.  The main switch is like the hub for most of the other managed switches.  The second location was part of the computer room shelf where I am not concentrating most of my efforts.  I originally drew up a diagram of what I wanted to do first followed by a diagram of where I wanted to go.  I followed the first diagram pretty closely but ended up with a lot of differences due to the position of the ports and other equipment that was around it.

Project #13 - Add Patch Panels to the Network in Order to Ease Cabling

Since I seem to be moving cables from point to point, I thought that I would make sense for me to add a bunch of Patch Panels to the network so that I can minimize the runs needed between different parts of the network.  I think it would be a good idea to have keystone type Patch Panels instead of wired patch panels.