Options for splitting a single RJ45?

basill

Our new house has cat 5 run into most of the rooms. From the looks of it the electrician has run a single cable to each of the rooms. He left a decent amount of cable in the backplate and then screwed on a white blank plastic face plate so it will be up to me to add on the keystone etc which is no problem. Incidentally the developer is pretty much out of the loop now and has run for the hills so getting anyone back in isn't an option. Not that we care, the place was a steal - you gotta love recessions don't ya:)

I want to use one of the rooms as a home office with both a pc and network printer. I was also thinking of putting a NAS up there as well. I don't really want to run more cat 5 cables to the room as the walls are all freshly plastered and I would have to rip up flooring as well.

So what are the options available. Connect a cheap 4 port switch (eg: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132467) to the single RJ45 faceplate in the home office? Will the performance of the home network suffer at all with various bits and pieces attached to this switch and running through a single cable back down to the gigabit switch which I will install downstairs?

Perhaps the NAS could go downstairs beside where the gigabit switch will be if performance will be an issue?

Cheers in advance.

bhickey

A cheap gigabit switch would be the best option. You can split RJ45 cables but it would compromise performace and anyway there's no need to. You'd probably need a switch in the office anyway at some stage. Locate the NAS in the office if that's where it's used the most.

sunnysoutheast

Where do all the cables go back to? That is the logical place for the gigabit switch and the NAS, you can put all this in a data cabinet on a UPS.

Just get yourself a little 4-port 10/100 switch and plug your printer and office PC into that.

This is basically the config. I have, although the local 10/100 switch is built in to a music streamer not standalone.

You could always add a wireless access point if you want to expand your home network still further.

Good luck with it.

SSE

basill

All the cables are poking out of the wall downstairs in the hallway next to the consumer unit.

I was going to get something like a Netgear 24 port managed switch (eg: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/83106). Obviously all of the bare cables will need to be terminated and plugged into the switch. As you suggested to keep it all tidy I was thinking that the best place for the NAS would be in the same cabinet as the switch. The UPS is a good idea, I hadn't figured on that.

As sods law would dictate the eircom master socket is on the opposite side of the hallway downstairs hidden away under the stairs. So was thinking that my existing Netgear ADSL wireless N router (DGN2000) should be fine as the initial access point into the house. Its got 4 ethernet ports so I could run a cat5 cable from there across to the switch to provide internet access to the rest of the house.

sunnysoutheast

Yes using your router for internet and DHCP will be fine, but you can run a phone cable from the master socket and have the router in your cabinet. Plug a patch cable from one of the ports on this into your switch.

If you're getting a cabinet you may as well put patch panels in, that way you can also use the cables for phone if you need to.

I have a Netgear GS724 switch, hasn't missed a beat in over 3 years.

SSE