[This is part 8 of a 10 part series titled: “So You’re An IT Noob“]
Earlier we had discussed how to get your team online. At some point, a few wireless access points may not be enough for your team.
WiFi is great, but there may come a time when you will have network based devices such as copiers, printers, network storage devices, etc. that will require the use of cables (though many of these devices are wireless these days).
Despite this being a series for noobs, this is one area where you may have to call in some experts to do some work.
Much of it, however, is infrastructure.
You will want to get in touch with a cabling company to come in and run Cat5/e or Cat6 cable from whatever room (or closet) you designate as your end point. But there are other items you will need in order to make this work.
Patch Panel
This is a relatively inexpensive product. You can get a 24 port patch panel on Amazon for $27. A 48 port panel will cost $30 more. Rather than having cables run directly from the back of a switch or hub (more on that below) to the endpoint in an office or room, you can have the cabling company tie off the cables to the back of a the patch panel. This makes it easier to keep it labeled as well so you know exactly where that connection is going.
Hub or Switch?
Some people don’t believe there is a difference. In fact, many noobs wouldn’t be able to tell the difference by looking at it. A switch or a hub is going to be connected to your router and will send the data signal over the cables plugged into the switch or hub to the patch panel and then to the device.
What’s the difference? Simple.
Intelligence.
Think of it this way. When you go to the mall, the parking lot is a mess. You can drive around for quite awhile looking for a parking spot. Many other cars are doing the same. It’s just a constant flow. There’s really no direction. That’s how a hub works. If there’s not a lot of traffic (say you’re at the mall very early), it will work just fine.
A switch however, moves the traffic around better. A switch behaves like the parking you might see at a sporting event. Rather than trying to find a spot, there is an attendant directing you to a spot. It’s efficient. Everything moves faster.
That’s how a switch operates with data. When a switch sees traffic coming from Computer A on port 7, it now knows that Computer A is connected to that port and that traffic to Computer A needs to only be sent to that port and not any of the others.
What Kind Of Switch?
Aha! The plot thickens! Not all switches are alike. I will say that as a noob, you will want to go with an unmanaged switch. The difference between the two is the unmanaged switch is just one that you plug in and it starts working. A managed switch provides much more control but they have to be set up manually, assigned IP addresses and also cost a whole lot more.
Having your Church wired, particularly as you grow, will provide some benefits. You will be able to deploy wireless access points if the size of your facility grows to where a wireless router tucked away in a closet doesn’t provide the signal strength you will need. As previously mentioned, you’ll also be able to connect devices directly. As you grow, you’ll require faster data transfer and a wired connection will give that to you.
As always, any suggestions are welcome!
Eric Rovtar says
If you haven’t already, I’d suggest getting an account with CDW setup. They provide a ton of hardware, discounted for non-profits and they also will help you figure out which solution is best for you.
I’ve been trained that Cisco is definitely the leader in network technology, and that seems to hold up. It’s the same story: you pay a bit more for the name, but you also get the dependability of that name. I seriously have not received a bad piece of Cisco technology. (I say that excluding their home brand, Linksys, which is also good, but not as good as Cisco for businesses. Linksys devices – specifically Access Points – are just not designed for a business setting with heavier use than your home.)
The nice thing about Cisco switches is that they can be managed but don’t have to be. Most can just be plugged in out of the box with no problems. Our church has a bank of Cisco Catalyst Express 500s. They’re great, but an older model. We’ve been slowly replacing them with new Catalyst SGE 2000s. As we’ve added locations, I take one of the 500s, which are only 100MB switches, out to the new, smaller location, and replace it with an SGE 2000, which is a Gigabit switch. This has added speed to our network.
The final piece to be thinking about and planning for your future is Power over Ethernet (PoE). Power over Ethernet is just that: it provides power over the Cat5 cables running through your building. The reason this is nice, is it allows you to add devices as needed without having to worry about having an outlet right there as well.
Here’s a practical example we just ran into: We wanted to add an Access Point to our Atrium. I bought one and it supports PoE. Problem is that we don’t have a PoE switch in that section of the building. So now, instead of just running a Cat5 drop, we also have to run power to that location as well. This causes more expense as you can imagine.
Anyway, I know that’s a lot, and I’m sure some noobs (or newbs) might have their heads spinning, but these are definitely some of the things to think about when buying a switch. My basic philosophy is: don’t just patch the hole when there’s a way to set you up better for the future. It might cost a bit more at the time, but it’s better than rebuying/replacing everything in the future.
If you are a newer IT person and need me to explain something I’ve said, please feel free to comment, and I’ll try to help.
Mark Spidle says
Eric, I’m sure you’ve thought of this but you could just use a power injector instead of running power to where your AP is in your atrium.
Eric Rovtar says
Hmm… nope, though I’m not surprised such a thing exists. Still doesn’t help the bigger problem that I inherited a building where only 20% of the wall drops are labeled. Waiting till it’s not just me to tackle that battle. Thanks for the info though!
Jay Caruso says
Great thoughts Eric. You should consider taking these thoughts and expanding it into a blog post for Church Mag.
Andres Cabezas says
It’s been years since I’ve seen an Ethernet hub (as opposed to a switch) available for purchase. Are hubs still widely available or do you have to go out of your way to buy one? Assuming hubs are rare, the difference between hubs and switches is a bit of technical trivia that IT noobs don’t need to bother learning.
Jay Caruso says
Actually, hubs including stackable ones are readily available though switches are much more prevalent.
And I think it’s important for noobs to learn such differences when they’re just starting out. Remember, churches sometimes make use of older equipment given to them by businesses and by church members.