Small business Cat6 Local Area Network layout

[Aubrey.]

I wonder if I might pick the collective technical brains of knowledgable people here. I'm in the process of setting up a small business and am planning on installing a small local area network that will run our cloud phones, computers, IP CCTV cameras and network printers. I've devised a layout for the network and attached an image, can anyone tell me if this layout is feasible and would work? We haven't planned on a server as all storage will be in the cloud and all of our software is cloud based too. Also should we be using Cat5e or Cat6 cabling? We're going to be having a 100MB leased line installed, so internet speeds shouldn't be a problem. I'm capable of installing the cabling myself, just want to make sure that this layout will work and shouldn't give me any bottlenecking issues etc. Thanks very much in advance for any advice given :ok:

https://s4.postimg.org/sd5ka4019/Network_layout.png

PDF version (https://www.dropbox.com/s/82oeh0y5zajxrg2/Network%20plan.pdf?dl=0)

[andytug]

Couple of thoughts (caveat: I'm not a cable installer but have done CCNA so have some idea of the issues).

One thing - only one spare port on the second switch, may want more for flexibility/future-proofing.
Also to be detailed would need to know distances between switches (different rooms?) and the max bandwidth requirement of each device.

Cost is always a factor and cat6 may be 20% more or so than 5e, so may not be cost-effective to wire every device cat 6 (assuming none need the speed) but would definitely consider cat 6 for the interconnects between switches and router. Again future proofing to consider but unless your devices need 1Gb connections 5e should cover the device links.

Thought on the topology - if you lose the top 16 port switch you lose all connectivity, might be better to have all 4 switches individually connected to the router in a star topology via a switch at the router itself (according to BT site the hub 5 has 4 ethernet ports anyway so switch is built in, but one may be for the outside connection). That way if you lose any switch only the devices connected to that switch go down (VOIP phones if POE go completely dead!).

May be a QoS consideration too, you've got voice data, video data and computer data running over the same links, VOIP phones don't like packet drops and video similar, may want to consider VLANs for each to get more control (again would depend on spec).

[Midland 331]

This is my "day job" domain.

This all looks fine, but Cat 6 cannot simply be "slung in" by electricians. There are issues with bend radius and termination procedures. There is no point in paying a premium for Cat 6 if it isn't installed and terminated properly.

Capacity. Yes, make sure you have space in your rack for a bigger switch. Customers seem to need 50% more than their day one planned requirement. And, likewise, cable. Always be generous with cabled points versus capacity. And make sure that cable routes have decent capacity and are accessible.

And, of course, if your ADSL is poor, much of this won't work well. And what happens if your ADSL goes down?

[Booglebox]

Put the HomeHub in "bridge" or "modem" mode and get a proper router / firewall. This will also let you have a backup internet connection with a 3G stick if you need.
Cat 5e cable should be fine.

[whalebone]

Good advice from all contributors so far, here's my two penneth.
Remember that the max cable distance without any significant performance loss is 100m (inc patch leads each end) which is a heck of a lot when cabling a building. You would do better wiring it all back to a central cabinet and having a 48 port switch. Having one switch would also make any VLAN's easier to manage, it will also eliminate possible latency issues which IP phones can't abide.
Cat5 will be fine unless you are running VHD cameras or moving lots of very large files on a very regular basis.
If you have to run it in the layout suggested then use Cat6 links between the switches. DO NOT use Cat 5 or 6 links between buildings that have a different mains supply (different phases of the same supply are usually ok). This will cause performance problems and potentially serious safety issues (and hardware damage) should an earth fault occur on the mains supply. If you have to run in this scenario then you should use a fiber optic link with a media convertor at each end.

[Aubrey.]

Thanks very much for the replies so far, much appreciated.

Also to be detailed would need to know distances between switches (different rooms?) and the max bandwidth requirement of each device
Although the building is over two floors, the maximum distance should be less than 40 meters.

Cost is always a factor and cat6 may be 20% more or so than 5e, so may not be cost-effective to wire every device cat 6 (assuming none need the speed) but would definitely consider cat 6 for the interconnects between switches and router. Again future proofing to consider but unless your devices need 1Gb connections 5e should cover the device links.
As none of the devices are particularly intensive (PCs accessing the net, shared printers, VOIP phones and and 4MP IP cameras), it may just be easier to go with Cat 5e cable for the most part which will avoid any terminating and bending issues as mentioned by Midland, and then Cat6 for joining switches?

if you lose the top 16 port switch you lose all connectivity, might be better to have all 4 switches individually connected to the router in a star topology via a switch at the router itself
This is true and because the router itself is also a switch, all devices would still be able to talk to each other?

may want to consider VLANs for each to get more control (again would depend on spec).
How would I go about setting up VLANs, are they worth having? I assume they section off an amount of bandwidth just for the phones?

And, of course, if your ADSL is poor, much of this won't work well. And what happens if your ADSL goes down?
Surely poor internet connectivity wouldn't stop devices talking to each other properly though? We're going to have a 100MB leased line put in and hopefully a broadband line backup too.

Put the HomeHub in "bridge" or "modem" mode and get a proper router / firewall. This will also let you have a backup internet connection with a 3G stick if you need.
Cat 5e cable should be fine.
Thanks, can you recommend a decent router firewall we should be using for a small business? Why not stick with the BT hub?

You would do better wiring it all back to a central cabinet and having a 48 port switch.
I understand this would provide the most efficiency but it may not be possible to have that many wires going into the same room as the building is a bit of an odd configuration. Would it still work ok with the switch layout I've drafted and Cat6 between switches?

Again, thanks for the help so far chaps and sorry for all the questions. Much appreciated! :ok:

[whalebone]

Would it still work ok with the switch layout I've drafted and Cat6 between switches? Yes it will work, it just might not work as well as it could if it were all cabled to a single central switch.

[andytug]

Not sure what VLAN support there is in a Business Hub, but in general they help with separating traffic out, might not be needed in the size of network you have. Yes the router has a switch built in so everything will talk to each other.

[Biggles78]

CAT6a may be worth looking at if you really want to future proof it without laying optic fibre. Costs for 6a are more but will handle 10GB. I would steer clear of CAT5E as a backbone as that really is slow technology now. CAT6 as an absolute minimum.

Midland 331 will tell you it doesn't take any longer to pull 5 cables than it does to pull one and as he said, make sure you have a professional cabler install it. Sparkies are often not up with bend the radius of the various cables and you really don't want the data to slow down when it hits a too tight a corner. :uhoh:

If in doubt just remember to do it once to do it right. Spend a bit more now to save upgrades or congestion in the future. Replacing the hardware is easy. Replacing the cable is a PITA!

Good luck with your dependence on the Cloud. I would suggest a second ISP, preferably from a different exchange, and a dual WAN router. If your ISP, phone line or exchange go down you are effectively stuffed.

[Aubrey.]

Thanks very much for all the helpful replies, appreciated :ok:

[ExGrunt]

Hi Aubrey,

From an electrical connection prespective your layout may be OK. Have you thought through a security plan?

Your cloud phones will be an attractive target for hackers looking for free international calls at your expense. I would be tempted to have them on a separate sub lan thus minimising the attack surface from other devices.

I have also done a little work with IP cameras and they can create quite high network traffic if you want motion video as opposed to time lapse. I would be inclined to have them on a separate lan segment. I used a dual nic server running zoneminder (which is a freeware CCTV monitoring package included in many linux distributions) as a good gateway to a CCTV system.

I would also put a DMZ router immediately after the BT hub so that you are in full control of your outer network perimiter.

EG