[ale] Future-proofing a house for networking -- what to run?

[Derek Atkins]

Hi Phil,

On Mon, September 11, 2017 10:03 am, Phil Turmel wrote:
> Hi Derek,
>
> I haven't had fully open studs to work with, but an unfinished basement
> and an attic will do if you are willing to play with flexible drill
> bits.  I've put a fair number of circuits in my house.

Indeed.  In this case there is going to be some major renovation and new
construction so I'll have generally easy access, I think.  I probably wont
know for sure for a couple months.

> On 09/11/2017 09:33 AM, Derek Atkins wrote:
>> Hi Alers,
>>
>> If you had the ability to future-proof your house (imagine open studs,
>> so you could run anything you wanted), what would you run.  Assume a max
>> of 6 cables per drop?
>
> I tend to run 2x LAN, one primary, one backup.  Two RG6/quad-shield, one
> to attic for broadcast or dish duty, one to ground level nexus for cable
> company.

Note that I meant "per drop".  In my current house I have 16 drops
throughout the house.  I neglected to add that I also ran 2x RG6 to my
attic and also 2xRG6 + 1xCat6A to my exterior PoP (for cable, etc).  I'm
less concerned about runs from nexus to attic -- I can run conduit for
THAT run.  But it's to each of the drops that I'm trying to plan out. 
Bedrooms, media rooms, offices, etc.  Any place I might want to put a TV
or Computer.

> Future installs will include a DC power connector routed to my UPS so I
> can efficiently keep a few circuits alive even when the UPS is "off".

Hmm...

> For the entertainment center location, I added fiber for digital audio,
> two USB circuits, two HDMI circuits, and a headphone jack.  All of these
> routed to the basement media server.
>
>> Last time I ran 4x Cat6A and 2x RG6.  However I'm never using both RG6
>> F-connectors, so I figured I could replace that with something else.
>> And before you ask, yes, I *AM* using all 4 RJ45 connectors in some of
>> my drops (and in one place I wish I had MORE Rj45).  So, what else
>> should I run?
>
> Consider learning to use VLANs so you don't have to waste so much
> infrastructure on additional LAN cables.  Linux supports it out of the
> box and small VLAN capable switches are relatively cheap.

Yes, but then I have to power those switches with a UPS to keep them
alive.  Also, in many cases (like in my office), my phone is on PoE which
means it needs its own drop.  Honestly, a 1000' spool of Cat6A is only
$150.  Sure, that's 3-4 mini routers, but I'd rather centralize my
switching/routing when possible.  The multiple drops aren't for VLANS but
to minimize the switches I need throughout my house.

>> However I'm not sure what kind of "fiber" to run, nor what kind of
>> connector I should use.
>
> Digital audio has a standardized connector for AES and ADAT technologies.

Yes, but I wasn't necessarily thinking just digital audio -- I was
thinking digital data (of which audio is one type of data) -- hence my
questions here to determine the best general solution.

Thanks,

> Phil

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant