It's quite possible to construct a computer network "on the fly," stringing Ethernet cables from a central hub or switch to individual computers and other devices as you need them. But it's almost always better to spend some time planning your network before you start to install it. It's a lot easier to make changes to your design on paper rather than making adds, moves, and changes in physical space. This chapter offers advice and instructions for preparing a network plan.
I'm assuming in this chapter that you have chosen not to use either power line or video cable as your primary network distribution medium. Both of those methods can be practical in some situations, but a traditional Ethernet system, possibly with a supplementary Wi-Fi base station, is usually a better choice for a small business or household network, because the equipment is widely available, it's often inexpensive, and it's easy to install and maintain.
To begin your network plan, start with a floor plan of the house, apartment, or workspace where you want to install your network. The plan doesn't have to be exactly to scale, but it should be big enough to add notes within each room or cubicle, and it should show the relative positions of each room. Figure 5-1 shows a typical floor plan for a small one-story house. If it's convenient, use a copier or scanner to make several copies of the floor plan.
The next step is to decide where you will want network connections. Use different colors to note the locations of each of the following items:
- Electrical outlets
Network wiring and outlets should be at least 12 inches away from AC wiring, so it will be helpful to identify all of the AC outlets in each room. In addition, you will want access to AC power for your computer, router, modem, and other network hardware.
- Your home entertainment systems
Home theater equipment, stereo systems, televisions, and game consoles can all exchange data through your home network, so network outlets should be within close range.
- Telephone wall outlets and connection boxes
If you plan to use a DSL or dial-up connection to the Internet, your network will use telephone outlets to connect.
- Cable TV or other video outlets
If you get your Internet service from your cable TV provider, you will connect a modem to a cable outlet. Even if you don't use cable Internet service, you might want to use combined wall plates for video and data outlets.
- Furniture placed next to a wall
You won't want to plan a network outlet socket in a place that forces you to move a bookcase or a sofa to get to it. On the other hand, if there's a table against the wall, you could probably crawl underneath easily to plug in a cable in a place where it won't call attention to itself.
- Closets, stairways, and other hiding places
If your home or workplace includes spaces on more than one floor of the building, be sure to note the locations of closets, stairways, and other places where it will be relatively easy to run hidden cables through ceilings or floors. As with the other wiring in your home or workplace, your goal will be to hide all your network cables inside walls, under floors, and in other invisible locations.
If you're adding the network in an existing home or office, all of these elements are probably in place already. Before you start to add new network wiring and connection points, you must understand how they will relate to the other things in each room. If you're planning a network as part of a major remodeling or new construction, plan to coordinate your efforts with the contractors or outside installers who will provide electrical wiring, telephones, cable or satellite TV, and wiring for a home theater or home entertainment system.
With all this information in one place, it's easy to decide where you will want to install network connection points. Use yet another color of pencil to mark an unobstructed place for the network outlet on the wall nearest to each computer and every other device you plan to connect to the network.
Each outlet should be at least a foot from the closest electrical outlet, both because AC wiring can generate interference that affects data signals, and because it's often required by the local electric code to prevent shorting between AC and data cables.
If your telephone or cable TV outlets are mounted on wall plates (rather than in small boxes attached to the baseboard), consider replacing the existing wall plate with a new one that combines two or three outlets of different types on a single wall plate, as shown in Figure 5-2.
When you design your network, you should also plan for the future. You probably don't need them today, but within a few years, it's quite possible that you will want to connect your household appliances, a bedside radio, and other devices to your LAN and the Internet. And if you plan to eventually add one or more online cameras or home automation devices (such as lighting or climate controls) to the network, it's a good idea to mark their tentative locations.
Remember, it doesn't cost anything to mark a location for an outlet on your floor plan. You don't have to install every outlet right away, but it's helpful to know where they're likely to be when you plan your cable runs. You can always change the exact locations before you actually pull cable through the walls.
Note
Planning for a lot of extra network connection points might seem unnecessary right now, but that will almost certainly change. If you plan for more network connection points than you think you need today, you might have enough for the next ten years. Consider this: If you live in an old house with the original electrical wiring, you probably know that one or two AC outlets in each room was considered more than enough back in 1925; more would have been extravagant. Today, you should have several electrical outlet plates on every wall. In the future, household data networks will be as common as electricity and telephones.
In your home, consider placing at least one network outlet in each major room—don't worry about hallways and other odd spaces. In the kitchen, place one outlet close to a counter, and plan to place another on the wall next to the refrigerator and range. You might also want an outlet in the laundry room, not far from the washer and dryer—you probably won't want to connect your appliances to the network right now, but remote control and monitoring through your home network is a real possibility in the future. In each bedroom, plan for an outlet near a desk or table where the room's occupant uses a computer or video game console, and (if it's not close to the first outlet) another outlet for a bedside Internet radio or a laptop computer.
In an office, plan for at least one network connection point next to every desk and every other location where you expect to place a computer or other network device, such as a printer.
If you expect to use both Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections to your network, note the locations for one or more Wi-Fi access point on your floor plan.
All of your network wiring should use CAT5e or CAT6 data cable; less expensive CAT5 (no "e") cable can't handle the higher-speed network data that you're likely to need in the future.