ᐅ Planning the Network Cabinet and Its Contents

Created on: 8 Mar 2018 07:57
K
KingSong
Hello,

I am currently planning our network cabinet. How large should it be? What size do you use? 6U or better 12U? Or smaller or even bigger?

I need to fit in:

- 24-port patch panel
- 24-port switch
- Power strip
- 2 network-attached storage devices
- Router
- 2 shelves
- Fibaro Home Center 2

Have I forgotten anything important that should definitely go in? I also imagine it would be really fiddly to connect the 20 network cables to the patch panel once the cabinet is already mounted on the wall...

How did you handle this?

Thanks in advance,

Ecko
A
Alex85
9 Mar 2018 19:31
I think 9 to 12U will be more than enough. There’s no need to overdo it. For example, you can (and should) mount the power strip on the rear mounting rail, so it doesn’t take up any U space at the front. I’m more concerned about the cabinet depth and the spacing of the mounting rails to make sure a short server case will fit. Commercial NAS units are really just toys...
M
Mastermind1
9 Mar 2018 20:56
The Fibaro Homecenter will probably be placed on the network cabinet so that you can get reception with Z-Wave. My Razberry is also on the network cabinet – unfortunately, there is no reception inside the cabinet... The Fibaro box can likely be mounted on the wall like a Fritzbox, which would also look quite neat.
KingSong9 Mar 2018 21:05
The Fibaro Box can safely be placed inside a cabinet; a colleague of mine has it like this too, and there have been no reception issues. It has plenty of power! Currently, it is located on the second floor, with the first actuator on the ground floor... no problems at all.
RobsonMKK9 Mar 2018 21:53
We have a 9U rack. Depth was also important because of the NAS planned for later.
I mounted the patch panel in the rack, but instead of an LSA+ panel, I used keystone modules.

Network rack with patch panel, orange cable bundles, white cables, and cable clutter.


Network patch panel in a server rack with many orange RJ45 cables.
A
Alex85
9 Mar 2018 22:07
Oh, and do you also have pneumatic tube systems?

P.S.: Cable entry from above = patch panel + switch at the top
blackm889 Mar 2018 23:18
Alex85 schrieb:

I’m mainly looking at the cabinet depth and the spacing of the mounting rails to make sure a short server case will fit. Pre-built NAS units are just child’s play...

The servers I install daily are well over one meter (3 feet) long. And I don’t see why a NAS device wouldn’t be sufficient for home use.