Patch Panel Help !!!

[Lord Quake]

We have 20 computers all connected via Cat5 UTP into a wall cabinet which has 2 rackmount 12 port 10baseT hubs. I intend to replace the 2 hubs with a 48pt switch to allow for extra computers that are being added. The problem is that above the 2 hubs in the cabinet is a rack mount Patch panel. I have never used one before, and it seems that most of the wires going to the hubs seem to come from the panel. Can anyone tell me the purpose of using Patch panels in networking ? and why in this situation could one be needed ?

I had thought of removing the panel and wiring the computers directly to the new switch. Is this not the sensible thing to do?

Many thanx for any advice.

[bob]

Patch panels can go to punchdown boxes using 26 pair (?) wire. If it is rj45 cat5 in and rj45 cat5 out then you can bypass the panel

[mhayes]

If your cabling goes further than one room I would most definately leave your patch panel in place. If it is labelled properly it will help you easily identify and organize your cabling and quickly point to the source of problems. A patch panel also allows you you to colour code your patch cables (ie. yellow for printers, white for 100Mb and blue for 10Mb), it also allows you to use a crossover patch cord instead of modifying the cable termination. If it is not labelled in a fashion that will easily allow you to identify the rom and jack then I suggest that you start there. You can quickly do this using a tone generator and probe.

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Mike

Fish (2) Mike (7) Beer (36) Blackflies (1,000,000,000) And that's just how opening weekend ended.

[Lord Quake]

Cheers Lads.

The advice makes things a lot clearer.

Many thanx.

[Lord Quake]

It's a Manufacturing building, only small, but they have a patch panel with no labeling whatsoever, no color codes in place.

I thought there may be some special reason for using a panel. As i understand it in a patch panel one 4 pair UTP goes in and one 4 pair UTP comes out. For only 20 computers it seems a bit pointless.

Is there anything else a patch panel can allow for ?
I don't want to remove it and then find it had some underlying reason for being there ... Again many thanx.

[Nutrocker]

Hi

Patch panels are very useful for pc's and voice equipment that get moved around a building a lot. It may seem pointless to have one now but remove it and you will regret it at a later date.

The patch panel I administer (one of them) uses both voice and data, if a user moves dept or a new employee starts then installing a new phone and pc is a doddle! (as long as the wallpoints and cabling to patch panel infrastructure exists already)

Color coding or numbering helps a lot. Then logging where everything is connected is the fun bit http://www.pcmech.com/ubb/smile.gif



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Regards
Don
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[Great_One]

Patch Pannels serve as a termination point for cable runs. Alot of times when a building is wired you have many more runs of cable then what you are actually using. These are for later addtions or from moving equipment around.With the patch pannel, you then only patch in the runs that you are actually using to the switch. you might have 48 runs on the pannel but are only using 20-25 at any given time. Additionally, it's eaiser to punch wires into the patch pannel rather than trying to crimp ends on them, and at some point you may need to patch a cable run into a point farther away from your current switch. With a patch pannel, you just use a longer patch cord.

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Hmmmm, Never saw that happen before.