Networking closet - what do you wish you had and what would you recommend doing?

[capnswab]

I'm thinking of moving some standard home networking stuff into a hallway coat closet and am wondering what other folks have done, or wish they had done, when they set theirs up. I just started thinking about this, so no formal plans as of yet. Doing some other electrical work at the house, and will have someone wire up an outlet in the closet. I know what I want in there, but haven't wrapped my head around how to keep it organized.

Right now, I'm planning on:
* NVR - yet to purchase
* router
* cable modem
* switches
* Hue bridge
* assurelink garage door opener

Any input is appreciated!

 

[nayr]

Patch Panels and see if you can fit a 2 post rack inside your closet..

Dont forget about cooling, your need airflow.. You probably have a cheap hollow core dore, I would suggest replacing it with a nice solid wood door as it provides alot more security and will dampen the fan noises dramatically.

Go with a passive intake and an active exhaust, check out the Weed Growing indoor gardening stores, if you get an oversized inline duct fan with a thermostatic speed controller you can run it at low speed and have adequate ventilation without much noise.. and if your AirCon ever shits your closet has enough overhead cooling capacity to keep from burning up your equipment inside if your house hits 90 degrees.

Dont forget a battery backup..

me I got 2 cabinets and i built a room in the basement just for em..

 

[bp2008]

I built my network a piece at a time, I am lazy, and I don't have a woman in the house so nobody cares if things aren't particularly tidy

In my back bedroom where I keep the servers and router, I use one of those wire shelves that you can buy on Amazon for under $100 USD. It isn't a proper server rack, but I don't have much rack-mountable gear anyway so it doesn't really matter. I also don't use patch panels. Patch panels are mostly useful when you are running every network cable in the house back to one central location. I didn't do that. I put a switch in each room, and to connect the rooms, I ran cat5e cables through one hole in a bedroom closet floor, through the crawlspace, and up through the floor again in various places around the house. All my network cables not running through a wall or floor are actually prefabricated, but I do my best to use an appropriate length for each job. I have a whole box of 1 ft, 1.5 ft, 3 ft, 5 ft, 7 ft, 15 foot cables of different colors so I usually don't have more than a foot or two of extra cable to deal with unless it is a longer run using a 25/50/100ft piece. These come in really handy if you aren't trying to fit everything to a particular color scheme (e.g. using all black cabling).

 

[fbnoise]

I found out about these on this forum and wished I had them from the start.. Remote power switches (not wireless like WeMo outlets - generally not trusted for critical stuff). Anything you may need to manually restart, it's nice to be able to do it if you're not home.. Also an option - they can check connectivity and initiate a restart based on that (think router/modem).

This one has logging features, web interface (no app), two outlets:
https://www.amazon.com/3Gstore-Remote-Power-IP-Switch/dp/B00LLVQ9OI/

This one has no logging features, single outlet, has a very simple mobile app:
https://www.amazon.com/ezOutlet-Internet-IP-Enabled-Android-Interface/dp/B00KQ4R1RK/

I don't have this one, but it appears to have nice reviews and looks beastly:
https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Digital-Loggers-Outlets-Protection/dp/B00EZWD146/

 

[bp2008]

I can vouch for the web power switch. I've been using them since they were at version 3. It doesn't have some of the more advanced features you'd find on expensive enterprise-level power equipment (like power usage monitoring) but it blows away all the other consumer-level remote controllable power switches.

 

[capnswab]

nayr, that looks intense! I guess you can say there is passive cooling in the closet, AC return in the closet with a vent through the door, so every time the air is on, it will pull through there. I don't anticipate getting too crazy with equipment in there, but I guess we've all said that at some point, right? No crawlspace here, so I'll have to fish everything through the attic. Those outlets are pretty slick, have a couple of Wemo switches, but don't really do much with them.

 

[nayr]

I'd add a thermometer in there and keep an eye on it, you might need a thermostat that has a fan cycle feature.. mine has such an option and with it enabled I can have the fan come on for X amount of time every X mins to help circulate air throughout the house.. combined you can figure out how long your hvac system can be off before temps start to rise and just have the fans come on for a few mins to pull fresh air in, its a really nice feature to have on a thermostat anyhow, keeps my split level house from having drastic temp changes from lowest levels to highest.

If your going to get an electrical outlet installed, try to dedicate a circuit to it.. this way someone running a sweeper/hair dryer/etc wont knock your network offline or introduce a bunch of noise into your AV equipment.. plus you'd be surprised how power hungry some things are, my laser printer will blow my office circuit if I have any fans/heaters running.

If you have to pull everything through the attic use a couple pieces of the largest plastic conduit you can get.. I drilled ahole in a 2x6 just large enough for a 90 degree to slide in one end but not out the other because of the coupling part.. then ran that through the celing and screwed it in place.. that way you can pull a wire from inside your closet to where it needs to go without it hanging up on a hole in the roof.. then when your done pulling cables shove a rag/sock into the conduit to keep your AC from leaking into the attic.

Since yours is right up next to your HVAC system, I would suggest investing in quiet equipment for inside there.. if you throw a old loud server in there thinking it'll be a good place for it.. you could find that you can hear the server running from every room because of the connected ducts leading to your closet.

 

[fbnoise]

Other option is keeping the HVAC fan set to ON - I've done that for 7 years straight now w/ no problems and I like that it keeps things moving. Do that and you also shouldn't have to worry about PC noise (honestly can't see PC noise being an issue anyways) and you get the benefits of leaving the house fan on.

As far as a separate circuit, that's a good idea if it's doable, but even if it's not, a good battery backup should be mandatory anyways, and will also clean the power signal. Anything critical should be powered by a UPS if/when you can manage to get one.

 

[tangent]

On temperature issues, it's always a good idea to have software monitoring in place too that can take action like hibernate your pc or text you. A few years ago I had a bearing in a case fan seize up on a hot day and it cooked the hard drive in that computer. I've also seen some pretty epic cooling failures in data centers and networking closets over $20K of damage in one instance.

Patch panels and a proper rack (wall or floor mount) are a must. You always need more of both of these than you expect / plan on.