okay kind of a noob question

itdaddy

hahha

okay I have seen both but wha is best for a patch panel and server rooms wires (cat5e type)
UTP or STP???
thanks guys I am redoing my server rooms color coding and labelling everything nice.
I cannot stand a mess..

nicklauscombs

paging itdaddy

cleanup needed in the server room

Forsaken_GA

Unless you have a good reason to need the shielding, stick to UTP. The only real reasons you'd need to use STP is if you have large sources of electromagnetic interference on your cable run. STP is generally more expensive, and not as flexible as UTP. So if you're running across a manufacturing plant, consider STP. If you're recabling a data center, you'll be fine with UTP

creamy_stew

UTP, unless STP is specified.

UTP is what everyone uses.

STP, you usually end up with parts of the wire being UTP, and all sorts of grounding problems.

An STP without proper gounding is always worse than a plain UTP.

vinbuck

itdaddy wrote: »

hahha

okay I have seen both but wha is best for a patch panel and server rooms wires (cat5e type)
UTP or STP???
thanks guys I am redoing my server rooms color coding and labelling everything nice.
I cannot stand a mess..

Really depends on what kinda Layer 1/2 stuff you've got...if you're mostly ethernet I wouldn't worry about STP as the twist in the pairs will usually maintain the intgrity of the signal for the duration of the 100 meter ethernet spec. Working for a telco the past few years, I definitely have seen the need for STP in a Central Office (our version of a data center) but it's more frequently used with higher speed ADSL and VDSL home runs from a NID into a home or business to replace aging inside wire. You would be amazed at the mundane everyday electronics that will cause interference on copper wire.

itdaddy

Thanks guys....I appreciate you guidance..you know vinbuck I had our ISP run some cat5e from our patch panels
to the ATM machines outside our branch offices, and I do not think they used UTP..The good new is I ran a laptop band test and funny test I ran on a cat5e about 200 foot cable ran it outside and put my laptop on it and band speed test ran like 9 Meg for an internet test. I was shocked didnt lose much but I am going to ask the telco guys
if the used UTP. It looks like STP to me. huh! I would love to work for a telco say for a summer but duty calls! rats. I would love to get my hands on working with Adtrans, wiring all kinds of cool crap! some day!
maybe when I retire ahahah )))
I think it would be some good skills learned
thanks guys. I am so pumped to redo our our server rooms. You know thos pictures you see on the net with the crappy cabling nitghtmare..well ours looks that bad yuke! going to kick one weekend cant wait. got rid of my yeah I know 2950 dmz switch and replaced it with the 3560X GB switch oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I looked the other day and I noticed why are back bone slow as a worm. There was a makeshift trunk cable 4 inches long cutting over tohe lan port on the 2950 and man I changed that right away and bam! speed bumped up like 10x what it was. plus 2950 has no more smartnet warranty and I cannot keep a DMZ switch with no SMARTNET my boss will have my hide! thanks guys!

vinbuck

Once your network leaves the nice cozy confines of the data center and gets out into the elements is where the fun begins

I would always use STP for anything outdoors to reduce EMI. We use STP when working with WiMAX indoors and outdoors to reduce interference from the RF link. If you ever get a chance to work for a telco, I would highly recommend it - it will turn you into a master troubleshooter - you just can't imagine all the ways your network can break until some redneck bush hogs one of your core fiber routes or someone fires up a three phase motor (that isn't properly grounded) at a manfacturing site that just happens to be near one of your HDSL4 T-1 routes I could probably make a list of the top 50 ways your network can break at layer 1 off the top of my head.

The biggest difference is that YOU are responsible for figuring out why 30 miles of network isn't working instead of calling ATT and opening a ticket (which proably only slightly less difficuly actually)

itdaddy

vinbuck
omg taking a ticket with ATT my Lord would take days. ATT sucks the experience I have had crap
I could walk 30 miles by the time ATT gets around to fixing something..maybe it is because I live in the sticks!?
who knew? hahhaha yeah Just for a year would be fun to cable everything and see many things..maybe I might some day..I have many options opening up..I try to cable as much as I can and watch them do their thing and cable any jacks here if it is only 1 or two I can do myself...with the time I am givin. I try to cable as mucha s I can and watch them when they cable stuff to learn thanks man!

vinbuck

If you are interested in Carrier grade cabling and technologies, ADTRAN has a wealth of information on their website. They are really one of the big players when it comes to carrier grade ethernet and other copper solutions. Once you get into carrier grade stuff, everything becomes modular and slot based (think Cisco 6500 switches or 7600 routers) so you can bring a DS-3, Fiber to the Home, ADSL, ATM, SONET...you name it into a single chassis and do cool network tricks like interworking to ethernet and then backhaul it via fiber. It's a lot of fun actually. You get to build some pretty sizable layer-2 networks and it's neat to know that you're actually building a small portion of the global internet.

Here are some links to broadband access equipment for carriers that will give you an idea of what's out there...if you can get access to Adtran University, you'll learn even more.

Broadband Access Networks Integrated with Modern Technology by ADTRAN

itdaddy

vinbuck
sweet site thanks man!