Network Rack

We recently upgraded out internet service to gigabit fiber from AT&T. The price is $5 more than we were paying for 300/100mpbs from Spectrum so it was really an easy choice. I have to say, the service setup and installation was super easy and the technicians were friendly and answered all my questions. Overall I had a great experience switching ISPs. But that did move up my network upgrade project much sooner than I had planned. I need to make a server rack and update my equipment.

Server rack mounted, ready for equipment.

On my woodworking blog you can see how I built the actual server rack enclosure and mounted it to the wall. I cut out some holes in the top to accommodate a 140mm fan for ventilation and a grommet for wires to pass through. A colleague at my previous job gave me a patch panel and that was the first thing to install. I rerouted and ran some new CAT5e cables from the media center and the office to the panel and then hooked them up to my new POE switch.

Blank panel to reserve room for the fan in the back top.

I opted for a POE switch in order to make installation of access points easier. I have a Ubiquiti AP Lite for upstairs that I still need to permanently install as it is just running on my office desk for now. The POE makes it convenient to only require a single network cable for installation. More APs will come later, most likely in the sunroom for outdoor coverage and possibly in the media center for stronger coverage in the main living space of the house.

Server in new IPC case installed.

I moved my home server components into a new IPC case and installed it in the rack. This clears a lot of room on the home brew shelving where the server used to live. The new enclosure is also much quieter and provides significantly more room for disk storage expansion as my Plex library grows. A rackmount surge protector was also installed to clean up the wiring and keep everything consolidated within the rack.

Lag Kills

Play of the game.

Sunday Funday isn't fun if you can't play with your friends. Once a month our group plays Overwatch together and we have a blast. That is, if we don't have connection problems. That is what I've been experiencing the past several months when I'm trying to play and Siri is watching her shows. The wireless network just can't keep up for whatever reason. I considered buying a new router but a very good one is going to be at least $150 whereas just running some wires is going to be much cheaper. Thus began my second adventure crawling around in the attic.

The attic, with stack in view.

The plan was simple: run a CAT5 cable from the office to the basement where I would put the router and modem. I could also run a cable up to the TV if needed and I could remove all of the coaxial splitters and cables snaked around the house. Plans never survive first contact with the enemy and the 'simple' act of running a cable from office to basement proved more difficult than anticipated. I thought I'd be able to run the cable down through the house next to the stack, but first I had to find access to the stack. After moving some insulation I was able to locate the stack in the far corner of the roof pitch which made it quite difficult to get to. Andy came to help with his tools and I used his fish tape to try and pull the cable up from the basement. Unfortunately it kept getting snagged on something so we had to come up with something different. We were able to shine a light down the wall next to the stack and see it in the basement so we knew there was space to run the cable. Andy suggested to use some washers tied to a bit of nylon thread and lower this down the stack. I did this from the attic and he was able to hook the line with a makeshift grabber constructed of a wire hanger and old mop stick. With the CAT5 fastened to the washers I pulled the cable up the stack and made sure I had enough to run it up the rafters and then down the wall in the office.

Stapled up.

Me stapling the cable to rafters.

Cable at the bottom of the stack in the basement.

Big spool o' cable.

Termination block.

Another new outlet.

I stapled the cable to the rafters going up to the centerline of the roof. I followed this line over to a brace that dropped down near where I planned to drill through the wall header. I stapled the cable to all of these boards to keep it out of the way for when I do more work in the attic later (yay?). After finding the studs in the interior wall of the office I measured the rough distance from the attic hatch and found the wall header. I used a spade bit to bore a hole in the wood and I also cut a hole in the wall for the box to go in. I used a low voltage old work box so that the faceplate has something substantial to be fastened to.

Low voltage box.

Outlet with cover.

Next was to terminate the basement end of the cable in a small box near where I would be placing the router and modem. Thankfully Andy left me his punch down tool which made easy work of this task. I also had to run a new outlet to this area since there wasn't one nearby. I just fed this outlet off of one from my previous lighting basement lighting project. The last cabling to be done was to move the coaxial cable that was going into what is now the woodshop. I assume the previous owners watched TV down there as there are speakers in the ceiling as well, perhaps a home theater? The coaxial cable was long enough to reach to the new modem placement and I stapled it up to the joists in the basement ceiling to keep it neat.

Router and modem in place.

With all of the cabling complete I could finally move the modem and router to their new location in the basement and test the network outlet in the office. After hooking up the coax cable and router I found I had wireless again and I found some patch cables to connect the router to the termination block and the office outlet to my PC. Success! Now I won't get disconnected during game night.