Patch panel why

They are also commonly known as a patch bay, patch field or jack field. Patch panels are used to better organize and manage all of the Ethernet cable found within your home network; they are one of the few components that are used in both copper and fiber-based networks and you can pretty much guarantee to find at least one within a business environment. So what would a patch panel be used for in your home network setup? Including a patch panel as part of a network setup comes with a host of advantages over simply running cables from each device directly to a central piece of networking equipment , most commonly a switch or router.

A patch panel is not required but is recommended if you are running Ethernet cable across your home. If you do or are planning to, connect your home network up over Ethernet, I would strongly recommend getting a patch panel. Here are some reasons you may want to consider getting a patch panel for your home network:. There are clearly many advantages of having a patch panel over not, but are there any disadvantages to having one? The obvious downside is the additional cost to purchase the patch panel itself.

My opinion, though, is that it is all part of the job and is just a cost to accept. If you are going through the trouble of running cable through the walls or ceiling, it is worth finishing the rest of the job off properly and paying for a patch panel.

There is also an investment of time needed in order to punch down the cables at the back of the patch panel. What is a Patch Panel? What is a Patch Panel Used for? Advantages of Patch Panels Patch panels are an important piece of equipment in the data center. Some of the most significant benefits of using patch panels include: Scalability — After installing a patch panel, you can easily add new devices without having to run new cables end-to-end.

Reduces Cable Clutter — Patch panels are typically located closer to the actual equipment. This makes it possible to use a shorter patch cable. From the panel, a fiber optic or other high capacity connection runs to the next network or the internet. This means they are very inexpensive. Lowering Cable Cost — Having a patch panel allows you to use shorter cables, which cost less than longer ones.

Typically, you can also use inexpensive cat-5 cables to get to the patch panel rather than costly fiber optics. It only takes a minute to sign up. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. For example, at work, a network is made up of 10 workstations all connected to a switch through a patch panel. From my inexperienced opinion, it is extra cost that can be avoided; however, as I do more research it appears to be common sense to use a patch panel.

The horizontal cable needs to be solid-core cable. This gives you up to meters of copper wire. The combination of good performing horizontal cable, and poor performing stranded patch cords should pass the test suite for the cable category you installed. You could find your cable plant does not work correctly if you use stranded cable for the horizontal cable, as someone on Server Fault did.

What if you don't use a patch panel, then decide you have to move your switch further down the rack or you need to move the connection to equipment in a different location in the rack? Now your cable is not long enough to reach the new location. You are screwed because now you have to run an entire new cable through the walls.

With a patch panel you would just grab a longer patch cable and be done with it. Cable Length and rack organization as explained by John K in his answer this allow to adjust cable length at need. This also allow to organize the rack properly. Cable weariness With the time the cable, and especially the connector, may get screwed up and can cause various network issue very hard to diagnostic. If you must redo the connector, you need to get someone experimented with the proper tool, and then have the cable certified again.

Therefore, the technicians can connect or disconnect services to the specific places without going to the actual locations just by managing the patch panels. Finally, using a patch panel also improves the aesthetics of your work area. All cables are in place and accessible represent a well managed workstation, which also shows your professional quality.

The answer is that patch panel and switch play different roles in the cabling system. Patch panel acts just as a connector which will not make any influences on data transmission, but a network switch connects hardware within a network to enable them to access the Internet, share data etc. In a data center rack, there are many network switches with numbers of ports.

Routing cables from one rack to another is a tough job. So you have to use patch panels to manage these cables. Designed for specific cables like Cat5e, Cat6 copper cables and OS2, OM3 fiber cables, patch panels types are different.