Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    What hardware to get for a small "cabinet"?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Official Netgate® Hardware
    22 Posts 7 Posters 2.6k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • R
      rainer_d @AndyRH
      last edited by

      @andyrh There are only 4 wires connected (1, 2, 3 and 6), out of 8.
      I haven't asked for a quote for re-wiring this thing with "proper" cables. This being Switzerland, no doubt it will be eye-wateringly expensive 😨
      The people who do networking at work agree that 5e is enough.

      I'm not sure a fan will make much difference - simply because it's such a small, enclosed space.

      Currently, it's a mess with all the stuff sitting on the floor outside the cabinet :-(

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • F
        FSC830
        last edited by FSC830

        100Mb cabling is the same like 1Gb cabling (from an "optical" view), you cant see a difference.
        But 1Gb uses a different cable and all 8 pins are connected. 100Mb uses only four pins, so my guess is that if OP wrotes six ports are wired for Ethernet (1,2,3,6) these are the pins, not the ports!
        So only 100Mb is possible. The other ports with 3,4,5,6 are for phone.

        In such a small cabinet a SG-3100 (EOL) will fit, currently I am not aware about the SG-4100 dimensions.
        A Draytek modem will also fit, a small 5 or 8 port switch too. But it will be a challenge to fit all properly and include the PSUs.

        Regards

        Edit: OP just explains the wirering...

        R 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • R
          rainer_d @FSC830
          last edited by

          @fsc830 Yeah, I was imprecise with the wording....

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • R
            rainer_d @FSC830
            last edited by

            @fsc830

            The dimensions of the 4100, I found here:

            https://www.erdineering.ch/pi/Shop/Firewalls/netgate-sg-4100.html

            So, the 4100 would fill up the cabinet alone, mostly :-(

            Meh.

            But I found these:

            https://www.digitec.ch/de/s1/product/steffen-verlaengerungskabel-025-m-typ-13-verlaengerungskabel-8762826

            This should allow me to fit the "thicc" plugs with the PSU to the power-sockets in the cabinet at least...

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by stephenw10

              Mmm, that's fun.

              Yeah, are those cables actually 4 wires (or 6 common for phones) or are they just terminated for 2 pairs? You might just be able to retermonate them for 4 pairs which would be relatively easy/cheap. I doubt a building from 2007 would have been using a lower cat cable than 5. Unless they were phone specific.

              A small fan will probably make a huge difference. Especially if you can use some ducting to the existing vents or mount it in the door directly.

              If you get fibre do you know what speed it will be? It will probably be supplied with an ONT of some sort that could be much larger. Though it might be able to be sited remotely at the end of one of those links.

              Where is the VDSL suppplied? On port marked 'IN'?
              You can get some pretty small DSL modems, for example: https://forum.netgate.com/post/994426

              A 2100 would work fine there for a 50Mbps WAN but not a 1G fibre.

              Steve

              R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • R
                rainer_d @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10 If I get fiber, it will most likely be 1GBit symmetric. It's unclear though, if I ever get FTTH.
                Currently, fiber seems to end at the DSLAM and I get max 300/70.

                VDSL is received at the "IN" port, yes.

                Thanks for the link to the Proscend device.
                So this "thing" can replace my Zyxel bridge (it's really a router that I run in bridge-mode, so I can run pfSense)?
                Interesting.
                Of course I didn't know these things existed ;-)

                My co-worker also suggested to just re-wire the 2x4 pairs of into one RJ45 socket again.
                I'm not really a wire-person...

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  If there is excess cable re-terminating the patch panel is just about having the right tools (or an excuse to go buy some!).
                  Sounds like you might have some colleagues you could bribe with a few beers/coffees. 😉

                  I would do that first because if they really are 100M only cables that limits your options significantly.

                  I feel your FTTH pain. I periodically check the roll-out announcements here in the UK and then go back to VDSL. 🙄

                  Steve

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    Bumping...

                    R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • R
                      rainer_d @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      Well, after spending over 2500 CHF on the re-cabling with 6E, I got a 2100.

                      $work gave me this:

                      IMG_9686.jpg

                      However, I don't quite understand how this is supposed to work?

                      If I insert it into the GBIC port, I get no link on it.

                      I can't force it to some media-setting, because PPPoE simply doesn't have that setting.

                      So, I still use the old bridge so far.

                      IMG_9687.jpg

                      This of course does not leave enough room for the small TP-Link 105 POE switch I'm eyeing (and which I kind of need for the EAP660HD that I got shrink-wrapped but less than half-price from a guy in the next village who has his new house wired up like a pro).

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by stephenw10

                        There is a thread discussing using that module with a 2100, it can work. However IIRC it has an unfortunate bug in that the module will only work if it's inserted (or reinserted) after boot. It also has a very odd method to set the VCI/VPI profile used by configuring a VLAN.

                        R 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • R
                          rainer_d @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10 Ahhhh....well.

                          I'll try the insert-after-boot-thing. I don't boot too often, so if that's what it's gonna take....

                          Would be soooo cool to get rid of the dumb bridge and the associated PSU.

                          Dobby_D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • Dobby_D
                            Dobby_ @rainer_d
                            last edited by Dobby_

                            @rainer_d

                            Switches with 10 GBit/s ports

                            • Netgear GS110MX ~200 €
                              Unmanaged 10 Port Switch
                            • Netgear GS110EMX ~200 €
                              Managed 10 Port Switch

                            PoE Switch

                            • Netgear GS310TP ~160 €
                              Managed 10 Port PoE Switch with SFP ports

                            Switch that can be powered over PoE

                            • Netgear GS108Tv3 ~90€
                              8 Port GB Switch can route the VLANs if needed self

                            Multi-GIG Switch

                            • QNAP QSW-1105-5T ~90 €
                              5 Ports mit 2,5 G/1 G/100 M Unmanaged Switch
                            • QNAP QSW-2104-2S ~150 €
                              2 ports SFP+ & 5 Ports mit 2,5 G/1 G/100 M
                            • QNAP QSW-2104-2T ~159 €
                              2 ports 10GbE RJ45 & 4 Ports mit 2,5 G/1 G/100 M

                            They are all silent without fans or moving parts.

                            4100/6100 wall mount kit

                            #~. @Dobby

                            Turris Omnia - 4 Ports - 2 GB RAM / TurrisOS 7 Release (Btrfs)
                            PC Engines APU4D4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense CE 2.7.2 Release (ZFS)
                            PC Engines APU6B4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense+ (Plus) 24.03_1 Release (ZFS)

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • R
                              rainer_d @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10
                              IMG_9871.jpg

                              It actually works when I insert the module once the system has booted!
                              As it's not remote and I rarely need to reboot, I think I'll live with that. Certainly worth removing a small PSU and that bridge-box from the cabinet.

                              Now, does anyone know where I can source the shortest RJ11 to RJ45 cable? That would be great ;-)

                              Also, are there shorter cables from/to the PSU available?

                              Before I moved, I had the VDSL-connection (from $work) upgraded to 50/50 (from 20/20). My old APU2 router died in the move and I used its predecessor, an ALIX. I recently checked and it still showed 20/20 more or less. It seems like the change never went through. They did upgrade it to 50/50 though when I told them ;-)

                              BTW: does the 2100 have some sort of temperature sensor and can this be displayed on the start-page?
                              There's no direct sunlight in that spot, but it can get pretty warm in the apartment during the summer.

                              All together, I'm very pleased with the outcome so far. The 2100 is enough for the foreseeable future and it's also nicely compact.

                              Fun fact: the people that did the recabling told me I needed to clean the floor because they used a lot of lube to get the cables in and out. And truly, it was extremely slippery in some places.

                              R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • R
                                rcoleman-netgate Netgate @rainer_d
                                last edited by

                                @rainer_d said in What hardware to get for a small "cabinet"?:

                                Now, does anyone know where I can source the shortest RJ11 to RJ45 cable? That would be great ;-)

                                What are you connecting that is RJ11? That's a 6-wire (at most) phone connector... Most phones use 2 of the 4 wires (BYRG) in the set -- they're completely not compatible.

                                Ryan
                                Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
                                Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
                                Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
                                Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

                                R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • R
                                  rainer_d @rcoleman-netgate
                                  last edited by

                                  @rcoleman-netgate I don't know what it is. It's the thing that connects from the DSL-bridge to the socket that DSL comes out of (the socket with the green cables underneath).

                                  I assumed it was a telephone jack (basically).

                                  On the one side it's definitely RJ45, on the other side it isn't and it looks like the cable that my old (POTS)-phone used.

                                  R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • R
                                    rcoleman-netgate Netgate @rainer_d
                                    last edited by

                                    @rainer_d If this is on the TELCO side of the DSL then you just need a phone line. Any normal RJ11 cable will do

                                    Ryan
                                    Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
                                    Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
                                    Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
                                    Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

                                    F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      I'm sure you could buy a shorter lead but for something really short I'd be making it myself. If you have the crimp tools to do so; or know someone who does. 😉

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • F
                                        FSC830 @rcoleman-netgate
                                        last edited by FSC830

                                        @rcoleman-netgate said in What hardware to get for a small "cabinet"?:

                                        @rainer_d If this is on the TELCO side of the DSL then you just need a phone line. Any normal RJ11 cable will do

                                        Yes and no 😊 .
                                        Sure, in most cases it works, but... I recommend never to plug a RJ11 into a RJ45.
                                        The jack matches of course, but I have seen some issues, in which the RJ45 was damaged afterwards. When plugging in a RJ45 cable again, some contacts did not have a proper contact, because they have been bend by the RJ11 jack.

                                        As far as I remember, the shortest RJ11 to RJ45 was 3m.

                                        Regards

                                        Edit: Did see some shorter cables at the "big river"... 😉

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • M
                                          mvikman
                                          last edited by

                                          If it's the DSL-line cable, then It's a simple one to make yourself if you have (or know someone who does) the tools... but if not, then I would ask some local shop that does electrical/IT installs, if the can make one for you. Shouldn't cost much.

                                          pfSense Plus 24.11-RELEASE (amd64)
                                          Dell Optiplex 7040 SFF
                                          Core i5-6500, 8GB RAM, 2x 240GB SSD (ZFS Mirror)
                                          HPE 561T (X540-AT2), 2-port 10Gb RJ45
                                          HPE 562SFP+ (X710-DA2), 2-port 10Gb SFP+

                                          R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • R
                                            rainer_d @mvikman
                                            last edited by

                                            @mvikman I'll try in the office next week - they have all the tools, no point in my buying anything ;-)
                                            In the mean-time, I found a shorter cable in my own stash.

                                            I will update this thread once I have more parts.

                                            Thanks everybody so far!

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.