Network equipment organization

[Donald]

Ok, no one including my wife ever accused me of being neat. The pictures below covers my current network. It's split across a small table (wife wants it back) and step stool (I want to use it).

I have two WiFi networks and Vonage along with a SmartThings hub and a UPS.

My Unifi network has a bunch of stuff and I am trying & learning things before I move the Unifi equipment to a church camp.

House will be for sale next spring so it needs to be neat. Or at least a little neater.

I am thinking of a larger table. But maybe shelves screwed to the wall. Or structured media cabinet.

 

[StevieC]

I'd screw a nice wood cabinet to a wall that has a door like a cupboard. They are cheap, you can usually get one at a re-use store for next to nothing, it's wood so you can drill holes in it to run wires and you can mount things to the sides or put shelves in it. Cheap, simple, easy. The wood will also not interfere with wireless equipment the same way metal cabinets will so long as it's not crazy thick or anything.

 

[eljefino]

Wood shelves and double sided velcro tape holding the devices down to the shelves. Rein in the excess cable with zip ties and or those little clips.

 

[mattwithcats]

Wire Bakers Rack.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hyper-To...lver-Zinc-13-4-Dx23-2-Wx30-6-H/517861065

Also comes in 4 and 5 shelf...

Allows air to flow through equipment....

Shoe Rack also works...
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Honey-Ca...ozK7k3gIV2YuzCh3TgwQlEAQYFSABEgKRNfD_BwE

 

[Garak]

Hey, that wood table is the same as my gaming table.

 

[Oildudeny]

Triple play and call it a day

 

[EdwardC]

Like others have said, a cabinet with doors might best hide everything, as long as there's enough airflow. I'd also consider getting shorter patch cables to clean up the connection between the switch and other networked equipment. I like the idea of something wall mounted, looks a lot less cluttered to me, and likely future buyers.

Any reason you didn't go for a POE model Unifi switch?

 

[alarmguy]

Yup! I deal with customers and messes like yours all day long when I am working )

 

[OVERKILL]

Get a small Tripp-lite 1/4 rack enclosure, mount it to the wall and put everything in that.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by EdwardC
Like others have said, a cabinet with doors might best hide everything, as long as there's enough airflow. I'd also consider getting shorter patch cables to clean up the connection between the switch and other networked equipment. I like the idea of something wall mounted, looks a lot less cluttered to me, and likely future buyers.

Any reason you didn't go for a POE model Unifi switch?


I probably should have and will at the church camp. The plain switch is a lot cheaper and the AP comes with a POW injector and the Unifi Cloud Key needed power via USB-C and I had one of those kicking around.

For the church camp I will be getting a Unifi Cloud Key 2. I have heard bad things (corrupt data file) about the Unifi Cloud Key if you loose power. A UPS is only good for so long. The Unifi Cloud Key 2 has its own battery and will run for a short period of time and then gracefully shut down.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by alarmguy
Yup! I deal with customers and messes like yours all day long when I am working )


It starts out neat with one device then grows messy.

 

[Papa Bear]

We have 5 of those little tables as TV trays.

I started counting code violations but my head began to hurt .......

 

[Garak]

I got a bunch of them as TV trays from my mom, too, years ago. I think it was one of the last vestiges of her Club Z membership. You'll know what that is, Donald won't.

 

[Papa Bear]

Yes .. Club Z

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by Papa Bear
Yes .. Club Z


My grandmother LOVED Club Z.

 

[Garak]

My mom was a huge Club Z fan. She spent much time shopping at Zellers. Before that, it was Woolco for her.

 

[StevieC]

My mom as well. She had a gazillion points. I miss Zellers. Was a good retailer. Before that it was Towers for us.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by Garak
My mom was a huge Club Z fan. She spent much time shopping at Zellers. Before that, it was Woolco for her.


My parents were big into Eatons, it was my mom's mom with the Zellers love. We had two of them, but the closest one to us was located in a turn-of-the-century shopping centre in the heart of downtown (near Eatons actually, though it was in a much newer building) and had escalators which I remember vividly because it wasn't a huge store, so the levels were important.

The 2nd Zellers was in a Woolco I believe, the one with the restaurant in it. Woolworths was downtown, near Zellers.

K-Mart was originally where Canadian Tire is now, had Dominion beside it. K-Mart moved down the street into the Zellers building and which is now Walmart. This is the original K-Mart location:

 

[StevieC]

My dad bought a floor jack from Simpsons and he had it up until about 5 years ago when the seals finally let go and it started leaking oil so he threw it out. The thing was a true work horse. He bought it in the late 1970's and used it until 2012.

 

[Garak]

Haven't seen a Dominion in ages. My mom wasn't a huge Eaton's fan. That was all downtown, and she wasn't a huge fan of downtown. Woolco had a restaurant and I loved the fries when I was a kid. Simpson's was pretty much history before I got around to much shopping. My babysitter when I was a kid, an old Russian-German baba, would take me to the Bay and Eaton's shopping all the time by bus. I probably had more Eaton's time as a kid than my mom did.