Some people say that patch panel is a waste, and only a network switch matters. Others, however, hold firmly that patch panel is a significant gadget without which you can hardly imagine how the network cabling will look like. As far as I am concerned, we should view it accordingly.
Why We Should Use Patch Panel?
Apart from the easier cable management it provides, its function resembles the railroad switch. And let’s compare the cables to rails to see how it works. With a railroad switch(patch panel), the train(data) can travel from A to B, C and even more destinations, otherwise it can only go from A to B, or C to D. This article, What Is a Patch Panel Used for?, has explained it thoroughly. In addition, fiber-mart.COM offers extensive selection of patch panels.
How to Connect Patch Panel to Switch?
Having made clear of the function of patch panel and the switch, let’s see together how do they connect in the network cabling in case of mistakes in the layout process. Assume that we have a two 24 port feed through patch panels and two 24 port switch, and all the devices mentioned below. We don’t take the punch down panel here is because it has to be punched down first then to connect the cabling system. If you use a punch down patch panel, the methods and procedures to punch down it have been listed in my previous article—How to Punch Down Cat6 into Patch Panel.
Step 1
Find a cabinet large enough to accommodate both the patch panel and switch. And mount the 24 port patch panels and switches all in the same rack. The order from the top to the bottom is like this, patch panel 1, spacer, switch 1, patch panel 2, spacer and switch 2.And prepare the cables in a proper length.
Step 2
Prepare the cable in a proper length to avoid the mess.
Step 3
Use the top 12 ports on the patch panel for the bottom 12 ports on the switch, and the bottom 12 on the patch panel for the top 12 ports on the switch. The one set of patch cables would be just a bit shorter than the other 12.
Step 4
Connect the modulars on the rear side of the patch panel with the cables that go to each unit or room.
OK, congratulation. Now you have a very neat and beautiful cabling system. When powering on, the whole system will work orderly in their own places.
Conclusion
All in all, a patch panel is more of an extension of your Ethernet cables. It’s used for the purpose of neatness and the achievement of data crossover. A switch connects your devices into a network allowing them to communicate and share files with each other. To help you better understand the ways to connect the two, we are planning to produce a video to illustrate the steps in details.
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