Cabling Diagram

Redundancy in Cabling

To achieve sufficient redundancy in our LAN we have decided to run extra cable throughout the school.  From our MDF to our IDF’s we are running 6-pair multi-mode fiber optic cable.  In case of a failure to the cable there is a matching 6-pair fiber run alongside the primary cable.  This cable is not terminated at either end and is left coiled in the ceiling or wiring closet for future use.

From our IDF to our classrooms we are running 4 CAT 5E cables, three cables for student curriculum and one for the instructor workstation.  For backup we are running 2 more CAT 5E cables, one for curriculum and one for instructor use.  This gives us 6 cable runs from the IDF to each classroom.  Just like the fiber runs the extra CAT 5E cable will not be terminated and will be coiled in the ceiling or in the wiring closet.

To support the future growth of our LAN we have designed on the extended star topology.  Our CAT 5E cables can be used up to gigabit bandwidth and the fiber runs can also handle this speed.  All the hubs in our LAN can be replaced with switches that will give all workstations a minimum of 10 Mbps of bandwidth if it was ever needed.

Logical Map

Equipment Layout

Our MDF is in our school's POP. All incoming packets will come through A Cisco Systems model CISCO2621 router. The Router will make decisions based on the IP address of the destination, using its routing table and ACL's. There are two switches in our MDF, both are Xpresso 3x24FX24 Series switches. Each switch will give 10 Mbps per port bandwidth. One of the Switches is used for the workstations and servers of the Administration building, which the POP is in. It will give equal 10 Mbps to each workstation and server. We have the principal's office, secretaries, and other admin. staff in this building. The other switch will serve all the other switches in our outlying IDF's.

Our IDF's are located in each separate building across the campus. They are located in classrooms and we must use SH-3615 lockable equipment cabinet.
In each IDF there is a switch, Xpresso 1624 CD with 100 Base-FX module.
This switch serves the entire building with one port for admin and the other ports for curriculum use. The admin port feeds an 8 port hub that leads to all instructor workstations in the building. Since there is no more than 5 classrooms in any building the instructors will have a minimum of 2Mbps to use at all times. Inside each IDF there is sufficient patch panels to terminate all incoming and outgoing CAT 5E and Multi-Mode fiber runs. Since the IDF is in a classroom it also serves as that classrooms equipment cabinet, which means that there are also three 8-port hubs to serve the students. This gives 1.25 Mbps for each of the 23 student workstation.

In each classroom that is not an IDF we use a BUD WM-5452 Lockable equipment cabinet. There are patch panels to terminate incoming CAT5E cable runs from the IDF. There are three 8-port hubs that will give 1.25 Mbps bandwidth to each student workstation. Each hub has an uplink that is fed by a port on the switch in the IDF. The cables leaving the hubs are terminated again into another patch panel that will then connect to the individual cable runs to each workstation. The instructor station is fed by a Cat5E cable that comes from a hub in the IDF. It is terminated in a patch panel and then run to the workstation. 

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Last modified: May 27, 2002