Head First Networking

Chapter 2. Planning Network Layouts: Networking in the Dark

Tired of tripping over wires and getting mauled by your electrical closet? When you build a network without planning, you end up with a big mess—wires running every which way, wires connected to who knows what? In this chapter, you’ll learn how to plan a physical network layout that will save your bacon down the road. You will also learn how to use proper network hardware to contain and help manage all those wires.

Ghost Watch needs your help!

The most popular reality TV show in Networkville is Ghost Watch. Every week the Ghost Watch team goes into an old building and records any strange sights and sounds they encounter using their high-tech equipment. The trouble is, the team’s networking skills keep letting them down, and their footage ends up too distorted to use, or isn’t even recorded.

This week the Ghost Watch team is in an old abandoned hotel, and they need you to help them set up their network. They need unobtrusive cabling with a clean signal, and they must be able to adapt quickly to whatever might happen. Here are their requirements:

So where should we start?

Every good network needs a good plan

Networking involves much more than stringing cables around haphazardly. Before you start pulling lines all over the place, you ...