Long L. Home Networking Demystified

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CHAPTER 7 Cabling a Home for an Ethernet LAN

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CAUTION CAUTION When installing wiring in an existing home, be ever aware of what lurks

between the studs within your walls. When drilling or cutting, do so carefully,

because that blade or drill has the potential to cut/penetrate a water pipe, a

power line, an air-conditioning duct or wire, a natural gas line, a steam pipe, a

security wire, and of course, nails. Since it is unlikely that you will be x-raying

your walls, proceed with caution and stop the tool immediately if you feel anything

other than wood. If this happen, try another spot.

The Parts, Materials, and Tools

Your ﬁ rst task is to gather the parts and materials you will need to wire your house

for an Ethernet LAN. Work from your network design to identify speciﬁ c needs

(number and lengths of items). These might include the following:

• Bulk Ethernet wire

• Connectors

• Junction boxes with modular jacks

• Patch cables

I use a variety of common shop tools to install wiring, depending on the situation.

These tools, however, would be considered the basic tools for wiring an existing

house.

• All-in-one crimping tool Use this tool (see Figure 7-4) to cut, strip,

and crimp.

• Cable staple gun Use this specially notched stable gun to afﬁ x wiring

to baseboards, studs, rafters, and so on. From experience, I know that a

regular staple gun won’t work for this task, as it will eventually slip and

penetrate your wire.

• Power drill Chances are you will need to drill holes in walls, studs, and

so on.

• Extra long 1/4-inch drill bit Use this 12- to 18-inch drill bit to penetrate

the entire width of a wall.

• Spade bits You will need spade bits (5/8 inch, 3/4 inch, and 1 inch)

to make holes big enough for multiple wires or for the connectors on

preassembled patch cables.

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• Drill bit extension for use with spade bits Depending on the thickness

of your walls, you may need this extension if you wish to penetrate the

depth of the wall.

• Handsaw Use the handsaw to cut the rectangular holes in the dry wall or

plaster for the junction boxes.

• Fish tape This thin, ﬂ exible band of steel (from 20 to 50 feet in length)

about 1/8-inch wide can be used to push/pull cable through electrical

conduits and tight places.

• Coat hanger Use an unraveled and straightened coat hanger to pull the

wire through a hole in the wall or, if you don’t have a ﬁ sh tape, to push it

through a tight place. To attach the Catx cable, insert about two inches of

a coat hanger into the insulation, and then wrap the insulation and hanger

tightly together with electrician’s tape such that you have a smooth taper

between the insulation and the hanger.

• Protective goggles It’s a good idea to wear eye protection for any home

improvement project.

• Hard hat Wear a hard hat in the attic and crawl spaces where the sharp

ends of numerous nails are exposed and joists/rafters abound.

• Flashlight or head lamp I prefer a head lamp to illuminate attics, crawl

spaces, closets, and dark corners so that my hands are free.

• Tennis ball with pull string If you have drop or suspended ceilings, a

tennis ball with a pull string taped to it and a good throwing arm can be

very helpful.

Although not an absolute requirement, your cabling job can be made easier if

you have a LAN tester, especially if you have to troubleshoot an Ethernet link. LAN

testers cost from $25 to $100. One at the low end should sufﬁ ce for home

networking.

Installation of the Cable

Once you have the parts, materials, and tools, you’re ready to install the cable. I’m

certainly not a professional installer, but I’ve had plenty of on-the-job-training

installing telephones (traditional 2 pair and 4 pair), security wires, network cable,

TV cable, speaker wires, and cabling for a home theater in my own homes. The

projects, which involved many runs between rooms and ﬂ oors and some to

outbuildings, were seldom easy.

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CHAPTER 7 Cabling a Home for an Ethernet LAN

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The trick to wiring an existing home is to ﬁ nd a path that results in a functional

run that is aesthetically acceptable. In the past, I have used all of these as paths to

string wiring.

• Attic The attic and basement are the ﬁ rst places I look when stringing

wires between rooms. In the attic, I just lay the wire across the rafters and the

insulation. It’s not a pretty sight, but I don’t see it very often (see Figure 7-7).

• Basement Like the attic, a basement with exposed joists provides a great

opportunity to run wires discreetly between rooms. If you must run wires

between rafters, make the hole large enough for several cables.

• Garage A garage with unﬁ nished walls (exposed studs) can be used to

transport vertical wires from the attic or basement into rooms adjacent to

the garage.

• Crawl spaces Homes with ground-level crawl spaces may not have a

basement, but if you are willing and able to traverse this cramped area,

it’s an excellent conduit for runs between rooms.

• Storage areas Our last house was a story and a half with six large dormers

running around the top ﬂ oor. These types of homes often have cubby hole

accesses to the storage areas created between the roof line, wall, and ﬂ oor.

The storage areas make runs between the dormers easy to do.

• Closets If you must enter the ﬂ oor or the ceiling and you have a closet in

the room, you might make your hole in the closet. Enter the room through

a hole in the wall closet. Wall-length closets also provide a path between

rooms.

• Cabinets Built-in cabinets can be used to hide horizontal wires running

between and within rooms and to hide vertical wires running between ﬂ oors.

Figure 7-7 Ethernet, telephone/DSL, cable TV, AC power, and security

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• Lighting sofﬁ ts The previous owner of our house installed almost 200

feet of sofﬁ ts for supplemental and accent lighting. These gifts from heaven

have given me long paths between and within rooms. Typically, I would enter

the sofﬁ ts from the attic and/or an adjacent closet.

• External sofﬁ ts Rooms with cathedral ceilings can put a damper on attic

runs. When this happens, you can continue the run in an external sofﬁ t

under the eve and reenter the attic on the other side of the cathedral room.

Gain access to the sofﬁ ts by removing an accent light or a vent.

• Metal air conditioning ducts The air conditioning ducts are not the

cleanest way to run wires within an existing house, but in a pinch, the ducts

can be very helpful, especially in a slab home that has no ground-level

crawl spaces. Use ﬁ sh tape to snake around metal ducts such that you enter

the air-conditioning vent in one room and exit a vent in another room.

TI P TIP Avoid running any wiring (audio, video, or data) within two feet of

ﬂ uorescent lighting and 12 inches of electric motors.

Stringing wire is far from rocket science, but it does take some creativity and

innovative methods to connect rooms with a wire such that the overall aesthetics of

the home is not compromised.

TI P TIP If you are running a cable through difﬁ cult places, give yourself plenty of

room for error in measurement. Bulk cable is inexpensive, and cutting 20 percent

extra is a good rule of thumb to follow. That’s less than a dollar on a 50-foot run.

The wall entry point may not be exactly where you want it, so you might need to

use your imagination to get the wire across the room in the least offensive manner.

One approach is to use a hand stapler and staple the wire to the baseboard, and

possibly, around the door trim. Another is to use a snap-on conduit, which can be

purchased in various lengths at any home improvement store. Mount one side of the

conduit to the baseboard or wall, and then insert the wire and snap on the cover.

Sometimes, the most effective approach is to simply lay the wire along the baseboard

unobtrusively behind the furniture.

CAUT IO N CAUTION When threading Catx Ethernet cable, avoid pulling with forces in

excess of 25 pounds. Also, avoid sharp bends in the cable. As a rule, bend it no

more sharply than the curvature of a golf ball.

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CHAPTER

Setting Up and

Installing a

Home Network

At this point in your networking adventure, you are ready to set up and install a

LAN in your home. In a nutshell, you design your network; purchase the necessary

hardware, software, and cabling; establish wired and/or wireless links between

network components; and conﬁ gure the network for basic operation. Although

Internet connection, printer, and ﬁ le sharing methods are addressed in this chapter

as part of the setup and conﬁ guration process, these topics are revisited in more

detail in Chapter 9. Security issues are covered in depth in Chapter 10. The home

network setup and installation process is presented as a seven-step process that

includes concepts and tasks discussed in detail in earlier chapters. We begin with

the home network design.

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NOTE NOTE The wireless LAN can be constructed in infrastructure or ad hoc mode.

Infrastructure mode involves the use of an access point (AP) and enables

wireless communication between multiple wireless PCs. Infrastructure mode

also enables communication with a wired network. Use ad hoc mode to create

on-the-ﬂ y networks that do not require the use of an AP. The focus of this

chapter is the steps involved in building an infrastructure mode home network;

however, ad hoc mode is covered at the end of the chapter.

Step 1: Design the Home Network

The home network design process is presented in detail in Chapter 6. A result of this

process is a network diagram that graphically illustrates the physical locations and

connectivity of all PCs, networked devices, and communications equipment in the

network. Use the tables in Chapter 6 to complete an inventory of your hardware and

software and what you need to build the network. Use the design and inventories to

prepare a shopping list that includes everything you need to purchase and build the

network, including all PCs, PC upgrades, peripheral devices, software, and network

gear. The list may include general cabling and cabling accessory needs, too; however,

these needs may not become clear until the actual installation of the cabling.

Step 2: Purchase the Hardware and Software

Purchase all of the hardware and software needed for your home network. The

Appendix is a buyer’s guide with lots of tips and recommendations about where to

shop and how to get the best deals.

TIP TIP If you purchased your PC prior to September 2004, you may need to download

and install the Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) update. SP2, which is available

free from Microsoft to anyone using a certiﬁ ed copy of Windows XP, includes features

that help you install and protect your home network. Also, certain wireless features,

such as the Wireless Network Setup Wizard, are available only in SP2. If you have

not upgraded all of your Windows XP PCs to SP2 (or the latest version of the

Windows), I recommend you do so now. To install SP2 and/or the latest Windows

XP updates, click Start | Help And Support | Windows Update.

TIP

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Step 3: Install the Cabling

This step is not applicable if you plan a wireless home network. Also, cabling is not

needed if the wired portion of your home network design calls for the use of existing

wiring and the use of HomePlug or HomePNA technology. However, if your design

calls for running Catx Ethernet wiring between some or all of the nodes, now is the

time to purchase and install the necessary cabling. Chapter 7 covers this task in detail.

TIP TIP Before buying patch cables or bulk Catx cable, you should take inventory of the

cables that came with your network equipment. These cables are interchangeable

and can be used wherever they are needed. It’s quite possible that some of the

cables may be too short, such as those that come with the USB wireless adapters.

If this is the case, you need to purchase one that is long enough to enable optimum

placement of your wireless components.

Step 4: Install Network Adapters

and Conﬁ gure PCs

Most modern desktop PCs and all notebook PCs are sold with Ethernet network adapters.

However, relatively few desktops and notebooks come with wireless adapters. If one or

more of the PCs planned for your home network are not equipped with the necessary

wired or wireless adapter, then you will need to install one for each networked PC.

You learned in Chapter 5 that you have a variety of network adapter options for both

desktop and notebook PCs and for wired and wireless adapters. Some are permanently

installed, some are connected via USB cables, and some can be inserted as needed.

Ethernet adapter options are summarized in Tables 5-1 and 5-2 in Chapter 5. Other

types of adapters, including HomePNA and HomePlug, are illustrated and discussed in

Chapter 5 as well.

I don’t have an exact count, but there may be more manufacturers of network

adapters than there are bottlers of carbonated beverages. Certainly, there are as

many ﬂ avors of adapters. The installation of adapters is normally straightforward;

however, their unique idiosyncrasies preclude my providing you with detailed

installation instructions. Fortunately, each product comes with its own instructions.

Follow these carefully and you should have no problem with the installation of any

network adapter.

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TI P TIP Given a choice, I would suggest that you use USB wireless adapters for

desktop PCs rather than PCI wireless adapters. External USB adapters can

be positioned to achieve the best signal, whereas PCI adapters are installed in

the PC’s system unit. If the system unit is positioned between the AP and the

adapter’s antenna, the signal can be blocked or dampened.

Installing the Network Adapters

Although Windows XP offers installation support for most network adapters, I

would still recommend you follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Typically, this

involves installing a driver (and perhaps some support software) from the installation

CD packaged with the adapter and then installing the adapter. You will need to

remove the side panel from your system unit to install a PCI Ethernet or wireless

adapter. External adapters are simply plugged into a USB port or a PC card slot on

a notebook.

Upon recognizing the adapter for the ﬁ rst time, your PC will alert you that a

new device has been installed. Network adapters appear in the Network

Connections display (Start | Control Panel | Network Connections), as shown in

Figure 8-1. This display shows net connection options for a particular PC.

TI P

NOTE

Figure 8-1 The Network Connections display

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TI P TIP Many new PCs have Ethernet adapters integrated into the motherboard

functions. If your PC has an Ethernet port and the adapter is not showing on the

Network Connections display, it’s possible that the Ethernet card may be disabled

at the BIOS level (see the next Note). If this is the case, you may need to enable it

through the BIOS setup. To do this, keep tapping the

DELETE key on startup to enter

the BIOS setup. (Although most modern motherboards have standardized on the

DELETE key, you might need to enter ESC, F1, F2, F10, or a key combination shown

in your motherboard’s user manual.) Often, you’ll see “Press [whatever key your

system uses] to enter Setup” during the boot process. Navigate to the network

adapter preferences and toggle Disable to Enable.

The Windows driver support for wireless adapters, called Wireless Zero

Conﬁ guration (WZC), enables auto conﬁ guration for wireless network devices,

such as wireless CardBus/PC Card adapters and USB wireless adapters. Without

any action on the part of the user, the WZC service installs the drivers and begins

seeking a wireless LAN as soon as you insert a wireless adapter into a PC card slot

or a USB port.

NOTE NOTE Pronounced “bye-ose,” BIOS is an acronym for Basic Input/Output

System. The BIOS is built-in software that determines what a computer can

do without accessing programs from a disk. On PCs, the BIOS contains all

the code required to control the keyboard, display screen, disk drives, serial

communications, and a number of miscellaneous functions.

Conﬁ guring the PCs to Work with the

Gateway’s Router

After successful installation of the Ethernet and/or wireless adapters, you need to

conﬁ gure each PC on the network to communicate with the router (one of the all-

in-one gateway functions). To do this, change the PC’s settings, if needed, such that

it obtains an IP address automatically. This allows the PC to be a client to the

gateway’s DHCP server. Follow this sequence of steps to conﬁ gure each Windows

XP PC on the network:

1. Open Network Connections (see Figure 8-1) through the Control Panel

(Start | Control Panel | Network And Internet Connections | Network

Connections).

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2. Open the Local Area Connection Status dialog box shown here. To do this,

double-click the Local Area Connection icon in Figure 8-1, usually the ﬁ rst

one listed. The status dialog box includes information regarding connection

status, duration, and speed.

3. Click Properties to show the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box.

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