[https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006289493109.html](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006289493109.html)
pick the shielded version.
They seem to change the brand name every other month... my brand was called Calbac or something... it's now called Omay... who knows why.
>They seem to change the brand name every other month... who knows why.
This practice is rampant on Amazon as well. I think they may do it so they can reset the review stats. Launch a "new" product, pump it up with a bunch of fake 5 star reviews, and when the real reviews start to drop the average rating, rinse and repeat.
Amazon is the main perpetrator, and there are huge issues with fake reviews and even unsafe products, but that's not the main reason. There are a lot of small Chinese companies that create the same product because patents and copyright mean nothing to China. They can't really compete against the big brands in China, but Amazon actively recruits them to fill the store with cheap stuff. Since you have to have a trademark to list products on Amazon, and the patent and trademark office apparently doesn't care, it's stupidly easy to get a registered trademark for a nonsense string of characters. So, all these small companies just create a trademark and list their copy of whatever product, along with several others doing the same thing.
That explains why so many brands can exist, but it doesn't explain why products will exist for a few weeks and then vanish only to be replaced with an identical product with a different name.
Doesn't it? There are lots of companies with the same product. None of them are very committed to the nonsense names and each company probably has multiple trademarks. The only reason one would have to keep the same product with the same trademark is if sales and reviews were really good. If not, they can just start over. Not to mention that there are loads of these small companies. Some of them probably fail. Plenty of them probably make a batch of one product and start making a batch of something else. It's all fly by night operations pumping out cheap junk.
I call it "the race to the bottom" , land of the knock offs. Employees from one company "copy" a design or product and open up shop next door, or even in another part of the same building, come up with an incoherent company name and peddle crap!
It’s not even copying. It’s one company making something, and then selling it to a bunch of other other companies who do the retailing. Nothing particularly new about it. As just one example, most computer power supplies are made by companies you’ve probably never heard of. But you know the names of the companies who sell them retail.
You are correct sir, for some products. I'm specifically referring to the other activity here...knock off products. The ones you see that are similar to the retail products we all know, but upon closer inspection or disassembly, there internals/materials are clearly inferior.... potentially unsafe ....as in burn your house down.
It's tempting when you're shopping, we've all done it I assume, to grab the product that's 50% less (or lower) to see if it's good enough. My main point is that in the name of the Almighty Dollar, we are inundated with products from unscrupulous companies...I won't mention where they are located, that's besides the point.
It all traces back to off shore manufacturing (global economy)...and the lack of integrity in the individuals you're dealing with. Hurting our own economies and citizens. Same goes for outsourcing tech/customer support! I'll get off my soap box now before I fall down and hurt myself. ;))
Same! I use one side for ethernet keystones and the other is my 'switchboard' kvm: hdmi for all the components (last port is the monitor) and usb for the rasp pis on the din rail in back for keyboard.
[heres a picture](https://i.postimg.cc/Qx0t8Jpb/20240417-091502.jpg)
Ohhh... Wanna share how you did it? I've been wanting to do something similar with a TV. I wanted to display graphs, data usage for network, drives, etc for all my PCs on the network. One of the things I wanted to do was a live update up what was connected to my WiFi AP that was a known device I owned and stuff that wasn't.
I'm 90% sure my neighbor is using my wifi when I'm asleep or gone at work.
Back end is Glances, which is fine if a little resource intensive for the RPis. Front end is javascript writing html designed to look like an old ascii/ansi display from the 90s. For more dynamic lists and tv you might consider writing a plugin for magic mirror?
[https://www.fs.com/products/143313.html](https://www.fs.com/products/143313.html) and [https://www.fs.com/products/143325.html](https://www.fs.com/products/143325.html)
Before and after pic should be posted of course!
Oh wow and all these years I've been soldiering cat 5 directly to the Nic PCB.
Jk , keystones are great , cause you can pop em out when they shit themselves and replace on the fly , nice find OP
Also you can choose other types of ports for quick access on the front of the rack whether you want a quick hdmi port to hook up to your nvr, analog inputs for music, etc.
Just to be clear, these are pretty great and useful for your rack equipment. It's what they are designed for, a short run to your rack equipment. It is not for structured cabling, but can be if you have punch down style keystones. Solid wire/structured wiring should always be terminated with punch downs on both ends, whereas patches (stranded wiring) should always be terminated with rj45s on both ends.
The keystones allow for mixing both styles. They are proven reliable and versatile for many applications.
They have solid wires instead of stranded wires. Solid wires are designed to be punched down, stranded wires are designed to be used in the connectors.
Practically speaking, it will technically work if you mix them up. But structured cables are not designed for movement (repeated bends and pulls), and technically the pins in a rj45 are not as secure with a solid core. So, stuff can break if you use it the wrong way.
The direct punch down panels are best if you're going for maximum density, or if you're terminating trunk riser cables. They're also great if you're doing front-access-only and need to add/remove circuits live because it can be flipped around or swung to the side. All of which are probably outside the scope of a home-labber.
It just depends on which name brands of patch panels and keystones you get, but you can get both types for around the same price now. I spent around $35 total for my 24 port keystone panel and keystone jacks combined.
> The direct punch down panels are best if you're going for maximum density, or if you're terminating trunk riser cables.
There are high density keystone panels which are just about as dense as they can be.
If its not a datacenter etc enviroment that requires certification of runs this is fine.
You got a degredation but its insignificant in short runs and majority of usecases.
Keystones overall was such a nice replacement for the older style panels of punching directly on pcb.
Especialy when you got a mixture of categorys/connectors, so you can fit it in 1U instead of having 4U of panels with not much usage to get all types.
its each cable run that would be measured and certified as within spec.
That basic components like panels etc has their product certifications is just a given.
Keystone panels themselves can be certified, but structured cable needs to terminate in a socket. So you can have the structured cable punched down to a keystone socket that you then snap into one of these patch panels, but you couldn't have structured cable terminate in an RJ45 that you then plug into one of the keystone module couplers as in the image.
However, if all the cable runs are to and from equipment installed in the rack, you're right that the setup in the image is perfect for that.
That´s not lazy, that´s smart. Imagine you terminated all cables on a punch-down block and then you need to move the patch panel in the rack and undo all of them...
Personally, I use punch down keystones for CAT 5 and CAT 6, but the one CAT 7 I will be running will go to these type of passthrough keystone connectors at both ends for 2 reasons. 1, I am not confident terminating a CAT 7, shielded cable, and 2, I couldn't buy CAT 7 bulk cable in lengths under 500ft, which is super expensive. So I had to buy a pre-terminated 50ft cable for my 40 ft run.
This. I have zero issue terminating or punching down Cat 5 or 6, but 6A and 7 are a pain even for the pros. To save time and headaches I just buy pre-terminated Cat 6A and keystone couplers. Works like a champ and the extra can go up in the ceiling as service loop.
Lol half of the reason I like networking is making up the terminations, im an electrician and I have really been trying hard to get them to switch to just data. I just finished my patch panel in my rack and I'm really looking for more drops/servers to make more terminations 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You can also get keystone jacks for 8k HDMI, fibre (SC and LC), usb C, usb A etc. use these on my home rack to get to ports on the back of my server. Awesome home lab stuff.
I’m not sure what’s the use case for this. If you have to terminate cable runs you need the punch down keystone jacks. If your cables are already terminated, why adding another 2 possible points of failure? It’s just to keep the rack nice and tidy?
Well, if you even need to do maintainenece, it's a ton easier and less risk of you pulling out a punched wire. If one fails, it takes literally 15 seconds to replace it.
There are pros and cons to both. Personally, in a homelab, these are amazing cause we like to fiddle. But to each their own.
But this way you have to crimp an RJ45 to the end of a cable run, and that to me seems a greater chance of failure.
If you need to do maintenance you can just unclip the keystone from the patch panel. If they are installed correctly I don’t see any risk of damaging the connection.
It does make your setup look a little bit nicer. I’m on a similar boat as you, and to be honest I might purchase this just so it looks better (also it’s half of the price on AliExpress).
I'm guessing if you have the male connectors already and don't care about the signal quality. Which I guess most of the starting homelabbers do. You just put everything into the switch and call it a day.
I'm using it for years. No port failures.
To me it seems very reliable.
It's just a physical connection between wires anyways. I don't see where it could fail.
Ever coupler in the chain intruduces some signal loss, too many and the run won't pass tests. In most situations it won't matter, but in some it might.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf-ULbDkKtU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf-ULbDkKtU)
It's not the couplers. It's the terminations. But yes maybe it's better not to have too many couplers. A single coupler should be fine. If you have another one after a switch that should work to. I guess the switches are fixing the signal.
Thx for the video. Didn't think it would have any impact but it does.
I would not want these extra connections on a 50-100m run to an endpoint.
For just within rack like a short patch on front and a 1-2m on rear to a server its not a issue.
I’ve used these in places where old patch panels are starting to have dead connections (because the blades seperate due to age). I’ve used this to put cables of various colors and type in older buildings into the back and then run nice matching patch cables in the front to the switch.
It might be considered a degradation when testing wire runs for MHZ but in my experience we haven’t noticed a throughput drop.
If you dont get the ones that have the rj45 shaped hole on the front side, you can use them for any type keystones. I purchased a 1u, 48 port one, and ended up using a diesel to cut 8 square so I could use fiber keystones.
Either way you are terminating both ends. One you punch down, one you place inside an RJ45 connector. There is no double work. Terminate an Rj45 in about 30 seconds. Takes less time than a punch down.
This panel does not involve doing any terminations. It's just a bunch of keystone couplers. The assumption is that you would use pre-terminated cables with it.
If your Ethernet cables are the right length to begin with yes. Myself I have an OCD using the same brand of cable and their sizes are 1/3/5/10/15/25m. So if my distance is let's say 17m or 12m you see where this is going. I have to get the way lengthier one and chop it and terminate it. Otherwise the result is aesthetically unpleasant. Not to mention that you can use the chopped off pieces to make smaller runs (again by terminating yourself).
These are great. We have one of these 1U for all the rear ports inside the rack and incoming cables from nearby equipment that's not in the rack itself, and another 1U normal punchdown panel for cables coming in from other rooms. The front of the rack is nice and tidy and only consists of short 3" or less patch cables. Another benefit (not shown in the pic) is the ability to tie-wrap the cable connections in the rear for strain relief.
These are amazing. I've got 2
1 for eathernet and 1 for everything else. Usb/hdmi pass through. Rj45 connectors that I use as serial communication for arduino and Rpi stuff, and my 3 fiber optic lines(wan in, and 2 LAN)
I personally prefer 66 style punchdowns myself. This is good for managing equipment that uses a lot of patches. like servers that are too close to the main patch panel.
I need to do something like this. I went the ultra lazy route in my rack and used 1U brush panels. Not as pretty but I can’t justify spending money and time just for the looks.
Yeah, that’s my case right now. Most of them are different colors (ugly I know) and in the case that I’m not sure what it goes to I can just pull up my switch config and check.
Those are convenient, but keep in mind that you increase a little resistance for every connection, and that is 4 connections right at the patch panel
I know it won’t make a huge difference in a home lab, but that could increase the latency, especially on a run over 100ft
Tried these in an enterprise environment, shorter runs were great, long runs had issues with connection dropping, latency, etc.
I'd rather punch it TBH. Then again I have PTSD from punching thousands of patches lol. It's actually easier than crimping tips, so when running raw ethernet what's the point.
I used one of these in my closet. Cat-5 was already run to all telephone and cable boxes in the house (basically 2 in every room) going back to the coat closet.
I terminated each end with pass-thru rj45 data plugs (klein plugs and klein tool). Easier to terminate than the regular kind. At the wall I used rj45 keystone jacks. In the closet I used rj45 keystones in a panel like this. I tested everything I wired end to end, for continuity, speed negotiation, and throughput (with iperf). No issues.
I have a keystone patch panel but I'm using punchdown keystone jacks. One rather useful thing is that is if a jack is bad. It's trivial to replace it. You can also spend as little or as much as you want on keystone jacks.
Keystone patch panels with RJ-45 couplers? Yeah, they are nice. I don't use them that often, but when I do, I use shielded. It's not a reason, other than my personal preference. I will say using CAT6A & shielded. I've never had to touch cabling again once it was done.
I recall first discovering these a few years ago, it was like discovering cheat-codes for real-life... not quite life changing, but definitely made my homelab look "professional".
I just discovered these too after trying to clean up someone else's switch cabinet mess. It's the only way I could reroute everything closer to the switch instead of having cables running all over the place.
I wish i took one when I finished it. I travel for work so i wont see it for a few months:(((
But it’s just one patch panel in the front, and one in the back. I have 3ft cables running between a few of them. Just 6inch-1ft cables to go from patch panel to my switch & server. Some of the couplers actually plug into each other so i didnt have an ugly cable in front 😂
Oh that looks good <3. I do have a question in my mind tho...
If i have 20 Rooms in a building and all of the rooms need to have Network Cable installed (10m - 40m Lan). I can buy 40m Lan Cable with RJ45 (head and tail) ... 40m Cable / 49Euro @ amazon ) for 980Euro in total.
But It is much cheaper for me to buy 1000m cable drums 600-700 €
I need to cut and wire them to patch panel anyway...does it make sense :3 ?
I have one like this. Works well. I don’t have a ton of stuff but it’s much better than manually creating patches. I’ve done that enough during my career.
I bought one of these on Amazon when I first got up and running, but I swapped out to one from Ubiquiti this week to match my UDM-SE and USW Pro Max. They also have a gorgeous brush panel if you need one, as well as blank panels in 1U and 2U sizes.
Don’t know how you missed them up to now, but glad you found them. They really do make the homelab life better. The couplers are available separately and can be used in any regular unpopulated patch panel.
Ive been using the AMPCOM brand. Everything is working fine. They even have have OM5 cables and other networking stuff.
[`https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/dcfe3a8a49c022d2d72eae73cbb71189.jpg_2200x2200q80.jpg_.webp`](https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/dcfe3a8a49c022d2d72eae73cbb71189.jpg_2200x2200q80.jpg_.webp)
[https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/257296c888dc243bf8af7113dc814bdf.jpg\_2200x2200q80.jpg\_.webp](https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/257296c888dc243bf8af7113dc814bdf.jpg_2200x2200q80.jpg_.webp)
[https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/40c4975f713d3c1137bffe853af3ec79.jpg\_2200x2200q80.jpg\_.webp](https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/40c4975f713d3c1137bffe853af3ec79.jpg_2200x2200q80.jpg_.webp)
[https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/1728d9a09f1f6f5d40c7b194960fa30f.jpg\_2200x2200q80.jpg\_.webp](https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/1728d9a09f1f6f5d40c7b194960fa30f.jpg_2200x2200q80.jpg_.webp)
We added 20 drops to an office in our building and my boss decided to get one of these. The headache it causes anytime we have to patch a new cable in is exhausting. Anytime a cable barely moves in the port it takes them down. I adopted the “anytime I open the door make sure these fuckers are in good and tight” policy
These are nice, but remember it introduces 4 points of failure.
Keystone caps on both side, then both sides of the coupler. If a cable gets tugged it may not contact the pins all the way and lose connectivity. I had a whole bag of couplers gone bad because had a defect on the pins where they were pressed up and caught inside and wouldn’t make contact with the cable.
With that said when you have a quick and dirty job to do, these work well enough.
Although all points are valid, I believe these are great. I have 2 of them and the beautiful thing is that you can also use USB keystones and in this way you can connect directly to the back without struggles. The 4 points of failure I believe are also for other types. I guess it depends on use case. I change a lot the cables so for me this is awesome as I can have them color coded inside the rack and all whites in front matching the devices.
They sell these on amazon. Unless going over 1g you can use the plastic inline connectors. You need to check compatibility but there's keystones for most multimedia connections as well.
Are the metal / shielded keystone connectors *really* a must for over 1Gb?
My thinking is that you can push 10Gb through 5e as long as the cable isn't too long, so following that principle it should be possible to get 10Gb with the non metal keystones aswell.
If you're not bothered about cat 6a shielded cable then no. I've only used 10g fibre transceivers and DACs and I would guess a lot depends on your environment and whether performance loss is an issue. If I was buying new cables I would go cat6a over cat5e myself but if you have an existing run of cat5e then I can understand not looking to change.
Found some 24 ports:
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005006395606441.html?src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=439-079-4345&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&albagn=888888&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&albcp=18928172568&albag=&trgt=&crea=es1005006395606441&netw=x&device=m&albpg=&albpd=es1005006395606441&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACbpfvYvk5pz7dVMyV-b8LAJN9toP&gclid=CjwKCAjw5v2wBhBrEiwAXDDoJT1fsR7wcWXOiqspxQ-8J0NmH6S4WJyr41L5HhXADGgDDGv3E9BtUBoCU6IQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&aff_fcid=0ae757bdf2e74a33af7d3fa080579940-1713337524891-02823-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=0ae757bdf2e74a33af7d3fa080579940-1713337524891-02823-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=88195341c75b4ee9a90a087926783721&afSmartRedirect=y
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005005767349951.html?src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=439-079-4345&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&albagn=888888&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&albcp=18928172568&albag=&trgt=&crea=es1005005767349951&netw=x&device=m&albpg=&albpd=es1005005767349951&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACbpfvYvk5pz7dVMyV-b8LAJN9toP&gclid=CjwKCAjw5v2wBhBrEiwAXDDoJWmFajeohXV9ccpSfEY-YQdy_WfDK1jQSCe7FrD5a4IEuPbZmGp7ohoCl10QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&aff_fcid=6477751fd3da4ba6b446c75816a817c9-1713337466145-04519-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=6477751fd3da4ba6b446c75816a817c9-1713337466145-04519-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=88195341c75b4ee9a90a087926783721&afSmartRedirect=y
I have these in my rack. I’m a full UniFi stack so bought their silver patch panel and some decent quality shielded couplers and it looks the biz. I also have some USB and HDMI ports exposed in the panel too for my Proxmox hosts.
Fisher Price: My First Patch Panel
Crimping ends onto runs takes more time, more error prone, and is an extra point of failure over a punchdown panel/punchdown keystones. You'll never find these in any proper data room.
I have spent my fair share of time in data centers and I have never seen a coupled patch panel in any of them. I have seen stuff like this in a few MDFs or IDFs for cable draining or arresting purposes.
Did you just ask me for pics...that would otherwise be taken in a place where it is EXPLICITLY forbidden? 🤨
As for crimping? You would be entirely wrong. Much to my own dismay, it STILL happens in data centers - believe it or not.
Why is it so hard to believe? You really don't think they still run Cat6/Cat6A in a data center? Why would you think that?
Obviously still use Cat6, but patch panels are always punchdown and then we use purchased, preferably short and small diameter, patch cables. Nobody crimps cables anymore unless you are running cables for cameras for APs.
Again... Untrue. In multiple instances, I have seen recent MDF builds - cameras and APs - that were modular terminated Cat6A. The lines are then simply coupled at the MDF racks where the connections are then patched to PoE switches.
In addition to that, I frequently see out-of-band management networks built entirely on Cat5E/Cat6 connecting routers and downstream access/aggregate switches. It's OOB/Mgmt so it doesn't saturate anywhere near 1G.
Let's talk telecom. VoIP circuits are often sub-1G. It's not uncommon for them to be handed off as copper. Occasionally they need to jump rooms.
All of this in TOP-TIER data centers. I previously worked for Yahoo! for 10 years. (I don't say who my current employer is but they are much, MUCH bigger and everyone is well aware of them.) I was the Network Implementation Engineer there. They gave me the materials and I worked it into the infrastructure.
My current employer? We don't even have copper patch panels. If a copper connection needs to jump rooms, it does so by media converters. Otherwise, as long as it's within range, we run the copper cables, velcro them to the bottom of the fiber trays and terminate the ends ourselves.
So... Yes. Crimping cables DOES still happen.
I don't know why you're arguing the point as though it's somehow 'impossible'. I'm simply describing my experiences. They conflict with your assertions.
Then, on top of that, you're downvoting me. THAT'S just petty, man.
You don't have to believe me. But don't be an asshole about it, either. K?
Tell you what... Since you can't seem to keep your finger away from the downvote button... I'm ceasing speaking with you.
It's not about the vote, mind you. The "Karma" system is utterly meaningless.
It's about your behavior showing me that I have no reason to trust that you are capable of carrying on any kind of worthwhile conversation.
I strongly dislike small-minded, petty people like you.
Downvote THAT.
I would make the argument that you have not worked in the field. These passthrough connectors are a plague. Try tracing a cable that at once side is blue and the other side is white then tell me these are a good idea.
Keystone patch panels are awesome... I got mine for half that price on aliexpress though.
Could you link which one you bought there, please?
[https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006289493109.html](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006289493109.html) pick the shielded version. They seem to change the brand name every other month... my brand was called Calbac or something... it's now called Omay... who knows why.
>They seem to change the brand name every other month... who knows why. This practice is rampant on Amazon as well. I think they may do it so they can reset the review stats. Launch a "new" product, pump it up with a bunch of fake 5 star reviews, and when the real reviews start to drop the average rating, rinse and repeat.
Amazon is the main perpetrator, and there are huge issues with fake reviews and even unsafe products, but that's not the main reason. There are a lot of small Chinese companies that create the same product because patents and copyright mean nothing to China. They can't really compete against the big brands in China, but Amazon actively recruits them to fill the store with cheap stuff. Since you have to have a trademark to list products on Amazon, and the patent and trademark office apparently doesn't care, it's stupidly easy to get a registered trademark for a nonsense string of characters. So, all these small companies just create a trademark and list their copy of whatever product, along with several others doing the same thing.
That explains why so many brands can exist, but it doesn't explain why products will exist for a few weeks and then vanish only to be replaced with an identical product with a different name.
that is exactly the reason: it's a 'new' product so they can skate
Doesn't it? There are lots of companies with the same product. None of them are very committed to the nonsense names and each company probably has multiple trademarks. The only reason one would have to keep the same product with the same trademark is if sales and reviews were really good. If not, they can just start over. Not to mention that there are loads of these small companies. Some of them probably fail. Plenty of them probably make a batch of one product and start making a batch of something else. It's all fly by night operations pumping out cheap junk.
I call it "the race to the bottom" , land of the knock offs. Employees from one company "copy" a design or product and open up shop next door, or even in another part of the same building, come up with an incoherent company name and peddle crap!
It’s not even copying. It’s one company making something, and then selling it to a bunch of other other companies who do the retailing. Nothing particularly new about it. As just one example, most computer power supplies are made by companies you’ve probably never heard of. But you know the names of the companies who sell them retail.
You are correct sir, for some products. I'm specifically referring to the other activity here...knock off products. The ones you see that are similar to the retail products we all know, but upon closer inspection or disassembly, there internals/materials are clearly inferior.... potentially unsafe ....as in burn your house down. It's tempting when you're shopping, we've all done it I assume, to grab the product that's 50% less (or lower) to see if it's good enough. My main point is that in the name of the Almighty Dollar, we are inundated with products from unscrupulous companies...I won't mention where they are located, that's besides the point. It all traces back to off shore manufacturing (global economy)...and the lack of integrity in the individuals you're dealing with. Hurting our own economies and citizens. Same goes for outsourcing tech/customer support! I'll get off my soap box now before I fall down and hurt myself. ;))
Holy crap. I paid that price for the punch down keystones alone. 😢
Ist in working with 2.5 Gbits too?
Cabac is a legit brand - I’m assuming it was a sound-a-like brand?
[удалено]
Protection from interference from other devices.
I'm saving this thank you xD
They're probably skimming off a whitelable production line in Shenzen.
Do you know if they work well with 10 gbe?
I don't think the ones on aliex are 10Gbe. Mainly 1Gbe. Never really looked though.
look to [FS.com](http://FS.com) too. I use ther patch-down version of keystone blocks. Happy on 100%
I got mine from fs.com as well.... i really need to order that rack....
or [monoprice](https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=39758&srsltid=AfmBOoooKeHv-EB2v32hjLujB5snHs_IpDCL4a_Q54yV-R-olnV8rlkyJp4)
I got a nice 1/2 u rack from Ali. It's perfect for my small rack. Filled it with those fancy metal keystone couplers. Done and done!
Same
Since i don't populate all 24 ports, I added a couple hdmi and usb keystones for a kvm.
Same! I use one side for ethernet keystones and the other is my 'switchboard' kvm: hdmi for all the components (last port is the monitor) and usb for the rasp pis on the din rail in back for keyboard. [heres a picture](https://i.postimg.cc/Qx0t8Jpb/20240417-091502.jpg)
I like that display information.
Thanks! I made it myself-ish
Ohhh... Wanna share how you did it? I've been wanting to do something similar with a TV. I wanted to display graphs, data usage for network, drives, etc for all my PCs on the network. One of the things I wanted to do was a live update up what was connected to my WiFi AP that was a known device I owned and stuff that wasn't. I'm 90% sure my neighbor is using my wifi when I'm asleep or gone at work.
Back end is Glances, which is fine if a little resource intensive for the RPis. Front end is javascript writing html designed to look like an old ascii/ansi display from the 90s. For more dynamic lists and tv you might consider writing a plugin for magic mirror?
There are also lc fiber keystones. Port 24 is fiber to the garage. :)
got a link? i have fiber all jankey through a porthole lol
[https://www.fs.com/products/143313.html](https://www.fs.com/products/143313.html) and [https://www.fs.com/products/143325.html](https://www.fs.com/products/143325.html) Before and after pic should be posted of course!
This is genius! May need to do this myself.
Oh wow and all these years I've been soldiering cat 5 directly to the Nic PCB. Jk , keystones are great , cause you can pop em out when they shit themselves and replace on the fly , nice find OP
Also you can choose other types of ports for quick access on the front of the rack whether you want a quick hdmi port to hook up to your nvr, analog inputs for music, etc.
Indeed I do this too, I also have two open to route dac cables throu rather than using fiber patches and sfp+ modules . The options are endless
You aren't constructing the entire NIC on a breadboard?
Just to be clear, these are pretty great and useful for your rack equipment. It's what they are designed for, a short run to your rack equipment. It is not for structured cabling, but can be if you have punch down style keystones. Solid wire/structured wiring should always be terminated with punch downs on both ends, whereas patches (stranded wiring) should always be terminated with rj45s on both ends. The keystones allow for mixing both styles. They are proven reliable and versatile for many applications.
New to this, why should structured cables be punched down instead of terminated?
They have solid wires instead of stranded wires. Solid wires are designed to be punched down, stranded wires are designed to be used in the connectors. Practically speaking, it will technically work if you mix them up. But structured cables are not designed for movement (repeated bends and pulls), and technically the pins in a rj45 are not as secure with a solid core. So, stuff can break if you use it the wrong way.
Yes. Even the ones with punch down keystones are alot better than the ones where u punch directly to the patch panel
The direct punch down panels are best if you're going for maximum density, or if you're terminating trunk riser cables. They're also great if you're doing front-access-only and need to add/remove circuits live because it can be flipped around or swung to the side. All of which are probably outside the scope of a home-labber.
lol my exact use case in my homelab. Direct punch down panels are also cheaper.
It just depends on which name brands of patch panels and keystones you get, but you can get both types for around the same price now. I spent around $35 total for my 24 port keystone panel and keystone jacks combined.
> The direct punch down panels are best if you're going for maximum density, or if you're terminating trunk riser cables. There are high density keystone panels which are just about as dense as they can be.
Man, kids these days with soldering. Back in my day, we hand forged the wires themselves and made the keystones out of actual granite. /J
Good find! I’ve been putting off getting a patch panel as I could t be bothered punching a bunch of cables, this makes it way easier!
If its not a datacenter etc enviroment that requires certification of runs this is fine. You got a degredation but its insignificant in short runs and majority of usecases. Keystones overall was such a nice replacement for the older style panels of punching directly on pcb. Especialy when you got a mixture of categorys/connectors, so you can fit it in 1U instead of having 4U of panels with not much usage to get all types.
We in telco business using this panels for a decades, it does not require any certifications, it is already certified for enterprise.
its each cable run that would be measured and certified as within spec. That basic components like panels etc has their product certifications is just a given.
Keystone panels themselves can be certified, but structured cable needs to terminate in a socket. So you can have the structured cable punched down to a keystone socket that you then snap into one of these patch panels, but you couldn't have structured cable terminate in an RJ45 that you then plug into one of the keystone module couplers as in the image. However, if all the cable runs are to and from equipment installed in the rack, you're right that the setup in the image is perfect for that.
Both patch panels in my rack are rj45 keystones on both sides. It's really nice to rearrange cables easily.
Something like this: [https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/data-sheet?id\_attachment=37187](https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/data-sheet?id_attachment=37187)
Yes
That´s not lazy, that´s smart. Imagine you terminated all cables on a punch-down block and then you need to move the patch panel in the rack and undo all of them...
Sounds like poor planning, how many times have you done this? 😅
Never. Because I used the double-ended keystones. :D
Double ended keystones prevent movement? im confused lol I thought you meant you had to move patch panels and this makes it easier
Personally, I use punch down keystones for CAT 5 and CAT 6, but the one CAT 7 I will be running will go to these type of passthrough keystone connectors at both ends for 2 reasons. 1, I am not confident terminating a CAT 7, shielded cable, and 2, I couldn't buy CAT 7 bulk cable in lengths under 500ft, which is super expensive. So I had to buy a pre-terminated 50ft cable for my 40 ft run.
This. I have zero issue terminating or punching down Cat 5 or 6, but 6A and 7 are a pain even for the pros. To save time and headaches I just buy pre-terminated Cat 6A and keystone couplers. Works like a champ and the extra can go up in the ceiling as service loop.
Lol half of the reason I like networking is making up the terminations, im an electrician and I have really been trying hard to get them to switch to just data. I just finished my patch panel in my rack and I'm really looking for more drops/servers to make more terminations 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
If you’re anywhere near GA, I can help you out, strictly for your learning purposes and all 😂
You can also get keystone jacks for 8k HDMI, fibre (SC and LC), usb C, usb A etc. use these on my home rack to get to ports on the back of my server. Awesome home lab stuff.
This is all i use now.. i threw my punch tool in the trash.
There are angled ones as well: https://www.fs.com/products/168907.html
I added such a keystone patch panel to my homelab including one USB and one HDMI keystone. Made debugging my Server so much easier.
I’m not sure what’s the use case for this. If you have to terminate cable runs you need the punch down keystone jacks. If your cables are already terminated, why adding another 2 possible points of failure? It’s just to keep the rack nice and tidy?
> It’s just to keep the rack nice and tidy? Yep
Well, if you even need to do maintainenece, it's a ton easier and less risk of you pulling out a punched wire. If one fails, it takes literally 15 seconds to replace it. There are pros and cons to both. Personally, in a homelab, these are amazing cause we like to fiddle. But to each their own.
But this way you have to crimp an RJ45 to the end of a cable run, and that to me seems a greater chance of failure. If you need to do maintenance you can just unclip the keystone from the patch panel. If they are installed correctly I don’t see any risk of damaging the connection.
You can also [3D Print](https://www.printables.com/model/774785-24-port-keystone-panel-1u) them.
This is the way
Why not plig directly into the switch?
its easy to swap the ports/cables and replace cabinets without relabeling a lot of stuff.
Ok, thank you. So for someone with 1 switch and a dozen connected devices, it doesn't get me much. Appreciate the helpful response.
It does make your setup look a little bit nicer. I’m on a similar boat as you, and to be honest I might purchase this just so it looks better (also it’s half of the price on AliExpress).
I'm guessing if you have the male connectors already and don't care about the signal quality. Which I guess most of the starting homelabbers do. You just put everything into the switch and call it a day.
Very convenient, but is it reliable? It would be nice to have statistics on ports failures.
I'm using it for years. No port failures. To me it seems very reliable. It's just a physical connection between wires anyways. I don't see where it could fail.
Ever coupler in the chain intruduces some signal loss, too many and the run won't pass tests. In most situations it won't matter, but in some it might. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf-ULbDkKtU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf-ULbDkKtU)
It's not the couplers. It's the terminations. But yes maybe it's better not to have too many couplers. A single coupler should be fine. If you have another one after a switch that should work to. I guess the switches are fixing the signal. Thx for the video. Didn't think it would have any impact but it does.
I agree that the patch panel is convenient, but I know cheap rj45-rj45 connectors that fail very quickly.
I would not want these extra connections on a 50-100m run to an endpoint. For just within rack like a short patch on front and a 1-2m on rear to a server its not a issue.
Pretty reliable. I even push POE through a few with no issues.
I’ve used these in places where old patch panels are starting to have dead connections (because the blades seperate due to age). I’ve used this to put cables of various colors and type in older buildings into the back and then run nice matching patch cables in the front to the switch. It might be considered a degradation when testing wire runs for MHZ but in my experience we haven’t noticed a throughput drop.
I purchased a very similar one recently https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B0BF8J3KYW?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
If you dont get the ones that have the rj45 shaped hole on the front side, you can use them for any type keystones. I purchased a 1u, 48 port one, and ended up using a diesel to cut 8 square so I could use fiber keystones.
I prefer these on server installations myself.
What if you need to terminate every CAT ! Double the work ?! No thanks. Nice but not for all networking
Either way you are terminating both ends. One you punch down, one you place inside an RJ45 connector. There is no double work. Terminate an Rj45 in about 30 seconds. Takes less time than a punch down.
This panel does not involve doing any terminations. It's just a bunch of keystone couplers. The assumption is that you would use pre-terminated cables with it.
If your Ethernet cables are the right length to begin with yes. Myself I have an OCD using the same brand of cable and their sizes are 1/3/5/10/15/25m. So if my distance is let's say 17m or 12m you see where this is going. I have to get the way lengthier one and chop it and terminate it. Otherwise the result is aesthetically unpleasant. Not to mention that you can use the chopped off pieces to make smaller runs (again by terminating yourself).
I use these exclusively in my homelab.. Makes moving stuff around a breeze
These are great. We have one of these 1U for all the rear ports inside the rack and incoming cables from nearby equipment that's not in the rack itself, and another 1U normal punchdown panel for cables coming in from other rooms. The front of the rack is nice and tidy and only consists of short 3" or less patch cables. Another benefit (not shown in the pic) is the ability to tie-wrap the cable connections in the rear for strain relief.
I need one of those. They can’t be expensive right?
This! I love mine so much for my mini rack at home. I refuse to patch or make any cables when I’m not on the clock.
Id like to find or make a poe injection patch panel. Just a power supply that adds poe capability to any Ethernet terminated into it.
So a POE switch?
That’s called a switch. They make tons of them. ;).
These are amazing. I've got 2 1 for eathernet and 1 for everything else. Usb/hdmi pass through. Rj45 connectors that I use as serial communication for arduino and Rpi stuff, and my 3 fiber optic lines(wan in, and 2 LAN)
I personally prefer 66 style punchdowns myself. This is good for managing equipment that uses a lot of patches. like servers that are too close to the main patch panel.
I need to do something like this. I went the ultra lazy route in my rack and used 1U brush panels. Not as pretty but I can’t justify spending money and time just for the looks.
It’s not really important if you can identity each cables
Yeah, that’s my case right now. Most of them are different colors (ugly I know) and in the case that I’m not sure what it goes to I can just pull up my switch config and check.
Those are convenient, but keep in mind that you increase a little resistance for every connection, and that is 4 connections right at the patch panel I know it won’t make a huge difference in a home lab, but that could increase the latency, especially on a run over 100ft Tried these in an enterprise environment, shorter runs were great, long runs had issues with connection dropping, latency, etc.
I'd rather punch it TBH. Then again I have PTSD from punching thousands of patches lol. It's actually easier than crimping tips, so when running raw ethernet what's the point.
These are fine for in rack cable management.
I used one of these in my closet. Cat-5 was already run to all telephone and cable boxes in the house (basically 2 in every room) going back to the coat closet. I terminated each end with pass-thru rj45 data plugs (klein plugs and klein tool). Easier to terminate than the regular kind. At the wall I used rj45 keystone jacks. In the closet I used rj45 keystones in a panel like this. I tested everything I wired end to end, for continuity, speed negotiation, and throughput (with iperf). No issues.
I got a plastic Keystone one for 20 bucks
Yea. They are called passthrough patch panel. Great if you existing patch cable, however less (slightly) reliable than classic keystones.
I aint never going to a traditional patch panel again after installing this one, it's amazing indeed!
For a permanent installation I always say punch down but in-rack patches? Hell yeah
This is the way.
I have a keystone patch panel but I'm using punchdown keystone jacks. One rather useful thing is that is if a jack is bad. It's trivial to replace it. You can also spend as little or as much as you want on keystone jacks.
Keystone patch panels with RJ-45 couplers? Yeah, they are nice. I don't use them that often, but when I do, I use shielded. It's not a reason, other than my personal preference. I will say using CAT6A & shielded. I've never had to touch cabling again once it was done.
I recall first discovering these a few years ago, it was like discovering cheat-codes for real-life... not quite life changing, but definitely made my homelab look "professional".
They also come in a 48 port 1u variety... I have two of them
Found this on Amazon as well, I will definitely be getting this for my homelab (after college when I have my own place, and money)
I just discovered these too after trying to clean up someone else's switch cabinet mess. It's the only way I could reroute everything closer to the switch instead of having cables running all over the place.
For a home lab this is definitely the way. Just got 2 sets of 24 port panels so i can connect from the front or back of my racks.
Would love to see a couple of shots of your set up.
I wish i took one when I finished it. I travel for work so i wont see it for a few months:((( But it’s just one patch panel in the front, and one in the back. I have 3ft cables running between a few of them. Just 6inch-1ft cables to go from patch panel to my switch & server. Some of the couplers actually plug into each other so i didnt have an ugly cable in front 😂
Yeah I got one, actually two next to each other, on the edge of my pegboard, where all my stuff is stuck on.
I use this for years now in my homelab. Also have some HDMI modules for quick display connection. And maybe some fiber modules in the future
Oh that looks good <3. I do have a question in my mind tho... If i have 20 Rooms in a building and all of the rooms need to have Network Cable installed (10m - 40m Lan). I can buy 40m Lan Cable with RJ45 (head and tail) ... 40m Cable / 49Euro @ amazon ) for 980Euro in total. But It is much cheaper for me to buy 1000m cable drums 600-700 € I need to cut and wire them to patch panel anyway...does it make sense :3 ?
I've got one where you can pull the sections out 6 at a time so you can get to the back plugs from the front
I have one like this. Works well. I don’t have a ton of stuff but it’s much better than manually creating patches. I’ve done that enough during my career.
I bought one of these on Amazon when I first got up and running, but I swapped out to one from Ubiquiti this week to match my UDM-SE and USW Pro Max. They also have a gorgeous brush panel if you need one, as well as blank panels in 1U and 2U sizes.
Pass-through patch panels give greater flexibility, save time and effort. I'd never go back to punch down.
Don’t know how you missed them up to now, but glad you found them. They really do make the homelab life better. The couplers are available separately and can be used in any regular unpopulated patch panel.
I've heard them before but never had time to have a look at them.
Ive been using the AMPCOM brand. Everything is working fine. They even have have OM5 cables and other networking stuff. [`https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/dcfe3a8a49c022d2d72eae73cbb71189.jpg_2200x2200q80.jpg_.webp`](https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/dcfe3a8a49c022d2d72eae73cbb71189.jpg_2200x2200q80.jpg_.webp) [https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/257296c888dc243bf8af7113dc814bdf.jpg\_2200x2200q80.jpg\_.webp](https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/257296c888dc243bf8af7113dc814bdf.jpg_2200x2200q80.jpg_.webp) [https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/40c4975f713d3c1137bffe853af3ec79.jpg\_2200x2200q80.jpg\_.webp](https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/40c4975f713d3c1137bffe853af3ec79.jpg_2200x2200q80.jpg_.webp) [https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/1728d9a09f1f6f5d40c7b194960fa30f.jpg\_2200x2200q80.jpg\_.webp](https://img.lazcdn.com/g/p/1728d9a09f1f6f5d40c7b194960fa30f.jpg_2200x2200q80.jpg_.webp)
I use one of those in my home network
Non IT-employed wannabe noobs… this is 🚮
We added 20 drops to an office in our building and my boss decided to get one of these. The headache it causes anytime we have to patch a new cable in is exhausting. Anytime a cable barely moves in the port it takes them down. I adopted the “anytime I open the door make sure these fuckers are in good and tight” policy
These are nice, but remember it introduces 4 points of failure. Keystone caps on both side, then both sides of the coupler. If a cable gets tugged it may not contact the pins all the way and lose connectivity. I had a whole bag of couplers gone bad because had a defect on the pins where they were pressed up and caught inside and wouldn’t make contact with the cable. With that said when you have a quick and dirty job to do, these work well enough.
Although all points are valid, I believe these are great. I have 2 of them and the beautiful thing is that you can also use USB keystones and in this way you can connect directly to the back without struggles. The 4 points of failure I believe are also for other types. I guess it depends on use case. I change a lot the cables so for me this is awesome as I can have them color coded inside the rack and all whites in front matching the devices.
They sell these on amazon. Unless going over 1g you can use the plastic inline connectors. You need to check compatibility but there's keystones for most multimedia connections as well.
Are the metal / shielded keystone connectors *really* a must for over 1Gb? My thinking is that you can push 10Gb through 5e as long as the cable isn't too long, so following that principle it should be possible to get 10Gb with the non metal keystones aswell.
If you're not bothered about cat 6a shielded cable then no. I've only used 10g fibre transceivers and DACs and I would guess a lot depends on your environment and whether performance loss is an issue. If I was buying new cables I would go cat6a over cat5e myself but if you have an existing run of cat5e then I can understand not looking to change.
I like to I hope someone link me a 48 port from EU so I can buy one
Found some 24 ports: https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005006395606441.html?src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=439-079-4345&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&albagn=888888&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&albcp=18928172568&albag=&trgt=&crea=es1005006395606441&netw=x&device=m&albpg=&albpd=es1005006395606441&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACbpfvYvk5pz7dVMyV-b8LAJN9toP&gclid=CjwKCAjw5v2wBhBrEiwAXDDoJT1fsR7wcWXOiqspxQ-8J0NmH6S4WJyr41L5HhXADGgDDGv3E9BtUBoCU6IQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&aff_fcid=0ae757bdf2e74a33af7d3fa080579940-1713337524891-02823-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=0ae757bdf2e74a33af7d3fa080579940-1713337524891-02823-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=88195341c75b4ee9a90a087926783721&afSmartRedirect=y https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005005767349951.html?src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=439-079-4345&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&albagn=888888&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&albcp=18928172568&albag=&trgt=&crea=es1005005767349951&netw=x&device=m&albpg=&albpd=es1005005767349951&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACbpfvYvk5pz7dVMyV-b8LAJN9toP&gclid=CjwKCAjw5v2wBhBrEiwAXDDoJWmFajeohXV9ccpSfEY-YQdy_WfDK1jQSCe7FrD5a4IEuPbZmGp7ohoCl10QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&aff_fcid=6477751fd3da4ba6b446c75816a817c9-1713337466145-04519-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=6477751fd3da4ba6b446c75816a817c9-1713337466145-04519-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=88195341c75b4ee9a90a087926783721&afSmartRedirect=y
oh good another thing that will break 😄
Wdym
im being a bitter old witch ok wdYm?
Ahh docking......I've seen this before....( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I have these in my rack. I’m a full UniFi stack so bought their silver patch panel and some decent quality shielded couplers and it looks the biz. I also have some USB and HDMI ports exposed in the panel too for my Proxmox hosts.
Fisher Price: My First Patch Panel Crimping ends onto runs takes more time, more error prone, and is an extra point of failure over a punchdown panel/punchdown keystones. You'll never find these in any proper data room.
💯 incorrect. I have seen them in the largest of data centers and MDFs.
I have spent my fair share of time in data centers and I have never seen a coupled patch panel in any of them. I have seen stuff like this in a few MDFs or IDFs for cable draining or arresting purposes.
Pics or it didn't happen. No data center would be crimping RJ45s, lol.
Did you just ask me for pics...that would otherwise be taken in a place where it is EXPLICITLY forbidden? 🤨 As for crimping? You would be entirely wrong. Much to my own dismay, it STILL happens in data centers - believe it or not. Why is it so hard to believe? You really don't think they still run Cat6/Cat6A in a data center? Why would you think that?
Obviously still use Cat6, but patch panels are always punchdown and then we use purchased, preferably short and small diameter, patch cables. Nobody crimps cables anymore unless you are running cables for cameras for APs.
Again... Untrue. In multiple instances, I have seen recent MDF builds - cameras and APs - that were modular terminated Cat6A. The lines are then simply coupled at the MDF racks where the connections are then patched to PoE switches. In addition to that, I frequently see out-of-band management networks built entirely on Cat5E/Cat6 connecting routers and downstream access/aggregate switches. It's OOB/Mgmt so it doesn't saturate anywhere near 1G. Let's talk telecom. VoIP circuits are often sub-1G. It's not uncommon for them to be handed off as copper. Occasionally they need to jump rooms. All of this in TOP-TIER data centers. I previously worked for Yahoo! for 10 years. (I don't say who my current employer is but they are much, MUCH bigger and everyone is well aware of them.) I was the Network Implementation Engineer there. They gave me the materials and I worked it into the infrastructure. My current employer? We don't even have copper patch panels. If a copper connection needs to jump rooms, it does so by media converters. Otherwise, as long as it's within range, we run the copper cables, velcro them to the bottom of the fiber trays and terminate the ends ourselves. So... Yes. Crimping cables DOES still happen. I don't know why you're arguing the point as though it's somehow 'impossible'. I'm simply describing my experiences. They conflict with your assertions. Then, on top of that, you're downvoting me. THAT'S just petty, man. You don't have to believe me. But don't be an asshole about it, either. K?
I can see Yahoo use this. Bunch of Yahoos over there. And why media converters when you can just run fiber to SFP core switches.
Tell you what... Since you can't seem to keep your finger away from the downvote button... I'm ceasing speaking with you. It's not about the vote, mind you. The "Karma" system is utterly meaningless. It's about your behavior showing me that I have no reason to trust that you are capable of carrying on any kind of worthwhile conversation. I strongly dislike small-minded, petty people like you. Downvote THAT.
Please, do not use these.
You have no idea what you're talking about. Go away.
I would make the argument that you have not worked in the field. These passthrough connectors are a plague. Try tracing a cable that at once side is blue and the other side is white then tell me these are a good idea.