Accessories

These are the parts that turn loose cabling into a proper installation.

Keystone jacks and patch panels terminate cable runs into wall plates and rack panels, so a permanent cable ends in a socket rather than a bare plug. Match the category — Cat6 or Cat6a — through the whole chain, because a Cat6a cable terminated in Cat5e jacks performs as Cat5e. Tool-free keystones are considerably quicker than punch-down for small jobs.

Cable management — 1U routing panels, brush strips and lacing bars — keeps a rack tidy and, more importantly, keeps airflow front-to-back instead of leaking through gaps.

Mounting hardware includes junction boxes for access points and cameras, which hide the cable termination and keep weather out on outdoor installations.

The unglamorous truth of networking is that most faults trace back to termination and physical damage rather than to equipment. Doing this part properly is what stops intermittent problems later.

The range covers Digitus, Cables Direct, StarTech, TP-Link, Ubiquiti and DrayTek. See also networking.