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We've upgraded our old Fast Ethernet service to FIOS. The FVS318 we had been using is being replaced with a GS308E. In this industrial building, we experience a lot of funny stuff related to the sketchy electrical service, so naturally, anything that runs on AC is plugged into APC UPS units. I figured as long as we have to upgrade our network cables, it might be a good idea to go to shielded Cat6a cables - the cost as compared to unshielded is not much greater. I have looked around, but it is not immediately obvious to me whether once all equipment is hooked up to the switch via STP Cat6a cables, and further grounding needs to be done. There's a decent amount of EMI in our building due to heavy equipment, and a lot big motors going on and off - a commercial printing press, for example.
Once everything is connected via STP Cat6a, is there any other grounding that I have to do? We are going to use only commercially made cables - no custom runs or anything like that that would have to be made up on site.
Yes, the GS308E lacks connection for grounding, even the power adapter but the GS308E has shielded ports will protect them from usual surges but not the high ones. If you really need ground connections this are usually found on the Smart switches and/or switches with PoE ports. The FVS318 is a business firewall, you want to check on the business switches.
I think it is still best to ground even STP Cables more if EMI is present. This article might be of help. Other users as well may chime in and recommend.
Thanks. The article you linked is interesting. It says:
"LAN equipment, such as switches, should be grounded per the manufacturer’s installation instructions."
OK. But the Netgear GS308E lacks any kind of connection for grounding, nor do the "installation instructions" offer any advice on grounding, unlike the old FVS318, shown here:
The article goes on to say:
"All NICs and telecommunications equipment have shielded RJ-45 jacks... Patch panels that are designed to accept shielded jacks also allow for proper bonding of the jack to it. It’s important to understand that in those instances in which the device at the workstation does not contain a shielded jack, the integrity of the bond of the shield-to-ground is still maintained at the patch panel."
So, I gather that if I want to use a GS308E, all I need do is use STP Cat6a cables, as far as any shielding is concerned. We don't have any racks or patch panels - just 4 workstations, a NAS, printers, scanners, etc. Neither the FIOS optical converter, or the new modem have and grounding connections, either. Could be that STP cables won't be much of an improvement over UTP cables, at least in this scenario.
Yes, the GS308E lacks connection for grounding, even the power adapter but the GS308E has shielded ports will protect them from usual surges but not the high ones. If you really need ground connections this are usually found on the Smart switches and/or switches with PoE ports. The FVS318 is a business firewall, you want to check on the business switches.
Thanks. What Netgear describes as S350 Smart switches don't have ground connections, either, if the photos and datasheets available online are correct.
We've never had any kind of electrical event make it past our APC UPS boxes in many years. So, I think I'll just do what seems to be the most direct and obvious thing, and just use shielded cables and drop the whole issue of more external grounding.
