Wiring Considerations

2008-06-03T04:50:07Z

Gregmac: reword telephone/ethernet section, remove factually incorrect information

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[[Category:Hardware]]
==Introduction==

Older, proprietary home automation and security systems traditionally have required their own dedicated wiring. Placing that wiring was often the biggest hurdle in installing such systems, and usually entailed tearing open walls in order to run the special cables (which was often very thick and difficult to manage).

In contrast, LinuxMCE uses standard CAT5 wiring and RJ45 jacks. Because it is IP (Internet Protocol) based (the same protocol that runs the Internet and most local home and office networks), it runs directly over an Ethernet network. Ethernet networks use standard CAT5 (or often the somewhat heavier CAT5e/CAT6) wiring with RJ-45 jacks. This wiring is often already pre-installed in recently-constructed homes, since it is now used for most phone systems as well as for home networks. Even if your home does not already have CAT5 wiring pre-installed, CAT5 wires are some of the smaller, easier wires to install. Installing CAT5 wiring in a house is well worth the cost and will increase the resale value, even without a LinuxMCE system. Home networks (LANs) that are run over CAT5-wired Ethernet connections are increasingly popular for Internet access and file/printer sharing throughout the home.

Thus, the only wiring requirement for LinuxMCE is that you have Ethernet (CAT5) wiring. All wired LinuxMCE devices (such as a PC used as a Media Director) will be able to directly plug into the RJ45 jack.

==Wired vs. wireless connections==

Note, however, that not all LinuxMCE devices require a wired connection. Many can connect [[Wireless Networking|wirelessly]], if you have a wireless access point connected to the LinuxMCE [[Core]] server. However, it is easiest for the main components, the [[Core]] and the [[Media Directors]], to be connected in a wired fashion.

==CAT5 vs. CAT5e vs. CAT6==

*CAT5 wiring is the smallest gauge. It was the standard for many years and is suitable for data speeds up to 100 Mb/sec, which was the maximum over LANs until recently. However, the increased speeds and loads of modern LANs place a strain on the characteristics of this wire. It is no longer recommended as the wiring standard. In general 100 Mb/sec speeds can transmit 7 simultaneous DVD quality video streams.

*CAT5e wiring is now considered the standard, and uses somewhat higher gauge wires. This enables the reliable transmission of data at Gigabit speeds, used by newer LANs. It is also more reliable when longer runs of wire are used. In general, Gigabit data transmission speeds can transmit 100 simultaneous DVD quality video streams.

*CAT6 wiring uses even higher gauge wires. For standard 250 Mb/sec data speeds (and Gigabit adaptations), it is preferable. It is suitable for long wire runs for 250 Mb/sec (or Gigabit) data speeds. It is preferred over CAT5e for 10 Gigabit data transmission speeds (which is not currently very common in home and small office LANs).

==Using pre-installed CAT5 placed for telephone systems==

Ethernet and analog phones can easily share the same wiring, assuming you use Cat5 or better for everything. Analog phones use the two center pins of an RJ45 connection (pins 4 and 5, or the blue wires), while standard ethernet uses pins 1, 2, 3, and 5 (orange and green). You should be careful running analog phone service on a line that is actually connected to an ethernet device however - although it shouldn't be a problem, there is no guarantee your manufacturer didn't do something silly that will cause the device to malfunction as soon as the phone rings and 80V AC is sent down the line.

In general, if you use a patch panel in your wiring closet, you can plug your ethernet jacks into either a switch, or analog phone service as required (and generally you do not run them both simultaneously down the same wire). An RJ11 phone plug will fit into an RJ45 jack with no issues. The nice part about using a patch panel is you can reassign jacks as necessary - if you need an analog line into a given room, then you just plug it in at the patch panel and you're good to go.

If you upgrade your phone system to use [http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/What+is+VOIP VoIP], then you are already set as you can easily convert jacks to ethernet by patching them into an ethernet switch. You can even maintain some of your older analog phones by using an [http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/ATA analog terminal adapter] in the wiring closet, and patching the analog lines to your jacks.

Going further with VoIP phones, it's very popular to power them with [http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/PoE Power over ethernet (PoE)] from your wiring closet. In this case, you have a PoE capable switch (or injector) connected to your patch panel or cabling, and generally plug it into a UPS to provide backup in case of power failure.

Note that when using PoE or Gigabit ethernet, you cannot share analog phone service on the same cable as ethernet as they both use all 4 pairs.

==Ethernet wiring standards==
It is important to note that there are two wiring standards for Ethernet, T568A and T568B. My local electrician was clueless about this and wired all my CAT5 connections wrong.

For a quick tutorial, see [http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/ethernetcables.html this guide or wiring Ethernet connections].

Most Ethernet wiring is currently done using the T568B standard, and I highly recommend you stick to it. However, you must be aware of deviations from this standard. For example, my Ethernet-wired surveillance cameras all use the T568A standard. This took me a long time to figure out, and, again, my electrician wired them all incorrectly.

It is tricky to adapt T568A to T568B -- you need a special type of cross-over cable. This is somewhat complex. For the most part, I recommend you just wire everything using the T568B standard.

Also see:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EIA_568A What is proper CAT5 cabling?]

AMP Configuration Guide

2008-06-02T22:01:15Z

Gregmac: AMP was renamed to freepbx, there were never two different projects

<h1>How to configure Asterisk with AMP (Asterisk management portal)</h1>
AMP is a separate web based configuration tool for Asterisk. Note that as of March 2006, it has been renamed to [http://www.freepbx.org Freepbx]. More information can be found on the [http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/freePBX VoIP Wiki], and the [http://www.freepbx.org FreePBX website].
Here is a quick intro as it relates to LinuxMCE. Note the AMP integration is not fully complete. In time this process will become more seamless.
Step 1: Add your phones
The phones in your home will be stored in 2 places: Once in LinuxMCE's database as LinuxMCE devices. This is where the orbiters retrieve the list of phones in the house to display on the screens, and also the phones you can position on the floorplan. Secondly, AMP also maintains its own list of phone extensions that it uses to configure Asterisk. Normally LinuxMCE's list and AMP's list will stay in sync automatically. You can verify this by checking Wizard, Devices, Phones to see LinuxMCE's list.
It should look like this include/images/amp/amp-00.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="include/images/amp/t-amp-00.jpg

Go to include/images/amp/amp-01.jpg" target="_blank">Wizard, Devices, Phone Setup</a>, you will see <a href="include/images/amp/amp-02.jpg" target="_blank
click 'Setup', then include/images/amp/amp-03.jpg" target="_blank
and you'll be be able to include/images/amp/amp-04.jpg" target="_blank an extension (usefull if your phone is not plug-and-play), but take a look at extension list in the right. The 'Extension' in AMP's list should equal the 'PhoneNumber' in LinuxMCE's list, and in LinuxMCE's list if you click the 'ADV' button, you will see LinuxMCE's IP address, which should correspond to AMP's.
include/images/amp/amp-05.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="include/images/amp/t-amp-05.jpg"></a><a href="include/images/amp/amp-05a.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="include/images/amp/t-amp-05a.jpg

LinuxMCE has its own plug & play back end. If you have IP based phones, just plug them in. If we have that model in our plug & play database it should appear automatically in AMP's phone extension table and also in LinuxMCE's Device list. Otherwise you must add the phones manually to both lists. For each phone specify the IP address of the phone and a give each phone a unique phone extension (the 'Phone Number' on LinuxMCE's list).

Check that device is listed as child of 'Asterisk' device.
Goto AMP's config site include/images/amp/amp-05.jpg" target="_blank section...
<ul><li>if your phone is plug&play it should be listed
on the right, select it and just check if all data are ok.</li>
<li>otherwise include/images/amp/amp-04.jpg" target="_blank (specify phone type(SIP/IAX2),
Extention, Password and later IP address.
</ul>

Don't forget to regenerate screens on orbiters and quick reload
for dcerouter.
If you added more than one phone, try to call between them
It's a good idea to setup a default phone in include/images/amp/amp-15.jpg" target="_blank section

Step 2: Add your phone lines and VOIP providers
Next step is to setup external lines...Please follow your VOIP
provider's instructions.

LinuxMCE - User contributions [en]

Wiring Considerations

AMP Configuration Guide