To what extent does the rating of *CAT* go up to - switch ports ?

[chefwong]

For example, the office I'm moving into has the patch panel not long enough to reach the front of the cab. I was leaning on running a Cat 6 couplr patche so I could bring the patch panel up front and still manage the interconnects.

None really exists - siemon, panduit, hubbell etc.

So the question goes ,how important is it for a cat5e or cat6, etc network up to the connecting device ? I mean cables, jacks, etc are rated but what about the nics or switches that these cables go into ? Just thinking outloud....

 

[franklin97355]

the rating goes from the switch to the nic. All cables,connectors and jacks are rated and the lowest rating is what the whole assembly is rated.

The answer is "42"

 

[chefwong]

While I have not seen a rated spec on the switch or nic, as I suppose to guesstimate that a cat6 switch is 10g rated whereas a 5E respectively is gigabit rated as well

 

[franklin97355]

The category does not include the switch or nic just everything in between.

The answer is "42"

 

[mikeydidit]

The Cat rating is on the cabling side of the connections. Patch panel, jacks, and the patch cables. The port side or the switch determines what speed is sent to the connection. Normaly 10/100/1000 same as the nic cards.

"You don't stop playing because you get old. You get old because you stopped playing."

 

[DFallon]

As everyone has been saying, the Category rating has to do with wires, either inside of cables or the connections inside passive components like adapters, couplers, and patch panels. But the speed of the nic and switch are still important! Basically, though, if you are using Category 6 components you should be safe no matter what the switch and nics are at.

There's a good premise wiring tutorial here:

http://www.l-com.com/content/Article.aspx?Type=L&ID=206