Software has had its turn. Time to make the homelab physical. 🧵
Spent the weekend running Cat6 from the ISP router through to the bedroom where the rack is about to go. Punched down to keystones on both ends, terminated T568B, and verified the link at a clean 1 Gbps.
📡 Wi-Fi is fine for laptops. For a homelab you want copper. Wired links eliminate an entire class of "is it the network?" debugging, and there's no point investing in a managed switch if you're trunking through a wireless backhaul.
🔌 Picked T568B over T568A because it's what shows up most in commercial environments. The standards are electrically identical, but consistency across a site matters more than which one you choose. Pick one and stay with it.
🧰 A couple of things I underestimated before starting:
🔹 Cable management is its own skill set 🔹 A decent crimping tool changes everything 🔹 Patience matters more than speed
The cable is in. Rack and switch go in next.