Why use a Patch Panel?

[Wayne]

Hello,

The small company I work for is moving to a new location,
and I will be installing the cabling/network hardware.
Right now we have about 10 users, but we will be running
cabling for a total of 30 possible users. The building is
a simple one-level floor shared by another adjacent
company.

Based on my reading of patch panels, I still do not
understand why I should bother with using patch panels,
rather than just plugging the wall jack directly into the
switch in the server room.

I would like to tell my manager why we don't need to
bother with a patch panel. Does using a patch panel affect
the performance of the network at all, good or bad? Can't
you just label the switch numbers or cable ends instead of
the patch panel numbers to keep things straight?

In my mind, the patch panel just adds another unnecessary
point of failure in the network.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

If the switch can accommodate the total number of connections that
you'll have, you don't particularly need a patch panel. Should the
number of needed connections ever grow beyond the capacity of the
switch, you can add a patch panel or two at that time.

Bruce Chambers

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[Don Pomeroy]

Just another thought on patch panels.

One of the REAL problems is that if you don't use them from the get go it is
usually very difficult to impossible to incorporate them in the future.
By having the room runs terminate in a panel initially it makes later switch
changes / additions a whole lot easier.
I'll usually at least terminate the room (user location) cables in a panel
and then use jumpers to connect the switch(es) initially. This way you have
a lot less exposure to room cable damage from laying on the floor where the
slack connects to the switch. Using a panel you have the room runs
permanently terminated in a convenient loaction and not subject to damage.
Even on a small network like you'll have you'll probably be doing some load
levelimg on the switches from time to time. A panel makes this a snap.