So, I'm going to be running cat6 in my house, and I have a couple questions on how to go about it.
First of all, my plan was to have the modem next to the cable hookup in the living room. From there I was going to run an ethernet cable from the modem up to the attic, where it will go to a network switch. From there, run ethernet to each room of the house. Is there any downsides to having the switch in the attic? It gets pretty hot in the summer, so would that screw up the switch over time?
Afaik short of killing it outright, it won't shorten the lifetime of the device in any meaningful sense, there are many other variables that can also have an impact. However, if it gets too hot the switch will drop out and only return stability when it gets colder. You can check operating temperature on the specs sheet.
Don't put the switch anywhere where hvac doesn't touch. Just put it by your modem and run it to the attic from there.
Depends on the switch, but I'd avoid straining conditions where you put your equipment. There are hardened/industrial spec products but they cost more. Also at some point you might have other needs like PoE and that equipment might not fly in your attic.
If money isn't an issue there are things that work in high temperatures
If the switch you plan to get is anything like the switches I have at work...it wont need any help running hot anyway. Not to mention unchecked humidity, which could very well kill it prematurely.
Hmm, alright. Well, we'll have to move it to the central closet.
Do you have a basement? It'll be cooler down there if you do.
I wish we had basements in Oklahoma. Would be nice to combat all those pesky tornados.
How hot is hot? Ciscos don't like more than about 45c ambient temps before they start having issues
Edit: regular consumer switches without good fans would be even worse
Well that sucks. Lol.
Probably well beyond 45°C in the attic. We have pretty hot summers around here. Sometimes upwards of 38°C outside, so probably around 55°C in the attic.
Probably best to just put it in the closet then. It is a consumer switch with no fan anyway.
I would recommend not putting it in any closed space. You can get away with it if it has some airflow into and out of the closet, but if the door makes a nice seal or doesn't have airflow from the room it could damage or just run poorly. The least you could do is run a little fan into it so that it cools it off a little bit.