[hiq]

Have you tried to experiment with 802.11s and mesh networks to remove some of these Ethernet cables by any chance? I'm looking into some "advanced" router features these days, and I was surprised that there is a standard for this, although it seems badly supported. That would seem like a good option for a more flexible (in terms of networking) cluster if the nodes are that close to each other that wireless networking shortcomings aren't much of an issue.

Of course that's only the theory...

[herpderperator]

I couldn't tell by your question if you were referring to the Pi cluster or asking an unrelated question about 802.11s mesh clusters... :)

Here are my answers for both:

Pi cluster: meshing won't save any additional wires here since there is already a wireless bridge set up (between the black Mikrotik device pictured, and an off-camera Mikrotik wireless router.) I chose to wire the cluster simply to guarantee a reliable connection within the cluster. You can absolutely use a Raspberry Pi over WiFi without an Ethernet cable, it would just be a less reliable connection (jitter, congestion), and then of course it would have to be powered conventionally rather than via PoE.

General 802.11s meshing: If all you want is fewer network cabling in your home specifically between switches and access points, then it could certainly help. However, the best choice network-wise is almost always a proper deployment with a central router and several APs (broadcasting the same SSID) wired back to it.

[hiq]

I guess I was curious about both, thanks for yours answers! I hadn't thought about PoE, having never used it myself, so indeed at one cable per device there's not much more to do.