Cables here, cables there, cables everywhere!
Before I discuss solutions to help you get more organized, let’s look at some examples of horrible cable management. Be warned: some of these examples may just make you cry;
One of the leading
Data Centre I visited had this bad cable management and we had to wait for
another two weeks to decommission riverbed wan accelerator appliance! Guess
what. To pull out the customer appliance they obviously had to plan for a
production downtime.
If you dread walking
into your server room to troubleshoot a network issue because of bad cable
management or worse, dread having to give higher-ups a tour of your facilities,
then it’s about time to straighten up your cable management system.
Some internet glimpses for some of the worst cable hell/ wiring ever seen.
Here are
some things you can do now to avoid joining the terrible cable management hall
of fame photos I just highlighted above.
Proper
cable management will not only support existing infrastructure, but will also
allow to accommodate future growth.
Consider
these tips for your next project:
- Before purchasing or installing cable
products, determine the amount of cabling and connections required. Be
sure to allow room for access and growth.
- Be sure to follow industry standards, such as
ANSI/TIA and ISO/IEC, as well as any federal, state or local regulations.
This will help ensure a safe, failure-free installation that will minimize
system downtime.
- Plan for change by organizing cable properly
and labeling cable that may need to be quickly and easily identified.
Also, try to avoid blocking access to equipment inside and outside the
racks.
- Be sure to use sweeping 90-degree bends when
transitioning from the pathway support to the racks.
- Density is very important in data center
cabinets and racks, so keep in mind how many rack spaces are being
utilized with horizontal wire managers.
- Select a vertical cable manager that can
accommodate all of the cable feeding from the horizontal managers. Use
waterfalls and spools to help manage multiple cables and to help with
maintaining proper bend radius on copper and fiber cables.
- Using a 50% cable fill when selecting vertical
and horizontal cable management. This allows sufficient space for
maintaining cable bend radius for patch cords.
Efficiency
Making
our installations more efficient is one of the most beneficial tasks a person
should consider. Not only does it save time but can decrease issues down the
line. This is the plus side of proper cable management. Cable management is the
organization of electrical or optical cables in a cabinet or an installation.
The term comes from the goal of planning. Cable installations vary from job to
job but for the most part you can see how difficult it is to properly situate
each cable to make it easy to work with. Problems can happen down the line with
too many cables around each other with possible issues of unplugging or
identifying which cable is the cause. This is why cable management is very
crucial to a smooth work place and installation.
Safety
Proper
cable management can increase safety measures in the work place. Fire is a
cause for concern after cable installation and loose cable can become tangled
with each other possibly creating a spark. This spark can then turn into a fire
damaging your network, data center and building and ofcoure financial loss!
There is also the chance of someone coming by where the cables are installed
and tripping or catching on the cables resulting in an injury. You never know
what might happen and it's best to keep a clean and organized setup
Air Flow
An important
aspect to cables longevity is the abundance of air flow during installation.
The more air flow the better is the goal when cable is connected/running. This
increases energy efficiency as well. Keeping temperatures low and consistent is
beneficial to cables structure and performance. Increased temperatures can
damage the cables jacket and do harm to its inner workings. Keeping your cables
tied together and out of the way will open up airways to get to the cables to
prevent temperatures from possibly increasing surrounding the cables.
Diagnosis
Correct cable management can make life easier when going back to troubleshoot the problem with your cable. Organizing your network with various colors can help you trouble shoot problems down the line and can help in managing future additions. Plus, you'll get major props from others for a well managed setup.
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