Some of the worst cable management hell and why is it important

 

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; 

Can you find the hidden equipment in this mess?

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.