[129848] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Cisco 6509/6513 cable management...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dylan Ebner)
Tue Sep 21 12:02:35 2010
From: Dylan Ebner <dylan.ebner@crlmed.com>
To: "Justin M. Streiner" <streiner@cluebyfour.org>, "nanog@nanog.org"
<nanog@nanog.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:01:34 +0000
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.64.1009210920550.7069@whammy.cluebyfour.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
Justin really hit in on the head with points 4 and 5. You can have the the =
most organized cabling in the work and lack of labeling and documentation c=
an kill you in a second. A long time ago I was introduced to the rule of 8s=
. 80% of network outages are caused by cable failure, 80% of the time to re=
pair is finding the cable, and for a mid to large organization, it costs 80=
K per hour of downtime.=20
We took this to heart and borrowed an idea from Sun. Every cable in our DC =
has two labels per end. One label for the near end and one for the far. Thi=
s way you always know where you came from and where you are going. It takes=
a lot of time to setup, but it is worth every penny,
=20
Dylan Ebner, Network Engineer
Consulting Radiologists, Ltd.
-----Original Message-----
From: Justin M. Streiner [mailto:streiner@cluebyfour.org]=20
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 8:39 AM
To: nanog@nanog.org
Subject: Re: Cisco 6509/6513 cable management...
On Tue, 21 Sep 2010, Positively Optimistic wrote:
> Do any of our fellow nanog members have experience with cable management =
on
> 6509/6513 cisco switches? We're upgrading infrastructure in some of our
> facilities,.. and until it came to cable management, the switches seemed=
to
> be a great idea... 8 48port blades.. pose a challenge.. or a problem..
The biggest things with 6500s, or any high-density configuration for that=20
matter, are:
1. Using racks/cabinets that have ample space for your vertical and=20
horizontal cabling. If you don't have this, things can get ugly in a=20
hurry. Make sure the kit you choose has plenty of wire management=20
channel space left over even after the racks are fully populated. Having
to tear overstuffed wire management channels apart to back-pull a bad cable
or jumper at 3 AM is no fun.
2. Emphasizing the importance of following established cabling standards=20
to the people who will be touching this equipment. Having visual aids,=20
i.e. "Here are some pictures of the quality of work we expect", usually go=
=20
a lot farther to drive this point home than handing someone a 20-page=20
cabling standards document with no pictures.
3. Dont forget about your inter-rack/overhead wiring channels/trays. I've=
=20
seen a few places that had things neatly dressed in the racks, but the=20
overhead channels were a complete mess... assumingly because they were=20
hidden from view :). If your overhead distribution has separate=20
channels/lanes for power/copper/fiber, even better.
4. Labeling and documentation.
5. See 4.
jms
