[149929] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Which P-Touch should I have?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Owen DeLong)
Thu Feb 16 23:46:26 2012
From: Owen DeLong <owen@delong.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAP-guGUjM_X9Hz3fk46MoCdmf0CHMe_7Gz2cpgYgTekS8rABgg@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:41:59 -0800
To: William Herrin <bill@herrin.us>
Cc: NANOG <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
>=20
> For cable labeling I've had good results with 3M Scotch Super88 color
> electrical tape. Pick unique color bands for each cable. Band it
> identically at both ends. You don't have to squint to see how it's
> labeled. And the label isn't invalidated merely because you unplugged
> it from one place and plugged it in somewhere else.
>=20
I usually use labels printed on all sides in about a 14 point font that =
have a unique number followed by a - and a length. So, for example, =
10294-4.5 is a 4.5' long cable number 10294.
You might need to squint a bit to read it, but, 14 points is usually =
pretty legible and being printed 4 times on the label (3 of which remain =
visible on the average cat5/cat6 cable) means you usually don't have to =
futz with twirling the cable to find the label.
I usually have the labels installed ~2" from the plug at each end.
In a crowded deployment, I think the color bands would be like trying to =
read resistor color codes in a box of ~1,000 mixed resistors. You're =
going to end up squinting anyway. With my tactic, you have the =
additional advantage that you get a defined search radius within which =
the other end can be located.
Using serial-number labels instead of equipment-specific labels means =
that mine aren't invalidated either.
Owen
