[188292] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: DataCenter color-coding cabling schema
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Owen DeLong)
Mon Mar 14 14:21:01 2016
X-Original-To: nanog@nanog.org
From: Owen DeLong <owen@delong.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAO1bj=acnPZtW-D0CE=nORLfGw8S61sqTLSLzJSHteQEtg3Ppw@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2016 11:19:44 -0700
To: Aled Morris <aledm@qix.co.uk>
Cc: "nanog@nanog.org" <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
> On Mar 14, 2016, at 03:15 , Aled Morris <aledm@qix.co.uk> wrote:
>=20
> On 14 March 2016 at 00:23, William Herrin <bill@herrin.us> wrote:
>=20
>> On Sat, Mar 12, 2016 at 2:11 PM, Yardiel Fuentes <yardiel@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> Have any of you had the option or; conversely, do you know of =
=E2=80=9Cbest
>>> practices" or =E2=80=9Ccommon standards=E2=80=9D, to color code =
physical cabling for
>> your
>>> connections in DataCenters for Base-T and FX connections?
>>=20
>> For patch cables, it's common to pick a color for each type of
>> physical signaling
>>=20
>=20
>=20
> I used to support this view too, but over the last few years, as =
everything
> has (basically) become Ethernet, I've taken to a different scheme.
>=20
> For copper patching, I now recommend my clients simply invest in a =
range of
> colored patch cables and use them randomly.
>=20
> The length of the patch cable is much more important than the color =
(too
> little length will make it difficult to re-route cables if you need to
> remove cards etc. and too long will mean tangles and space taken up =
with
> loops of excess cable.)
>=20
> The benefits of my "rainbow" scheme are:
>=20
> 1. easier to identify both ends of a cable, reducing disconnect =
errors.
> When tracing a cable in a bundle or on a patch bay, it's easy when =
they're
> different colors.
But if you serialize them and have the company you order the cables from
do the labeling (I=E2=80=99ve had this done, it=E2=80=99s not difficult =
and doesn=E2=80=99t add
significantly to the cost of the cables), then that=E2=80=99s even more =
useful
for that purpose than your =E2=80=9Crainbow=E2=80=9D scheme.
> 2. no need to police the cable scheme - if you have a strict color =
regime,
> what do you do when someone uses the wrong color? especially if a
> disconnect would be service affecting. It's really hard to justify
> "maintenance downtime" to an account manager on the basis of you not =
liking
> the color of a patch cable.
Well=E2=80=A6
1. You have someone whose responsibility it is to keep appropriate
sized cables of various colors in stock so that there=E2=80=99s =
no incentive
to do so.
2. You don=E2=80=99t let untrained monkeys play in your cage.
3. You hand the 1d10t that did it a roll of appropriately colored =
electrical
tape and provide instructions on how to spiral-wrap. He gets to =
change the
color of the cable. (This will make a repeat offense relatively =
unlikely
as it=E2=80=99s a huge PITA).
Owen
