[92187] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Data Center Wiring Standards
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John L Lee)
Fri Sep 8 23:35:42 2006
Date: Fri, 08 Sep 2006 23:31:39 -0400
From: John L Lee <johnllee@mindspring.com>
To: Rick Kunkel <kunkel@w-link.net>
Cc: nanog@merit.edu
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0609081724400.24867-100000@samwise.w-link.net>
Errors-To: owner-nanog@merit.edu
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------080102070006030909000509
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Rick,
The organization and standards you are looking for are:
BICSI - http://www.bicsi.org/ and TIA/EIA 568 et al for structured
cabling design for low voltage distribution.
The BICSI organization has training and certification for RCDD
Registered Communications Distribution Designer
A BICSI article that is on there web site about data center design is
http://www.bicsi.org/Content/Files/PDF/link2006/Kacperski.pdf.
TIA/EIA 568(ab) how ever many they are up to discuss structured cabling
design for UTP/STP/fiber/coax including patch cables single and multi
pair UTP/STP/fiber patch panels, HVAC control, fire system control and
security systems.
John (ISDN) Lee
Rick Kunkel wrote:
>Heya folks,
>
>I hope this is on-topic. I read the charter, and it falls somewhere along
>the fuzzy border I think...
>
>Can anyone tell me the standard way to deal with patch panels, racks, and
>switches in a data center used for colocation? I've a sneaking suspicion
>that we're doing it in a fairly non-scalable way. (I am not responsible
>for the current method, and I think I'm glad to say that.) Strangely
>enough, I can find like NO resources on this. I've spent the better part
>of two hours looking.
>
>Right now, we have a rack filled with nothing but patch panels. We have
>some switches in another rack, and colocation customers scattered around
>other racks. When a new customer comes in, we run a long wire from their
>computer(s) and/or other device(s) to the patch panel. Then, from the
>appropriate block connectors on the back of the panel, we run another wire
>that terminates in a RJ-45 to plug into the switch.
>
>Sounds bonkers I think, doesn't it?
>
>My thoughts go like this: We put a patch panel in each rack. Each of
>these patch panels is permanently (more or less) wired to a patch panel in
>our main patch cabinet. So, essentially what you've got is a main patch
>cabinet with a patch panel that corresponds to a patch panel in each other
>cabinet. Making connection is cinchy and only requires 3-6 foot
>off-the-shelf cables.
>
>Does that sound more correct?
>
>I talked to someone else in the office here, and they believe that they've
>seen it done with a switch in each cabinet, although they couldn't
>remember is there was a patch panel as well. If you're running 802.1q
>trunks between a bunch of switches (no patch-panels needed), I can see
>that working too, I suppose.
>
>Any standards? Best practices? Suggestions? Resources, in the form of
>books, web pages, RFCs, or white papers?
>
>Thanks!
>
>Rick Kunkel
>
>
>
>
>
--------------080102070006030909000509
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title></title>
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff">
<big>Rick,<br>
<br>
The organization and standards you are looking for are:<br>
<br>
BICSI - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.bicsi.org/">http://www.bicsi.org/</a> and TIA/EIA 568 et al for structured
cabling design for low voltage distribution.<br>
<br>
The BICSI organization has training and certification for RCDD
Registered Communications Distribution Designer<br>
<br>
A BICSI article that is on there web site about data center design is
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.bicsi.org/Content/Files/PDF/link2006/Kacperski.pdf">http://www.bicsi.org/Content/Files/PDF/link2006/Kacperski.pdf</a>.<br>
<br>
TIA/EIA 568(ab) how ever many they are up to discuss structured cabling
design for UTP/STP/fiber/coax including patch cables single and multi
pair UTP/STP/fiber patch panels, HVAC control, fire system control
and security systems.<br>
<br>
John (ISDN) Lee <br>
</big><br>
<br>
<br>
Rick Kunkel wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="midPine.LNX.4.44.0609081724400.24867-100000@samwise.w-link.net">
<pre wrap="">Heya folks,
I hope this is on-topic. I read the charter, and it falls somewhere along
the fuzzy border I think...
Can anyone tell me the standard way to deal with patch panels, racks, and
switches in a data center used for colocation? I've a sneaking suspicion
that we're doing it in a fairly non-scalable way. (I am not responsible
for the current method, and I think I'm glad to say that.) Strangely
enough, I can find like NO resources on this. I've spent the better part
of two hours looking.
Right now, we have a rack filled with nothing but patch panels. We have
some switches in another rack, and colocation customers scattered around
other racks. When a new customer comes in, we run a long wire from their
computer(s) and/or other device(s) to the patch panel. Then, from the
appropriate block connectors on the back of the panel, we run another wire
that terminates in a RJ-45 to plug into the switch.
Sounds bonkers I think, doesn't it?
My thoughts go like this: We put a patch panel in each rack. Each of
these patch panels is permanently (more or less) wired to a patch panel in
our main patch cabinet. So, essentially what you've got is a main patch
cabinet with a patch panel that corresponds to a patch panel in each other
cabinet. Making connection is cinchy and only requires 3-6 foot
off-the-shelf cables.
Does that sound more correct?
I talked to someone else in the office here, and they believe that they've
seen it done with a switch in each cabinet, although they couldn't
remember is there was a patch panel as well. If you're running 802.1q
trunks between a bunch of switches (no patch-panels needed), I can see
that working too, I suppose.
Any standards? Best practices? Suggestions? Resources, in the form of
books, web pages, RFCs, or white papers?
Thanks!
Rick Kunkel
</pre>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>
--------------080102070006030909000509--
