My Server Rack Sense Was Tingling.

[PepperElf]

He didn't run it through the rack as he should have, but just ran the line directly from connection to connection.

^-.-^

i learned that the hard way when having people help me run cat-5. they had no idea it had to be neat and they ran it under a giant pipe instead of taking the effort to run it over.


and omg tools...
my workshop had a couple of pairs of crimpers for cat-5 & phone cords, but i hated using them because they rarely worked properly. i ended up getting a set of radio shack crimpers that never failed me. i rarely let any one else use them... mainly because i knew they'd be lazy and chuck them in with the ship's crappy equipment - and from there they might grow legs and run away. one of the few guys i trusted to use them properly got scolded when he put them with the ship's gear, but he at least apologized and never did that again.

[Syriilord]

Dear fuzzy Lord. I've rarely had to deal with servers and I've still got an eye-twitch of disgusted disbelief at those pics, Hibble.

[Darkforge]

ours doesn't quite look as bad as the ones on the left or right pics, but its worse than the one in the middle.

i'd post a pic if i had a way of transferring it from my phone to the comp at work, i'll try and do it tonight

That said I don't go in the server room as I'm not tech support (doesn't stop everybody and their mother comign to me for tech help though)

[Hibble]

some people don't appreciate/spend money on good cable managment. but look what you end up with if you don't.

[lordlundar]

Why behind though? If they're all in the same velcro does it matter which cable is where in the bundle?

Odds are you're going to be dealing with the older cables than you are the newer ones. If you have to replace another old cable, it's easier to have it at the front than at the back.

[roothorick]

And, if you have your cables all nice and pretty with the original runs and velcro, put the new ones behind the nice looking set, undo the velcro, hold the cables in one hand and slip the velcro around New and Old set. Cosmetic.

Why behind though? If they're all in the same velcro does it matter which cable is where in the bundle?

[Der Cute]

It looks better when the front of a panel is divided by the 8 or 12 port chunks.
And it's easier to trace, when the cables are separated. If you run a cable off the arm, up the rack and just lean over to whatever port it goes into, soon you will have hard to find cables.

And, if you have your cables all nice and pretty with the original runs and velcro, put the new ones behind the nice looking set, undo the velcro, hold the cables in one hand and slip the velcro around New and Old set. Cosmetic.

[roothorick]

And new cables to the rack should run UNDER all the other cables.

Took your second to get what you meant by "part your hair down the middle", but this I don't get. Why? In our machines I frequently run new wire on top of the old, as long as I can get it in the same organizer clamps. Can't see how that would cause a problem with cat5.

[Der Cute]

The good part about racks and servers is that they're standardized size equipment.
And heck if you don't know how big it needs to be, take a long (5 or 7 feet) one and run it like it needs to be.

Then lay it on the floor, and measure the tiles it takes to equal the needed size. Tiles are either 2 foot wide or 1 foot wide. So you can easily figure the length. Add an inch or 2 for slack if you want, but don't go 3' over your needed size..

And for god's fricking sake, do NOT use zip ties!! The little nub left over after clipping it is SHARP and annoying, and hard to cut open when you need more cable runs. Use Velcro, every foot or so. And new cables to the rack should run UNDER all the other cables. And at a switch or patch panel, part your hair down the middle.
So if there are 3 racks, 1 2 3 from left to right, and your server is at the bottom of 3, and the patch port is number 5 on the panel in the middle of Rack 2. You run from the ass end of Server, thru the arm, up the rack, and OVER the top to come down on the spot between 1 and 2, then INTO #2.

Not Up from Server then straight over to the new port. You will have rat nest spaghetti shit very soon.

[RestaurantDude]

Haven't worked with rack-mounted equipment, but my understanding is that 2 feet is long enough to go from device to device, but it needs the full specified length to go through the cable management system that allows the devices to be pulled out on their rails without first disconnecting the cables.

That's pretty much it.

You need enough length to cover both the vertical distance from device to device, as well as the horizontal distance from the rear of the rack, to the front. This way, the device can be slid out without disconnecting anything.

[wolfie]

How was he able to hook it up if it was missing 4 ft of length?

Haven't worked with rack-mounted equipment, but my understanding is that 2 feet is long enough to go from device to device, but it needs the full specified length to go through the cable management system that allows the devices to be pulled out on their rails without first disconnecting the cables.

[wraiths_crono]

(And jaw hits the floor, and renders me speechless.)

[Andara Bledin]

You want something to provoke twitching?

Way back when the old server guy was still on-site, his rat's nest of wires was so out of control that an actual rodent got caught in the mess and died. And it was in such a state that it couldn't be found to be removed, so he got to work in that office with the door closed until the stench subsided.

^-.-^

[wraiths_crono]

I, as a cable management whore (as I have been called) just noticed after reading my eye is twitching lol.

[Hawaiian Eskimo]

He didn't run it through the rack as he should have, but just ran the line directly from connection to connection.

^-.-^

I wondered how some server racks could get so messy to the point where you can't even see the rack anymore.

I don't wonder anymore.