Network Patching Is NOT Fun

Associate
Joined
24 May 2003
Posts
110
Location
East Yorkshire
When your patch panel looks like this.
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Does anyone else have it this bad.
 
Seen worse mate. Seen better too of course. Ours goes through patches (pun) though, we tidy it, someone messes it up, we tidy it again.
The cabs that the servers sit in are nice and tidy though.
 
Yeah I am a Field Engineer and constantly having to battle with messed up customer cabinets!
Also do work in some of the London Co-Los and they are even worse! Cant post pics (could get in trouble) but even when we add patch panels to other racks its completely ignored and someone runs cables out of one rack and into another leaving the cable running along the floor!
 
Used to be that bad at the old job, cables everywhere just like the top photo. Took an entire weekend of down time to repatch and correctly colour code the cables. Your right its not fun, especially when your fingers are sore from squeezing the strain releef boots!
 
I would say that the two examples above demonstrate very bad business practise and a severe lack of due care and attention.

I look at cabling the same as i do at advertising for a business, a poor advert promotes an equally poor business in my opinion same applies here.

All things aside if you've employed someone to maintain this or outsourced the requirement they should be sacked.
 
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Just one of three at work.

Looks like the two we have at the place I am working. Just trying to upgrade to a gigbit network as a favour to the boss. He has bought all the switches etc and i asked him which lead went to where. His answer was he unplugged one and waited to see who shouted my computer has gone down. Needless to say he is doing his own upgrade i refused to touch it.
 
There are some grim cabinets there, part of the problem though is the lack of vertical CM, unless there is some, any horizontal CM is a waste of time...
I just hope you guys never have to swap anything out...
I know that I would be sacked if our cabs looked like that, though we have 1 room where they are still that bad...
 
There are some grim cabinets there, part of the problem though is the lack of vertical CM, unless there is some, any horizontal CM is a waste of time...
I just hope you guys never have to swap anything out...
I know that I would be sacked if our cabs looked like that, though we have 1 room where they are still that bad...


Most problems I see is when networks grow and evolve. When the number of connections on the switches run out and they need a new one done quickly as the network is grinding to a halt. so over a weekend or an night some poor sod has to cobble something together. It works so it gets left alone. The 2 years later a new department opens and the same happens again. Thing is to sort out a large cabinet with hundreds of connections can take days to do properly and can end up with you trimming and reterminating cables just so they don't have too much slack lying around
 
Just patched 300 points on some new switches we installed:
cables.jpg

Took a while it is satisfying when it is completed.
I have also had to contend with recabling existing cabinets in the past but not quite that bad!
We had one cabinet though that was AT&T connections which are a real pain to do.
Hopefully this new cabling will stay tidy!

Andrew
 
LOL. I did a work placement at uni, where I got to do the cable patching. At the end of the year, our server room looked similar to the 1st pic. Ah, memories...
 
All our datacenter cabling is spotless but in the office the comms room looks a little like that, too many people with access, no one really responsible - it's inevitable I suppose and I've got better things to do that sort it.
 
I work in data centres all the time and some of the private customer suites look like some of the above pictures. On the whole though if the correct cable management is installed and limited to a few people keeping cabling neat is quite simple. Our main DC in Telehouse is not too bad, we have a special area near the door where all external cabling is terminated. There is no way I am leting any of those contractors near the core network kit.
 
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