Cable Management Policy

Solution 1:

Use cables as close to the correct length as possible.

Spare cable should be coiled away from the concentrator - so spare power cable gets coiled next to the machine, not the powerstrip, and spare network cable next to the machine, not the hub.

Don't be stingy with cable ties, be they zip ties or velcro pulls. When in doubt, use an extra, and don't hesitate to trash old ones.

Machines should still be removable once unplugged, which means run your cables vertically down the edges of the rack, not the middle.

Only run cross-rack in one place (probably the top or bottom of the rack), and run as little cross-rack as possible.

Color coding is good, but when troubleshooting, what is trumps what's supposed to be.

Fix it all now. 'Later' never comes. Corollary: everything should always be perfect before you leave - or you have concrete plans to come back and fix it.

Label cable ends with abstractions: numbers, letters, whatever. Don't bother with 'firewall', 'external', etc - they'll get moved and re-used and the labels will be wrong; better to keep the labels an extension of the 'color' so they can be easily reused without having to be relabeled.

A lot of this is from old telco practice - you think we manage a lot of cables, you should look inside a real telco crossconnect sometime - well, but don't because they're often spaghetti.

Solution 2:

Always, always, always take the time to strip out those cables you aren't using anymore. Pull it all the way out of the rack/patch panel, coil it up and put it away (or throw it away, as appropriate).

And when you're getting rid of dodgy cables. Cut off one or both ends. They will come back and haunt you if you don't.

Solution 3:

Be consistent!!!!

I don't care what colors you use for what, but always use the same ones. I don't care if the vertical run between units is on the right or the left, but always put it on the same side. I think you get the idea.

If it doesn't look neat, it isn't. Pick some pattern, some system and follow it.

A touch of OCD doesn't hurt. (apology in advance to any one from the Politically Correct crowd who want to flame me for make fun of being OCD).

Solution 4:

No zip ties. Velcro.

Consistent color coding.

Label both ends of cables, always. Even if you have serial numbers. It's cheaper to pay a cabling guy for a whole year than to have one cable-related mistake.

Never allow temporary setups unless it is an emergency. They never are temporary.

Using the exact correct length is pretty but is terrible to maintain. But extra length is its own pain. Tough decision to make.

Don't leave unused cables laying around! I saw a 30 year old data center with unused cables just cut and dropped under the raised floor. Really.

Solution 5:

Please don't zip-tie things together super tight. If you really must use zip-ties, keep them loose. Makes it a huge pain to move cables if everything's all tied together.