To use cable management arms or not

Solution 1:

Coming from a webhosting env. We dealt with hundreds of servers some of which were always moving based on contract changes.

I don't care for them and prefer velcro instead.

IMO, if you're going to pull a server from a rack to do something inside the case it should be off. Hot swappable drives are all accessible from the front.

It was one more thing I didn't need stuffed into the back of the rack.

It added to install time, and removal time.

It made it harder to replace a bad cable in a hurry.

It blocked access to the label on the cables near the jack.

It made it hard to move a server and cables if say I wanted to move it higher up and shorten them.

It added to any heat problems we might have had.

Solution 2:

The problem is one extra word in this sentence:

It seems like a nice idea to ensure that you have enough cable slack to be able to pull a running server out of a rack without worrying about accidentally unplugging a cable, but how many times is this really done?

Take the word "running" out of the sentence, and you'll see the light. Cable management arms make it easier to do ANY maintenance on a server, not just when it's running. Need to pop it open to add more memory, HBAs or network cards? Done. Less time during an outage.

If you're going after five nines, every second you can save during outages is crucial. Unplugging three or four network cables doesn't seem time-intensive, but watch what happens when you accidentally put the wrong network card into a port. Maintenance time skyrockets.

Solution 3:

I do not. My argument is that they impede airflow, and that there are better 3rd party cable management solutions that accomplish the same thing.

I can count the times I've wanted to leave a server powered on while I was adding or removing hardware on 0 fingers, and that's their only^H^H^H^Hmain purpose.

Edit

I admit, they make it faster to pull hardware out of the rack, but in my opinion, it's not worth the hassle and heat.