Tool(s) for labeling cables with unique ID numbers
Solution 1:
If you aren't looking to obfuscate the identifiers for security reasons may I suggest a naming convention that tells you at a glance what's going where?
For example:SW001/1/12 - TR1-11-24
- Immediately tells me this cable is SW
itch 001
, Blade 1
, Port 12
, and connects to T
elecom R
oom 1
, Patch Panel 11
, Port 24
TR1-11-24 - 3-313-2
- Immediately tells me this cable goes from the panel identified above to the third floor, room 313, port (wall jack) 2.
If you use datacenter-style connectors that take a whole port group from your switch and connect it to a patch panel you would label the connector at the switch end with the panel it corresponds to(TR1-11
), and label the panel / ports with the SWxxx/blade/port
style labeling.
There are a few big drawbacks to this (major infrastructure reorgs require a lot more relabeling than a blind number system), but also some big advantages (a server dropped off the network? You can locate the dead port/blade without needing to pull up your database of connection IDs).
Solution 2:
aaa-xxxx-#-yyyy-bbb
where aaa and bbb are the endpoint connection id's
xxxx and yyyy are the rack/location id's
label the same labels on both ends so you read it in both directions as startpoint and endpoint.