Today’s data centers is a large number of diverse devices, including servers, clustered storage systems, virtualization appliances, and backup devices—all interconnected by networking equipment. These devices require physical cabling with an increasing demand for higher performance and flexibility, all of which require a reliable, scalable, and manageable cabling infrastructure.
Challenges arise not only with trying to research emerging data center cabling offerings in order to determine what you need for today and for future growth, but also with evolving cabling industry guidance, which sometimes lags in the race to deliver standards for deploying technologies such as 10 Gbit/sec data transmissions and beyond.
Takes you, briefly, though the process of effectively incorporating and managing the cabling in a typical data center, which involves:
Planning the cabling infrastructure
Selecting cabling components
Building a cable routing framework for equipment racks
Managing the cabling infrastructure
Common challenges faced with 10 Gbit/sec cabling
Selecting cabling components
Building a cable routing framework for equipment racks
Managing the cabling infrastructure
Common challenges faced with 10 Gbit/sec cabling
Your task may involve wiring a new data center or upgrading the cabling in an existing data center.
You are advised to review the common media used for data transmission and the cable types available .
If you are upgrading an existing data center, you must evaluate, capture, and understand the present cabling infrastructure thoroughly.
Document the current (if any) and projected network topologies . Document the various cable types present and proposed, present and projected cable counts, approximate routed distances to distribution areas and equipment, present and anticipated equipment port counts.
Plan to accommodate both copper and fiber media, since each media has its unique place in the cabling segment. Build in flexibility, so that the patching structure will allow a device to connect to any other device in the data center. This will permit devices to be located anywhere within the data center.
If you are upgrading an existing data center, you must evaluate, capture, and understand the present cabling infrastructure thoroughly.
Document the current (if any) and projected network topologies . Document the various cable types present and proposed, present and projected cable counts, approximate routed distances to distribution areas and equipment, present and anticipated equipment port counts.
Plan to accommodate both copper and fiber media, since each media has its unique place in the cabling segment. Build in flexibility, so that the patching structure will allow a device to connect to any other device in the data center. This will permit devices to be located anywhere within the data center.
Plan for growth and for changes in technology, and implement the projected ports and cabling now while the tiles are off and other cables are being run. It will cost a lot more in labor and downtime to perform an upgrade later.
