Six Practical Cabling Tips For Better Managing Data Center

data centerAs we know, badly planned or unstructured data center cabling will usually cause more delays both in our daily work and when there is a issue in data center. Though there may be many professional team or engineers that know enough knowledge to manage the cabling in data center, or many companies will hire a network cabling service to help them do better cabling, cabling practices for data center cabling are often useful for everyone who works in a data center. Whether you choose a network cabling service or do it yourself, the following six tips for data center cabling you should know.

Tip 1. Choose the best quality cable according to your budget
As we know, there are many kinds of cables and connectors, even a variety of brands or manufacturers in the market, in order to satisfy the different demands in data center. So, you can choose more than one cable even with a same price for a same application. Certainly, according to the cable and connector materials, the better materials usually cost more but it doesn’t mean that you should buy the most expensive one. The best systems are the ones that work well for you. So you just choose the best quality one according to your appliction and location environment as well as your budget.

Tip 2. Make sure your cable can handle your data volumes
If you have enough budget, you could try to use fiber optic cables for your data center cabling as possible. With a variety of benefits, such as the greater bandwidth, higher speed, lower attenuation and greater distance etc., fiber optic cables are now used widely in many data centers all over the world. Nonetheless, copper cables also play an important role in data center cabling. About copper cables, there is a tip for your cable options. Cat3 cable is not recommended to buy since it will probably not support your data needs now, unless you have another applications that will need it. Cat5, Cat5e and Cat6 cable are different in the amount of data they can carry. If you and your team are not familiar with the capabilities of these cables, you should seek the advice of your cables vendor or network cabling service who will be able to advise you on the best solution for your needs.

Tip 3. If you expect to grow, fiber cabling may be worth the upfront expense
If you handle large volumes of data or need to cross long distances, or even expect to grow, fiber cabling is your best choice. The premise is to cost more than copper cabling. But you will find the benefits of fiber cabling soon and felt rewarded.

Tip 4. Measure your spans and double check your plan
It is known that cables become susceptible to distortion when they exceed the recommended length or span. In most time, when we measure the spans or make a plan, we may forget to include the entire length of the span, including the distance between building stories and around corners or obstructions as well as the linear distance. As a result, data quality and speed suffer. Thus, we should start with a detailed plan to ensure that the project specs call for the right cable quality.

Tip 5. Leave plenty of slack
Whenever possible leave plenty of slack in the cable to allow for changes or manage in the patch panels. Do not leave so much slacks or never over tighten, unless you want a mess of your cable room or cables stressed.

Tip 6. Labeling everything as possible
When the system of your data center is down, you or your team should be able to trace any faults immediately. Each cable or each device in your data center should be clearly labeled so you can find out the roots of the problem. Actually, there is not enough time for you to test cables at random to find a fault when the system is down.

Conclusions
Of course, the practical cabling tips are far more than these we have mentioned. The six tips above are just the basic ones. If you have an enough budget, you could hire a professional network cabling service to help you implement your data center cabling. If not, you may master the basic knowledge first and find professional consultation for your product selections or cabling skills as possible.