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Network Cable Management

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by matt miller

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Hello everybody. I am trying to overhaul our company's network wiring. We had a completely unmanaged system just a few moths back. I have already documented cable runs and critical termination points, but the one area where I am falling short is a color coding system. We have a large server farm, 100Mb segments, 1Gb segments, VoIP planned deployment, etc. There has never been a set color schema at any degree. I have been trying to research standards or common practices, but to no avail. If anyone knows of a good web site, has any suggestions, or if there is an article in TechRepublic I would greatly appriciate it.

8 replies

by lordinfidel

At least none that I have seen.

Each shop will have their own standards.

I personally use blue for wkstns, yellow for servers, red for crossovers, grey for routers/switches/firewalls (netwk mgmt devices)

I know in some IT shops grey is crossover and Red would be for mission critical or Secure machines.

It all depends. Essentially, come up with the different areas you want to identify and work from there. There are only x amount of colors out there.

But again, if there is a standard out there I have not see or heard of it. Excpet for green, which is commonly reserved for grounding. It's not a netwk cable, but I very rarely find green network cables on a production stlye netwk. Small office lans, maybe, but not corporatenetwks.

by tbragsda

I have used several different personal standards. Red=Production servers Yellow=Routers/other devices, Green=Admin/development. Almost allwas I use blue for workstations.

I'm currentley working on a move for our CO. I have been spending lots of time at Graybar, just checking out stuff. SO MUCH CABLE STUFF. Realy, I concider it one of the fun parts of the job. Nothing more satisfying than clean cable.

How about telecom? What are you doing now?

by lordinfidel

If you want cat5e at a low price, go to Home Depot.

$55 for 1000ft. You can't beat it.

I thought graybar was a florida op?

Anyways, The orange toy store does have a telco section.... It is near their door chimes/coax cable section. It is really damn cheap. I found this out when I wired up my house.

by tbragsda

I have been contemplating using 48 port patch panels in place of 110 blocks. This could be much cleaner, and keep the "look" standard with the network side. Plus, if I change to VOIP switch sometime down the line, I can rack up switches in a telecom rack next to it.

by ghstinshll

I believe graybar is nationwide. They're here in Iowa at least... Grainger is another one just like them.

I didn't know Home Depot sold cat5 though... that's great!

by ghstinshll

New Telco installations should always use patch instead of 110 punches... It's MUCH cleaner looking...

by tbragsda

What about in the case of a split pair? I have call center users connected to a call recorder. I use another pair to conntect to the recorder back in a server room. In this case, I would end up with a RJ11 on a patch panel spliting out to two different end points.

Not that its a real problem, just thinking whats the cleanest.

Thanks for the input.

by lordinfidel

They are down the block from our company.

I've bought some stuff from there before, but I switched to home depot during my home renovation project. HD is cheaper in a lot of things.

Like cat5 quick-snap jacks, 10 for $25. (at least in s. fl)The cat5e cable was the big surprise though.

I was used to paying like 2-300 for 1000 ft. HD was $55 for 1000 ft. Granted it was UTP non-plenum. But hey, for generic cable who cares.

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