[geeks] Data Center Braggage

[Fogg, James]

In our data centers we have implemented building-style cabling. Each rack
has a cat-5 patch panel at the top that is trunked back to a patch panel on
the rack with the bigmofo switch. No mess possible. We even make cable
adapters to allow us to use the cabling plant to carry serial data for
consoles. This is the best approach I have seen in 15 years of machine-room
visits.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter L. Wargo [mailto:pwargo at basenji.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2001 2:56 AM
> To: geeks at sunhelp.org
> Subject: Re: [geeks] Data Center Braggage
> 
> 
> On Wed, 5 Sep 2001, Amy wrote:
> 
> > > > I need to find the URL I had once of Netcom's old LA 
> POP.  Worst looking
> > > > 'datacenter' I ever saw.  EVER.
> > >
> > > I remember that one... Gave me nightmares...
> > 
> > sphagetti, anyone? ;)
> 
> More like "Medusa's snakelike locks", for the way it paralyzed me in
> fear...  I used to use Netcom for an ISP...
> 
> (I am so anal-retentive about datacenters.  If I wasn't 
> before, working
> for Sun has made me aware of just how annoying a rat's nest 
> of unlabled
> cables can be.  Especially when it is the wee hours of the 
> morning, and
> you are trying to puzzle out the SSP-to-E10K connection that 
> was done 3
> years ago by "Bob", who left the company suddenly.  Of 
> course, he never
> bothered to label the ethernet cables, 'cuz he knew where 
> everything went.
> 
> Or, the truly nitemarish: "Hey!  Which one of these (240v, 30A) power
> cables is plugged into this AC outlet?  Is it on battery?"  
> POP!  Followed
> by the roar of 56 fans fading into a stunned silence.
> 
> "oops."
> 
> Speaking of power cables, the steller service at SGI comes to 
> mind.  Like
> - "Oh, I'll just kick this cable out of my way."  POP!  
> Followed by the
> roar of a Challenge XL crossfading to my horrified scream as 
> the entire
> Genome Sequence Database comes slamming to a halt in the middle of the
> day...
> 
> Ya know the best part?  It really takes almost *no* extra 
> time to label
> the cables as you go.  Sun provides a label kit for the E10K 
> just for this
> reason...  Just imagine a full-up system with 40 2-port FCAL cards, 10
> QFE's, and sundry other SCSI, power, ethernet, etc. cables.  Tha's
> something like 150+ cables coming off of ONE box...
> 
> (Actually, we did a mental excercise one day.  Assuming a 
> 16-board domain
> with one FCAL adaptor for disk and all the other slots full of QFE's,
> (I can't imagine *why*) you'd have a system with 252 network 
> cables, two
> fiber cables, and 4 main power cables.  The mind boggles.  
> 
> -Pete
> 
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