Re: DATACENTER: Pictures of practical, neat, and scalable cable systems

[Sam Etler <etler@cs.wisc.edu>]

> The *only* way you can get a neat operational cable layout is to have space
> like the Navy does and spend *lots* of dough maintaining it. Both cost
> $$$money$$$. Data centers, like all living things, grow. As it grows cables
> get re laid or re-routed from their original planned positions. This is
> usually done under severe time constraints and clean-up isn't considered
> that important.

What kind of space does the Navy have?  We've got 2 foot raised floor in
our entire machine room and it's still messy.  I suppose having twelve
years worth of wiring doesn't help.  My predecessor didn't find it
necessary or worthwhile to remove old wires from either under the floor or
from punchblocks.  I need both hands (and probably a foot) to count the
different types of media under there.

I've often tried to come up with ideas to make things neater.  I think
though that you have to start out with a concrete well thought out plan
when/before the datacenter is built and stick with it.

But yeah, datacenters/machine rooms do grow, as does technology.  You can
look at the last 20 years of technology by looking at the layers we have.
Custom ARPANet cable, 10Base5, 10Base2, Category 3, Category 5, Fiber..
and other random stuff.  And (especially in the university setting)
there's a yearly influx of new machines replacing older ones.  Very
dynamic to say the least.

Just my thoughts on the matter..

Sam Etler
UW Madison
CSL Networking