Sunday, April 25, 2021

Patch panel labels and default numbers

Hello,

I am redesigning our network closets/IDFs and would like to take advantage of the 1ft patch cable and up/down patch panel and switch strategy. The main benefit for me is keeping a small stock of pre term cable lengths (and only 1 color) rather than many lengths and colors (which eventually are not followed and add to confusion). I would color code the labels instead of the cabels.

In my environment most of my patch cables do not change after we install then. We would install the permanent stuff at the top of the rack and add all new changes to the bottom U's as needed. If it gets too crazy then adding in horizontal managment would help keep it clean.

As some of you may have noticed, patch panel numbers and switch port numbers do not match up (why?). The top row of a 48p switch is odd 1 through 47, but the top row of a 48p pp is 1 through 24. This is easily corrected in documentation with a little excel magic.

But I wonder, should I bother with adding a little black tape and renumbering my patch panel numbers to match the switch port numbers? Then PPA-01 will always go to SW1-01 and so on. Easier for techs to complete and less chance of a documentation error.

The other option would be to only install 24port switches, but id assume that would be too large of an extra cost for too little of a tangible benefit. each switch needs to be configured, maintained and patched into the other switches in the stack. Feels like more points of failure and licensing.

Suggestions or advice?



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