On Tue, 21 Sep 2010, Positively Optimistic wrote:
Do any of our fellow nanog members have experience with cable management on 6509/6513 cisco switches? We're upgrading infrastructure in some of our facilities,.. and until it came to cable management, the switches seemed to be a great idea... 8 48port blades.. pose a challenge.. or a problem..
The biggest things with 6500s, or any high-density configuration for that matter, are: 1. Using racks/cabinets that have ample space for your vertical and horizontal cabling. If you don't have this, things can get ugly in a hurry. Make sure the kit you choose has plenty of wire management channel space left over even after the racks are fully populated. Having to tear overstuffed wire management channels apart to back-pull a bad cable or jumper at 3 AM is no fun. 2. Emphasizing the importance of following established cabling standards to the people who will be touching this equipment. Having visual aids, i.e. "Here are some pictures of the quality of work we expect", usually go a lot farther to drive this point home than handing someone a 20-page cabling standards document with no pictures. 3. Dont forget about your inter-rack/overhead wiring channels/trays. I've seen a few places that had things neatly dressed in the racks, but the overhead channels were a complete mess... assumingly because they were hidden from view :). If your overhead distribution has separate channels/lanes for power/copper/fiber, even better. 4. Labeling and documentation. 5. See 4. jms