Best practices for tracking intra-facility crossconnects
Hey all, I am looking to see what the community's experience has been with different types of labeling systems and XC tracking systems for intra-facility crossconnects. In addition to the standard practice of labeling every fiber at both ends, if you're using a system that wraps a cable marker around the cable every 3 ft/1 meter, what type of system are you using to track XCs? If you have implemented a standards-based system with some type of GUID for every cable, and a unique per-cable tracking system that is utilized with a ticketing system for each distinct cable (whether -48VDC, fiber, cat5e, alarm wire, whatever), what did you have to customize for your needs? If you have implemented such a system in an older facility where every cable did not previously have a unique ID#, what hiccups did you run into? If you were designing such a system from a 'green field' approach for a brand new datacenter/colo/IX facility that is yet to be constructed, what would you do differently (both at OSI layer 1, and in the operational support software tracking the XCs?)
On Mon, Aug 8, 2016 at 1:14 PM, Eric Kuhnke <eric.kuhnke@gmail.com> wrote:
Hey all,
I am looking to see what the community's experience has been with different types of labeling systems and XC tracking systems for intra-facility crossconnects.
I haven't used these in a long time, but here are a few example cable run lists that can be modified to your hearts content: http://bit.ly/CRL2016 I found the format useful to create implementation detail and generate labels. It was easy to pay the data forward and reverse afterwards. Exported data should be loaded into a management system. It could also work in reverse, but being able to have dynamic documentation to end with as-builts is generally a win.
In addition to the standard practice of labeling every fiber at both ends, if you're using a system that wraps a cable marker around the cable every 3 ft/1 meter, what type of system are you using to track XCs?
Greybar or Anixter-like supply houses can sell you/your vendor striped fiber optic bundles. It's an additional expense, but it's not entirely ugly. The last deployment I worked on with respect to a fiber interconnect system IIRC we asked the electricians to wrap a loop every N' using different colored electrical tape for the A and B runs. That worked too.
If you have implemented a standards-based system with some type of GUID for every cable, and a unique per-cable tracking system that is utilized with a ticketing system for each distinct cable (whether -48VDC, fiber, cat5e, alarm wire, whatever), what did you have to customize for your needs?
I don't have any advice other than don't over think it. If a text file or excel spreadsheet works; embrace it. Best, -M<
participants (2)
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Eric Kuhnke -
Martin Hannigan