On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 11:55 PM, Alexios Zavras <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Tom, hi from Greece! > > I've just noticed that all the links for the chapter-by-chapter notes > http://www.everythingsysadmin.com/chapterbychapter.html > return empty pages -- I seem to remember there was content there, once.
Those pages didn't make it over when we moved the server. I'm working on fixing them today. The data you were looking for is here: http://www.everythingsysadmin.com/chapter/17datacenters/products.html It is Ross Marketing that makes power cables of various lengths. Now a lot of people do that too, but when I made that page they were the only ones I could find. Network cables are a different story: If your customer is asking for all cables to be "cut to fit" maybe they are expecting the racks to be pre-wired. i.e. a patch panel in each rack, and a master patch panel at one point in the room. The cables between the racks and the master will typically be installed all at once by professional cable installers. They typically work with (less expensive) spools of cable and terminate them themselves. The individual "patch cables" used to go from a rack's patch panel to the actual equipment should be factory-made, with 2-3 fixed lengths to keep things neat. Tip: It is easy to do a bad job of terminating cables. If they don't offer certification (i.e. each cable individually tested) don't "safe money" that way. You'll get an unreliable network. To make sure someone is actually doing the testing (not just charging you for it) have them deliver to you a "test book"... a book of printouts from the tester, one from each cable. Patch cables: I'm not one to cut my own cables. I don't have the right test equipment and if I did, I could buy cables faster than I could make my own. Thus I prefer to buy them at various lengths. If you have each length a specific color things will be easier to manage. Anything else leads to insanity. To make things even easier, have 2 lengths: the length that works for the top half of the rack, and the length that works for the bottom half of the rack. You won't save the exact same amount of money, but you'll have less inventory to manage. As far as "how do I keep cables looking neat?" I have to confess that my cable jobs are never neat. It's just not in me. I always find someone else to do it and it looks a lot better. They tell me their secret is: 1. The twist-ties that come with each cable... don't throw them out! When running a cable loop up the extra length and use the twist-tie to lock the loop to the rack. The number of ties that come with a cable are often proportional to the length. That's to help you keep things neat! 2. Run many cables at once. Pre-wire racks whenever you can. If you run one cable a week it will look messy. It just will. If you run a bundle of 12 cables the first time you need 1, you not only will make things look neater but the next 11 times you need a cable to that rack there will be very little work. If you can have all your racks pre-wired when they are installed, the people doing it will be able to keep everything neat. 3. Label each end of the cable before you bundle them. Each end should have the same serial number (i.e. you print 2 labels that say "100", 2 that say "101", 2 that say "102", etc). Don't try to label them with the names of machines as machine names change. That's what I have to say on this topic. Tom Limoncelli www.everythingsysadmin.com _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
