high density cable problem with 6500 switches

[ted_rakiewicz]

Hi,

We have several 6513 switches here and have terrible wiring messes on them. The problem is that since they are such high density switches the cables are all bunched up in the blades. We have cable management on the sides and the top/bottow of the punchdown blocks and along the switch but when we run them to the switch ports they get really messy and hard to track.

Has anyone else run into this issue, and have found anything that helps?

Thanks,

Ted

[dawilliams]

Hi Ted!

I'd suggest that you split your switch virtually down the middle. Then run your cables out left and right from the middle. It cleans up really nice and makes troubleshooting and cable/port location a breeze. Good Luck! Let me know if you're confused on what I mean.

dawilliams@bpa.gov

[raarons]

You really only have two choices, in my experience:

1. Just be very careful and tidy, label every cable at both ends, and don't let anyone near the switches unless you trust them to follow your rules.

2. You could permanently cable the switch ports (perhaps using fanout telco connectors if only 100BaseTX and not gigabit) to patch jumper panels adjacent to the switches. After that, nobody ever goes near the switches themselves unless there is a need to move/change/add the hardware.

Hope this helps.

[rduke]

I can appreciate your problem. I have 3 4506 switches in two racks and I was worried about the high density of my 48 port blades. I ended up installing Panduit Patchrunner series racks and I think they are great for keeping cables neat. The suggestions already mentioned are helpful too. The only bad thing about Panduit racks is that they must be bolted to the floor to be stable, but they make cable management much easier.

http://www.panduit.com/products/brochures/102836.pdf

They are not cheap. I probably spent about $10k for my setup, but when you compare with the cost of 6500 switches it not so bad. Also, their rep was very helpful.

R Duke

[akemp]

Carlyle out of Seattle has a neat octopus harness assembly. It consists of a block of 12 Cat6E cables, a plastic block that hold them together at the switch end (it can be disassembled), webbing around the bundle, and cable to length. They also have a bolt-on cable stand off for the front of the switch which has horizontal removable rods that provide support to the cables so they don't have downward drag on the connectors.