We take a look at most commonly used cabling techniques in data enter and discuss their advantages as well as downsides.
There is a dire need for better cabling management in your datacenter. It’s not just about the network cables, but also the KVM, Power and all other sort of cables which you use in your datacenter. Cabling management, if not done properly, may lead to major operational complications such as cooling problems difficulty in identifying cables, performance loss and so on.
Cabling Pathways
As we all know datacenters have high density networks and equipment. And, high density equipment requires high density cabling systems. These high density cables are essentially Flat ribbon like cables which eat uo less area and can be easily stacked and structured. Higher density cabling components can help reduce the amount of floor space, rack space and associated costs.
Along with the high density cables, proper cabling raceways and pathways in the datacenter are a must. These pathways make sure that the cables are isolated from any other kind of interferences. So for example, a network cable and a power cable running parallel could cause loss of quality in the network stream due to interference. The raceway makes sure that the cables don;t just hang in between and get tangled.
Generally the pathways consist of a combination of accesses under a raised flooring system or overhead cable tray or both. Now we will have a look into the difference and benefits between the two approaches :