I think every case is slightly different. In general I like the cable identifier method (2 above). In your case, that alone won't help you, because you'd still have to search for the correct cable at the other end (if you're at the host), and if you're at the switch, well, good luck.
You could use a spreadsheet to track where the other end is, so cable 000001 goes from host A port 1 to switch X port 32. That way, if a cable gets replaced it's easy to just change the ID in the spreadsheet without having to make new labels, and cables can be moved around as long as you keep the sheet updated. If you have a CMDB, the host CI is probably a good place to put the cable label and where it goes. Again, that doesn't help from the switch side, though. -Adam On Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 10:46 AM, Matt Simmons <standalone.sysad...@gmail.com > wrote: > Hi, > > So, my current situation is that I'm working in a datacenter with 21 racks > arranged in three rows, 7 racks long. We have one centralized distribution > switch and no patch panels, so everything is run to the switch which lives > in the middle, roughly. It's ugly and non-ideal and I hate it a bunch, but > it is what it is. And it looks a lot like this: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/bandman614/7835443304/in/set-72157604826850180 > > > Anyway, so given this really suboptimal arrangement, I want to be able to > more easily identify a particular patch cable because, as you can imagine, > tracing a wire is no fun right now. > > While everyone that I've talked to agrees that both ends need labeled. The > question is what do you put on them. The schools of thought as far as I am > aware are: > > 1) Every cable end's label says exactly what the other end is connected > to, including hostname and port number > > 2) Every cable end's label is uniquely identified to that cable, because > things move and relabeling sucks. > > 3) <insert your other viewpoint here> > > Is there actually some best practice that I'm unaware of? How would you do > it in this case? > > --Matt > > > -- > LITTLE GIRL: But which cookie will you eat FIRST? > COOKIE MONSTER: Me think you have misconception of cookie-eating process. > > _______________________________________________ > Tech mailing list > Tech@lists.lopsa.org > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ > >
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