Network pics thread

If you want to organize your patch panel that way then use a toner. Many have a RJ45 plug option that you could plug in "at the cube/office" and then simply tone the other end.
 
What I usually do when I run drops is I just put lines on the cable with a sharpie. Mind you in my case I usually run 4 at a time, not 50+. So #1 has one line, #2 has two lines and so on. I do this at both ends, then put them together and run it. At the jack I set them up in right order, and at the patch panel I set them up in same order, and document the "real" number from there. So if I already have 4 installed and I'm adding 4 more then the one with 1 line is number 5 and so on.

But with a toner and probe it's easy to trace as well. That tool is a must in large environments.
 
Berg0 said:
Red

Secure the top of the rack to the floor joists above to secure it, but use something to isolate the vibration. Look into unistrut, and find vibration dampeners that will work with it. As for the "install a bunch of outlets" thing, just install a 30A twistlock and a buy a UPS/PDU. Might as well buy the right stuff, doesn't really end up costing much more.
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I'll look into that. As for power, the reason I'm doing it the way I described is I will be able to easily control what outlets are UPS protected and which arn't. I can't afford to UPS protect everything such as that IBM SAN, so what I'll end up doing is have groups of duplex plugs along both sides. I'm thinking in groups of 3, at every foot or so. These will go down and then feed into the UPS, surge protectors etc. I may also have a twist lock at the bottom as if I get a big UPS at some point then it can plug into that, but my other plugs would then plug into said UPS, I'd just have to spread it across a few circuits.

I just need to keep in mind the max of 12 outlets per circuit as I think this would count as being a permanent electrical setup, and not a "power bar".

I suppose I could do the same with PDUs though, could have some that are UPS protected and some that arn't, and label them appropriately. But they arn't cheap compared to a couple boxes of decora outlets and other materials.
 
ciggwin said:
So with all the blue and white, you don't label them as to which drop they go to out in the office? That is what I am wondering - how do you know what port #41 on the patch panel goes out to in the office? Does it not really matter?
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Well we actually did label them. But the problem is, that my guys forget, is that i have to cut their runs to length.. and they ran about an extra 50-75 feet of wire that i did not need... so i wasnt about to spend time finding their markings and re-labeling them... way to many lines. I DID mark up some lines (like my alarms) that i NEEDED to know what they were... but honestly for my data/phone i DONT really need to know what goes where.

See they don't do anything fancy like have specific VLANS or anything. Its all one big network, including the phones.

My data all go into one set of switches (blue wires) and my phones all go into seperate switches (VoIP switches, white wires)..so if/when i DO setup a vlan for the phones, its easy, they are all the white wires going into the PoE switch.

When we did my currently office, we labeled everything, and then re-labeled them when we cut them to length.

For this client, we MAY re-label them. We have your good ole toner/probe sets, but we actually have one step better. We have a numerical identifier thingy mojig.. its basically a handheld device that tells you if your wires good, if the order is correct and it identifies the number. There are 8 remote modules you plug into the other end, numbered 1-8. On the handheld unit it'll tell you which remote module you connect to, 1-8. So that helps us. We can label 8 lines at a time before we have to switch the 8 jacks around. Beats running up/down for 1 jack at a time.

But we dont REALLY need to label them. I MIGHT but it depends on how much time i have left.
 
Red Squirrel said:
What I usually do when I run drops is I just put lines on the cable with a sharpie. Mind you in my case I usually run 4 at a time, not 50+. So #1 has one line, #2 has two lines and so on. I do this at both ends, then put them together and run it. At the jack I set them up in right order, and at the patch panel I set them up in same order, and document the "real" number from there. So if I already have 4 installed and I'm adding 4 more then the one with 1 line is number 5 and so on.

But with a toner and probe it's easy to trace as well. That tool is a must in large environments.
Click to expand...

We do that also and then i come back with the label maker and print out real wire labels. We don't use the LINE method, we actually write what run # it is.

We also do about 4-6 runs each. What we do is label the box, and then label the tip of the wire and send it on its way down the wall, up the hallway...etc... then we cut the wire and put that # on the end we just cut. THis way we can pull 6 boxes and now hafta know EXACTLY which wire is which, we just look at the box it came from before we cut it for our label. Then on the next run, cross out the numbers on the box, start again with new #'s
 
I always label as I go...on the box and one the wires, then once I terminate I tone everything out. When doing phone systems I have to know which phone goes where so I can give it the right extension. When it's all IP I guess it doesn't matter as much, so long as it works.

Adam, nice work as always. Hey, if you want to hire me...I am done with school this summer :)
 
Yeah these phones carry the extension on the phone itself, so it doesnt matter. If i did the phones i'd use a panasonic Hybrid IP system that allows me to use regular phone system phones OR IP phones, again, carries extension on phone itself.
 
lanoka01.jpg

little cabling update, added another server for the eventual fileserver replacement and another ESX host. Replaced the old 3524PWR for a 3550 and 2970G. Got remote power all setup finally. have another rack and a half worth of gear not here(parents house).
 
xphil3 said:
lanoka01.jpg

little cabling update, added another server for the eventual fileserver replacement and another ESX host. Replaced the old 3524PWR for a 3550 and 2970G. Got remote power all setup finally. have another rack and a half worth of gear not here(parents house).
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Might be time to update your esx host :)
 
compslckr said:
What do you do with all that cisco gear? CCIE lab practice?
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Just stuff I have laying around(2650xm's mostly). I stopped powering on real routers like 6 years ago :p CCIE stuff is all dynamips

RiDDLeRThC said:
Might be time to update your esx host :)
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32 bit host :( ... the new host I just added is 64bit but didn't get around to installing esx. All my hosts in my townhouse are [email protected] though :D
 
Haven't been a lot of pics lately so here are some of our data center network upgrade:

Rear of rack containing two Nexus 7010's which will handle core routing and data center aggregation duties.
IMG_2860.jpg


Front of one of the 7010's.
IMG_2861.jpg


Pair of Nexus 5548's handling access layer duties for UCS chassis and other 10gig servers. Everything not being virtualized will connect via fabric extenders at 1gig.
IMG_2866.jpg
 
single sup, single F1-32 LC and single 48 port.... I guess you're relying on HSRP for horizontal failover? Scary stuff man, you gotta get some redundancy on those 7010's(especially for ISSU).... idd never let my 18's have one sup and single LC's :p

the 5548's are nice though, great for agg switches. Let see the 6k's and UCS though! ... its a shame were sending ours back :mad:
 
xphil3 said:
single sup, single F1-32 LC and single 48 port.... I guess you're relying on HSRP for horizontal failover? Scary stuff man, you gotta get some redundancy on those 7010's(especially for ISSU).... idd never let my 18's have one sup and single LC's :p

the 5548's are nice though, great for agg switches. Let see the 6k's and UCS though! ... its a shame were sending ours back :mad:
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Budget didn't allow for dual sups in each chassis. I plan on pushing for them again when there is money available though. No too worried about single M1 (not F1 ;) ) and 48 port copper card in each as both chassis have one and everything north and south are either vPC'd or have dual routed links. Failover testing later this week though so we'll see. Yes, HSRP for failover.

UCS's are still boxed but I'll post more pics as they get racked.
 
Impulse25 said:
Budget didn't allow for dual sups in each chassis. I plan on pushing for them again when there is money available though. No too worried about single M1 (not F1 ;) ) and 48 port copper card in each as both chassis have one and everything north and south are either vPC'd or have dual routed links. Failover testing later this week though so we'll see. Yes, HSRP for failover.

UCS's are still boxed but I'll post more pics as they get racked.
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hahaha, didn't even notice I typed F1(been working on too much fabricpath!). You are going to run that in dedicated mode? Again, be weary of your member links on the same LC in the chassis.. WE HAVE HAD PROBLEMS w/ the M1 cards and 5.1.x so you kinda dont want to put all your eggs into one basket.

Our one godsend is that we designed our DC network(still doing it!) with full redundancy, we have needed it :eek:
 
xphil3 said:
hahaha, didn't even notice I typed F1(been working on too much fabricpath!). You are going to run that in dedicated mode? Again, be weary of your member links on the same LC in the chassis.. WE HAVE HAD PROBLEMS w/ the M1 cards and 5.1.x so you kinda dont want to put all your eggs into one basket.

Our one godsend is that we designed our DC network(still doing it!) with full redundancy, we have needed it :eek:
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Yeah, 10G links on the 7k's are dedicated. Fabricpath would have been cool but it wasn't supported in nxos yet on the 5548's (maybe now? I haven't looked). I'll keep an eye on the M1 cards. So far so good.
 
It's about 90% completed, but here is an early before/after.



It looks a crap-ton better. :)
 
valve1138 said:
Is that an old US Robotics modem?
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I bet it's for an AT&T managed circuit. Those USR v.everything modems were the best back in the day..

Lol.. They used to tell us we had to purchase a dedicated phone line from them to hook up those USR modems so they could manage the routers..

Riley
 
Skud said:
I bet it's for an AT&T managed circuit. Those USR v.everything modems were the best back in the day..

Lol.. They used to tell us we had to purchase a dedicated phone line from them to hook up those USR modems so they could manage the routers..

Riley
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Now I know why we have one of those damn USR modems. It's not hooked up though. Wonder if they are a little peeved about that
 
valve1138 said:
Is that an old US Robotics modem?
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It's a brand new one. ;)

It's not hooked up though, we can just plug in one of the analog CC lines if they absolutely must get into the thing. Once I move this stuff over to 100Mb Ethernet I'm going back to managing things myself. I just did not want to mess with the bonded T1 circuits, I never even liked managing the single T1 circuits in the past.
 
To you Canadians out there, where do you generally purchase your racks/chassis from? All the places I find are in the states it seems, and the ones that aren't are very pricey...
 
Jesse B said:
To you Canadians out there, where do you generally purchase your racks/chassis from? All the places I find are in the states it seems, and the ones that aren't are very pricey...
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++++, or craigs list.

just had a quote for a ma rack for 340$ ( 4 post.)
 
NTAuthourity said:
Calgary Computer Wholesale (ERA) or VFXWEB either or 200.00 for me. :)

Edit: 4 post as well.
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VFXWEB FTW, I bougth 2 NetApp racks w/ PDU's for $200 each, killer deal. Drove from saskatoon to calgary for those, was cheaper than buying local.
 
Cool, thanks guys. My father lives in Calgary, so if I don't find anything locally I'm sure something could be arranged :)
 
Jesse B said:
To you Canadians out there, where do you generally purchase your racks/chassis from? All the places I find are in the states it seems, and the ones that aren't are very pricey...
Click to expand...

I bought mine from NC IX (all one word - name seems to be censored here for some reason)

For some reason they don't stock it anymore though. It was the cheapest one. 4 post is the way to go unless you are ready to pay a few grand. I really wanted an enclosed rack but was way out of my budget. The nice thing with 4 post is it comes in a rather flat box so shipping wont hurt as much. Paid 50 bucks or so of shipping for mine.

This is the one I have: http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=197882
 
Red Squirrel said:
I bought mine from NC IX (all one word - name seems to be censored here for some reason)

For some reason they don't stock it anymore though. It was the cheapest one. 4 post is the way to go unless you are ready to pay a few grand. I really wanted an enclosed rack but was way out of my budget. The nice thing with 4 post is it comes in a rather flat box so shipping wont hurt as much. Paid 50 bucks or so of shipping for mine.

This is the one I have: http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=197882
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I found a few possible candidates at NC1X, which would be nice as there are numerous stores located within a short drive of here. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, I didn't even think to look there for some reason.
 
It's Been awhile since this project was completed but figure I share my install Photos.

Wanted to Run (2) CAT5e Runs to every room of the House, and my house is built on a concrete Slab ( No basement) So going through the Attic was my only option.

It took me and a buddy ( me in the attic, him down below to catch the snake to pull the cable) a good part of a Saturday Afternoon to complete the entire project.


The amount of space i had to work in.

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Where all of the networking gear is located in a Closet
( Picture was taken before any lines were run )

5855_54470564966_500319966_563868_2673412_n.jpg


Completed runs of 10 Lines ( 2 available for future runs if needed.)

5855_54470579966_500319966_563871_7020731_n.jpg


What the Face plates look like ( Network runs are Green Jacks and Labeled right on the jack)

5855_54470589966_500319966_563873_7824746_n.jpg
 
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