Network pics thread

[cymon]

Easiest way to do it would be to grab some of those horizontal lacer bars from Middle Atlantic. They are screwed in via one hole, and go out up to 6" away from the rack rail. That way, you can dress the cables by velcro-tying them to the bar, so you don't have a big ball at the ends of the module.

These things:
http://middleatlantic.com/rackac/cablem/cablem.htm#hlbars

 

[Adam]

Heh, speaking of Hydro bill, my dad got his last week, $1100! (they finally came by to read his meter, he had been heating his garage with an electric furnace all winter, hit him all in one month)

Anyway, MOAR pics!


8 x "cheap patch" 2U horizontal cable management (the deep surplus ones)

4x 6' vertical cable management

Ohhh somebodys taken my advice ehh... you'll love how much money you save and how clean they make your rack look I just had two more arrive today for a small install tomorrow

 

[Adam]

I don't understand how people can even do work like that. I wouldn't know which cable was which in all that mess.

I have a client (school) thats even worse. I can't show you a photo obviously for "security" reasons and "privacy" reasons but its basically 3-4 relay racks and just picture wires and wires hanging in every which way. Its a HUGEEEEEE mess, no idea how they even troubleshoot things. I get violant when i have to go there because its SUCH a disgrace.

 

[MikeTrike]

I have a client (school) thats even worse. I can't show you a photo obviously for "security" reasons and "privacy" reasons but its basically 3-4 relay racks and just picture wires and wires hanging in every which way. Its a HUGEEEEEE mess, no idea how they even troubleshoot things. I get violant when i have to go there because its SUCH a disgrace.

http://www.sysadminday.com/horrors.html

 

[Adam]

Easiest way to do it would be to grab some of those horizontal lacer bars from Middle Atlantic. They are screwed in via one hole, and go out up to 6" away from the rack rail. That way, you can dress the cables by velcro-tying them to the bar, so you don't have a big ball at the ends of the module.

These things:
http://middleatlantic.com/rackac/cablem/cablem.htm#hlbars

Ive been using them more and more. I prefer to use the 2U cable managers I praise all the time in the front, and then in the rear of my rack, the lacer bars.

I've even began using them in cabinets to keep the wires going to my servers a bit tidier.

I've yet to really do a relay rack where i JUST use the lacer bars in the front for example... im sure it can be done and one day i'll ahve to, because using 2U for cable management for every patch panel DOES eat up a lot of space... but man ohh man the feeling you get when its done...

in the back of my relay racks for patch panels, i dont use anything BUT a lacer bar now. I dont bother with the built-in managers most patch panels come with, i just use a lacer bar and velcro/zip tie every 2 patches to it... makes it VERY neat and VERY secure.

I also like using these gizmos, and will be doing an install tomorrow with them. They are great for little wall-mount relay cabinets where i may have to add more later on, and i dont wanna risk pulling out the wires frmo a patch panel (we've ALL done it) to add more. With this, i can remove the patch panel and all the wires stay in place nice and secure, its great:

and while im in the group, another one of those 2U cable manager plugs (i love em, wish monoprice sold em though)

 

[NTAuthourity]

The joy of lazy employees lol...the stupid part is when they are still getting the royalty of "wow he got our network running in minutes" cables shot to crap we get "F***** son clean up the network closet it is an embarrassment to our shareholders and investors!"

 

[Adam]

Yup, lol

 

[ciggwin]

Adam what are you using in those pics for the h-bars in back, LBP-6A?

 

[Adam]

H Bars? In my last photo i posted thats not a middle atlantic product... i got it from that deepsurplus site:

http://deepsurplus.com/Network-Stru...-Panel-1Ubrfont-colorblackAs-low-as-5-61-font

For under $8 you can't beat it. I don't use them often, but they are really neat devices to put in if you need em. I don't use them that often because ive switched to the lacer bars (when using wire chases) if i DONT have a wire chase on the side, then i'll probably use this (which is what im doing tonight)

 

[ciggwin]

Ah OK - I get it now. You're using cable support bars when you're not using vertical cable management channels on the sides. When you DO use vertical channels, you're using the middle atlantic lacer bars.

I'm smart!

 

[Berg0]

took a few minutes yesterday to throw a few spare LCDs on the wall. Will use this for a mini NOC view, instead of having to tab around on my workstation looking at monitors all the time. Juat a few 19" LCDs:

 

[ciggwin]

What types of NOC monitoring will you be running/showing on those LCDs?

 

[jeffmoss26]

Those closets are pretty bad...but to be honest, they were worse before...and they really do not change much. They occasionally patch in new ports or run new drops to offices, but that's about it.

 

[Berg0]

What types of NOC monitoring will you be running/showing on those LCDs?

HP sitescope and spotlight on one, Cacti graphs on another, and on the third a mxture of perfrmon graphs, filer at a glance (NetApp statistics), and when I get around to it, graphs generated by DSC.
Might throw some other stuff up on there as well, but that's the stuff that quickly comes ot mind.

 

[Bookmage]

Easiest way to do it would be to grab some of those horizontal lacer bars from Middle Atlantic. They are screwed in via one hole, and go out up to 6" away from the rack rail. That way, you can dress the cables by velcro-tying them to the bar, so you don't have a big ball at the ends of the module.

These things:
http://middleatlantic.com/rackac/cablem/cablem.htm#hlbars

So that's what those things are... I've seen them lying around, but wasn't sure where they went...
we just had our network closet wired... they just used 2u wire management and some vertical management, but its still messy, and they didnt label all the jacks or give us a layout... sigh

 

[Bookmage]

We just had our network closet wired and setup... I was trying to figure out how best to layout the patch panels and the switches....
2u patch,
2u wire management
1u 48 port switch
1u 48 port switch
2u wire
2u patch,
repeat?

or is it better to have all
2u patch
2u wire
2u patch
2u wire
and all the switches in the middle of the rack?

Are there some guidelines or standards for that?

 

[calvinj]

nvm

 

[ciggwin]

We just had our network closet wired and setup... I was trying to figure out how best to layout the patch panels and the switches....
2u patch,
2u wire management
1u 48 port switch
1u 48 port switch
2u wire
2u patch,
repeat?

or is it better to have all
2u patch
2u wire
2u patch
2u wire
and all the switches in the middle of the rack?

Are there some guidelines or standards for that?

I would say do what Adam did here:

1U patch
2U wire manager
1U switch
1U switch
2U wire manager
1U switch
1U switch
2U wire manager
etc.

That is if you have 1U switches. If not, your config may vary.

 

[Berg0]

We just had our network closet wired and setup... I was trying to figure out how best to layout the patch panels and the switches....
2u patch,
2u wire management
1u 48 port switch
1u 48 port switch
2u wire
2u patch,
repeat?

or is it better to have all
2u patch
2u wire
2u patch
2u wire
and all the switches in the middle of the rack?

Are there some guidelines or standards for that?

Use the neatpatch site gallery for ideas:

http://www.neatpatch.com/before-and-after-cable-management.html

 

[jeffmoss26]

we just had our network closet wired... they just used 2u wire management and some vertical management, but its still messy, and they didnt label all the jacks or give us a layout... sigh

Was this done by a professional company? If so make them come back and label everything!

 

[jeffmoss26]

Adam, that gallery makes me want to cry. How any company can do work like those before pics just defies my imagination...

 

[MrGuvernment]

Ive been using them more and more. I prefer to use the 2U cable managers I praise all the time in the front, and then in the rear of my rack, the lacer bars.

I've even began using them in cabinets to keep the wires going to my servers a bit tidier.

I've yet to really do a relay rack where i JUST use the lacer bars in the front for example... im sure it can be done and one day i'll ahve to, because using 2U for cable management for every patch panel DOES eat up a lot of space... but man ohh man the feeling you get when its done...

in the back of my relay racks for patch panels, i dont use anything BUT a lacer bar now. I dont bother with the built-in managers most patch panels come with, i just use a lacer bar and velcro/zip tie every 2 patches to it... makes it VERY neat and VERY secure.

I also like using these gizmos, and will be doing an install tomorrow with them. They are great for little wall-mount relay cabinets where i may have to add more later on, and i dont wanna risk pulling out the wires frmo a patch panel (we've ALL done it) to add more. With this, i can remove the patch panel and all the wires stay in place nice and secure, its great:

and while im in the group, another one of those 2U cable manager plugs (i love em, wish monoprice sold em though)

I love this, so clean, makes me want to redo the job the installers did in our office, using 24u worth of a full rack for cables, space i could really use. Where do you blue cables go? [EDIT] i see how the organizers work now i checked their site, nice.

took a few minutes yesterday to throw a few spare LCDs on the wall. Will use this for a mini NOC view, instead of having to tab around on my workstation looking at monitors all the time. Juat a few 19" LCDs:

i need to do this, i am always alt+tabing out, why kind of system / systems you connecting to the LCD's?

 

[Bookmage]

Was this done by a professional company? If so make them come back and label everything!

we will... ive also discovered some jacks dont work so i have to make a long list of things to do... it was subcontracted out but suggested them because we had previous dealings with them... just not on this level...
they completely dropped the ball... they were cheapest and we had previous business with them.... they were a week late getting everything done, they underestimated the number of patches, didnt label or test all the jacks before the furniture guys came in, and only had 2 overworked people until the last day when they had 4 total... and it was a week late...
they have a handwritten layout w/lots of scratched out port numbers cuz a bunch were terminated wrong... :-/

they're 2u 48 port patches and 1u 48 port switches, but I do love the look of that rack...
i'll see if i can update the layout... if not, i'll have to do it later... :-/

thanks for the link to neatpatch... i'll browse through that at work... :-D

 

[ciggwin]

we will... ive also discovered some jacks dont work so i have to make a long list of things to do... it was subcontracted out but suggested them because we had previous dealings with them... just not on this level...
they completely dropped the ball... they were cheapest and we had previous business with them.... they were a week late getting everything done, they underestimated the number of patches, didnt label or test all the jacks before the furniture guys came in, and only had 2 overworked people until the last day when they had 4 total... and it was a week late...
they have a handwritten layout w/lots of scratched out port numbers cuz a bunch were terminated wrong... :-/

they're 2u 48 port patches and 1u 48 port switches, but I do love the look of that rack...
i'll see if i can update the layout... if not, i'll have to do it later... :-/

thanks for the link to neatpatch... i'll browse through that at work... :-D

Ugh you're making me have less and less faith in the low voltage sub contractor that our architect is going to be picking out for our office move.

I am considering printing out some of Adam's pictures and say "this is what it has to look like"

 

[Adam]

Definitly do that... its hard, because its not really a business where people SHOW their work before they do it, you have to really know the company and go on referals. Im starting to store photos on my iPad now to show to clients who are thinking of using this... it helps sell a deal. When things look professional and NEAT it makes clietns happy because they SEE what they are paying big bucks for.

Anybody can wire a patch panel, lets face it, its NOT that hard, but to keep it neat and clean is an art... and im still working on that art, theres a lot i wish i did differently, but hey everyday you learn more and more and use more and more tricks to keep things neat.

 

[Berg0]

i need to do this, i am always alt+tabing out, why kind of system / systems you connecting to the LCD's?

nothing special, retired developer workstation, some dual core operteron system, could use just about anything really. The monitoring is all run off of various servers, the system attached to the LCD's will only display monitoring readout, not actually monitor anything.

As for the monitoring systems themselves, they're all virtual machines.

 

[agrikk]

took a few minutes yesterday to throw a few spare LCDs on the wall. Will use this for a mini NOC view, instead of having to tab around on my workstation looking at monitors all the time.

Sup "NOC" buddy:

Here's what I've got on the shelf next to my desk.

 

[[MF]Cyber_Punk]

What Monitoring Software is that?

 

[agrikk]

The top left is Coradiant's True Sight Analyzer. The other three are Ipswitch's What's Up Gold.

Frankly, WUG rocks.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I've used WUG a bit and it is a pretty decent app.

 

[Hallis]

Wow I haven't touched WUG in years. But I do agree. Great little app.

 

[Cerulean]

I am 100% I posted these already in this thread, but for the life of me I cannot find that particular post to quote it.

I am looking to sell a couple switches or so. Will have to wait until I can get their model numbers and stuff.

 

[PigLover]

Lovin' the laundry basket...you get that a Povantage or the Egg?

 

[MikeTrike]

Got the MD3000i racked, now I need to configure it, etc.

 

[Cerulean]

From top to bottom:

3com SuperStack 3 Firewall 3CR16110-95
3com SuperStack 3 Switch 4400 SE 3C17206 (24-port) with 1 fibre channel card
3com SuperStack 3 Switch 4400 SE 3C17206 (24-port)
3com SuperStack 3 Switch 4400 SE 3C17204 (48-port) with 2 fibre channel cards

APC PowerStack 250
APC Smart-UPS 700

Too lazy to look at bottom of 55lbs Compaq UPS.
All three UPS need brand new batteries; for roughly $200 (slightly less) you can get these three running. All three came out of a working rack setup, and the switches and firewall were used for a SAN setup. They need to be reset too if you want to get in them.

If anyone is interested please contact me.

 

[pwrusr]

Post that in the for sale section

 

[MrGuvernment]

Ugh you're making me have less and less faith in the low voltage sub contractor that our architect is going to be picking out for our office move.

I am considering printing out some of Adam's pictures and say "this is what it has to look like"

i can try to get pics of the ISP, who did our office, UPS power connections and all, recently i opened the roof to see about adding more jacks thinking i cant do it myself cause these guys are pro's......, turns out the installers are really bad, twisted cables with electrical tape about them, split off of a main line and no junction boxes, tape pealing off, no dam standards, they then wanted $3k US to run 8 new UPS connected power jacks and cables! i told the CEO i can do it myself and be 10x better than their installation.

The top left is Coradiant's True Sight Analyzer. The other three are Ipswitch's What's Up Gold.

Frankly, WUG rocks.

good to know, i got about 10 older LCD's i want to mount, my office is IN the server room, must be the canadian in me..lol but would be very useful

 

[Cerulean]

Post that in the for sale section

Not sure what to sell them for. One of the rules is that you have to have some sort of pricetag at the least if you post in FS forum.

 

[ciggwin]

How much for the laundry basket?

 

[pwrusr]

Not sure what to sell them for. One of the rules is that you have to have some sort of pricetag at the least if you post in FS forum.

Surf ebay for the different things you want to sell and see how much they are going for there. Then just mark "OBO" next to the price