Trusting The Standards; Establishing A Naming Scheme - Brocade Communications Systems 1606 Manual

DATA CENTER

Trusting the Standards

Industry cabling standards are designed to protect the end user. Whether these standards are in
draft or ratified state, they provide a firm foundation for establishing a coherent infrastructure, and
guidelines for maintaining high levels of cable performance. Cabling standards define cabling specifications
looking out to the next several years, thus supporting future desires for higher speed transmissions.
Standards enable vendors to use common media, connectors, test methodologies, and topologies, and
allow planners to design a cabling layout in the data center without worrying about compatibility issues.
There are a number of standards organizations and standards. The best-known cabling standards are listed
below:
Data Centers Specific Standards:
•
United States -- ANSI/TIA-942 Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers
• Europe -- CENELEC EN 50173-5 Information Technology- Generic Cabling Systems- Part 5: Data Centers
•
International -- ISO/IEC 24764 Information Technology- Generic Cabling for Data Centre Premises
General Commercial Building Cabling Standards:
•
United States -- ANSI/TIA-568 Generic Telecommunications Cabling for Customer Premises
•
Europe -- EN 50173-1 Performance Requirements of Generic Cabling Schemes
•
International -- CSA ISO/IEC 11801:2009 Information Technology: Generic Cabling for Customer
Premises
Cabling Administration Standards:
•
United States -- ANSI/TIA-606 Administration Standard for the Commercial Telecommunications
Infrastructure
NOTE: Cabling standards are reviewed and changed every five to ten years, which allows them to keep pace
with technology advances and future requirements. Know and trust the standards, and apply common
sense when designing, implementing, testing, and maintaining data center cabling. Standards may be
purchased online from IHS at http://global.ihs.com/.

Establishing a Naming Scheme

Once the logical and physical layouts for the cabling are defined, apply logical naming that will uniquely and
easily identify each cabling component. Effective labeling promotes better communications and eliminates
confusion when someone is trying to locate a component. Labeling is a key part of the process and should
not be skipped. A suggested naming scheme for labeling and documenting cable components is suggested
below (examples appear in parentheses):
•
Building (SJ01)
•
Room (SJ01-5D11)
•
Rack or Grid Cell: Can be a grid allocation within the room (SJ01-5D11-A03)
•
Patch Panel: instance in the rack or area (SJ01-5D11-A03-PP02)
• Workstation Outlet: Instance in the racks or area (SJ01-5D11-A01-WS02)
•
Port: Instance in the patch panel or workstation outlet (SJ01-5D11-A03-PP02_01)
•
Cable (each end labeled with the destination port)
Brocade DCX Cable Management
BEST PRACTICES GUIDE
10 of 23