Cleanliness is next to godliness in the rack world, too. Nothing says more about network efficiency than a sloppily cabled rack – or worse still, a computer room full of them.
Thankfully there’s plenty that can be done about it. A quick survey of rack manufacturers in Australia reveals a veritable ream of “off-the-shelf” products. Cable trays, wire management trays, lacing rings, hoop panels, hinged cable carriers… the list is almost endless. Add to that the ability to procure custom solutions to custom problems, and that range seems all-encompassing.
But that’s not the point. There is little doubt these products are important, but it’s the design and post-implementation stages of building a racking environment where things are most likely to go awry.
“The two most recurring issues are either that the cable management systems are not designed or installed into the rack, or if they are that people don’t utilise them,” says John Carrier, a project manager for IT&T installations firm DESA.
The results of incorrect cabling speak for themselves. “It can cause equipment not to work properly due to restricted air movement in the rack,” ERNI managing director Quintin Prince explains. “It also affects the ability of the user to remove and service equipment. The bottom line is the cabling has to be neat and tidy.”
Consulting experts
Designing cable management into the rack in the first place is the ideal. For that, you’ll need direct access to a registered communications distribution designer (RCDD). More than likely this won’t be an in-house capability, but rather the domain of an installations consultancy, such as DESA or IBM Global Services Australia.
“In the first instance you should aim to put in a well-designed system that takes into account present and future rack capacity and has both vertical and horizontal cable pathways designed in according to the rack’s size,” DESA’s John Carrier says. “The onus really is on using an expert to conduct your consulting, project management and implementation – preferably a datacomms cabling professional with experience and reference sites.”
While it is more likely these services will be available separately, organizations do exist that offer consulting, project management and implementation services under the one umbrella.
Once the rack has been designed and installed, most problems occur in system maintenance. This can be due to poor documentation and record keeping, unskilled people accessing the system, or more commonly a combination of both.
“Documentation and record keeping is ultimately where things get out of control,” Carrier says. “Most commonly this is caused by people who haven’t been trained adequately and who don’t understand the importance of following cable management guidelines when accessing the system.”
Turning the tables on poor record keeping is usually done on a case-by-case basis. “In some instances, the problem is quite easily fixed by conducting an audit of the system, updating the company’s documents and records, repatching the system and then implementing a maintenance procedure to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Carrier explains. “At the opposite end of the spectrum the whole rack may need to be re-designed, ripped out and re-implemented. Importantly though, in both cases once the job is complete, training has to be given to everyone who is going to access the system. There has to be a quality assurance (QA) system in place to ensure the record keeping documentation is updated every time the rack is touched.”
Choosing products
Flexibility is the key to good rack design and implementation. A good cable management system will grow with the rack, negating future equipment migration issues before they occur. In short, the system must be “futureproofed” in order to survive.
“The contents of racks will change constantly. Equipment will be removed and new gear will be added,” says MFB sales manager Jason Jenner. “Ensuring allowances are made for change is a major issue, especially by making sure the change is achieved with minimal effort whilst maintaining a neat and tidy appearance overall.”
Considering the emphasis on change, it is perhaps a little surprising then that cable management products—at least at the more basic end of the scale—have not changed significantly in a number of years. “It’s funny – no major changes have occurred to our cable management product range over the years,” Jenner continues. “There’s been a few changes, but we haven’t had to grow our range extensively.”
At the low end of the spectrum, cable management products fall into two categories – vertical and horizontal. A typical system may use cable trays mounted vertically up the sides of the rack together with horizontal lacing bars, which provide tying points within the rack for large wiring projects. Lacing rings, Velcro straps and cable ties are simple ways of giving the cables added support as they run off to the equipment. Hinged cable carriers may also be mounted to the back of the equipment to provide cable support if the equipment is retracted from the rack.
When designing a vertical management system, it’s not only the immediate rack that needs to be considered. “On the vertical side, you’d look to create a vertical channel that will adequately service not just the rack it is mounted into but also associated racks adjacent to it,” Carrier explains. “Capacity is required not just for equipment in the rack but also for equipment that will be cross-connected back into that rack.”
While cable trays provide a visually traceable system, top end cable management systems can now take care of record keeping and patch management automatically. “At the top end these days are active patching systems, which can automatically sense and update any add, move or change to the documents and records,” Carrier says. Active patching software include iTRACS, or ITT Industries’ LANSense.
Custom solutions
While most cable management issues can be resolved with off-the-shelf products, some require a more customised solution. “While we stock a range of standard options, we also make a lot of custom lacing and cable management solutions,” ERNI’s Quintin Prince explains. “We specialise in working with customers to iron out cable looming and management issues.”
Prince describes a range of conduits and hinged cable carriers as recent examples of custom assembled products. While both may be bought as standard products, slight alterations may be required by some customers depending on the project.
“In many cases people are able to solve issues with standard solutions,” Prince says. “But when a customer is configuring a rack with special requirements, such as those typically found in defence or control applications, they can’t rely on standard solutions. The system needs to be much more tailored to the actual equipment layout of the rack.”
As for tips when dealing with cable management, Prince reinforces the need to seek out “proper guidance” from an in-field expert. In turn, Carrier adds a couple more: “Shop around and look at all the products available. Look for reference sites, as well as other examples of people’s work, both good and bad, so you can learn from their mistakes.”
Further Information DESA (03) 9499 2222; ERNI (03) 9874 8566; MFB (03) 9801 1044.