Inter rack Patching advice

[siddiqirf]

Hi All

We are designing a new Comms equipment room for our client. For Interconnectivity between core devices between two racks in the same Comms room, is it best practice to go via a patch panel, (either in the same rack or external patch panel). My collegue insists that all connections going from rack to another rack should go via a patch panel. My arguement is that if we can connect them directly and cable run can be neatly run, then why go via a patch panel. This will also reduce points of failures.

What are the pros and cons for using patch panel in this case or is this a data centre recommended best practice or something?

Thanks in advance.

[Ruhann Du Plessis]

It mostly comes down to cost and sometimes on rack availability, or just preference.

Panels panels in normal cabinets (containing routers and edge swithces). But having patch panels inside the aggregation switch cabinet is nice and neat, but depending on how dense the connectivity , (example a rack with a nexus 7010/7018 fully populated with linecards) the rack might not have enough space for all the fibre trays required. Take it one step further. Generally you will have two Nexus 7000 switches, and given the way the nexus is redundantly configured, the above setup is just above duplicated, doubling the fibre patch panels required.

This is where more attention to cable management is required. Basically three options.

1. Panels within each aggregation cabinet. Most expensive options, but allows best cabling control.
2. Central aggregation patching cabinet with overhead or underfloor cable guide ducts. Cheaper option, but a pain to install/troubleshooting cabling.
3. Central aggregation patching cabinet located between the two aggregation switch cabinets, with the sides removed. This can be done neatly with inter-rack cabling guides. Cheapest option, easy to do cabling, but neatness is less.

Besides the aggregation cabinets, having a patchpanel in each cabinet should be driven by the cabling needs of that cabinet. It saves cost hugely to do a inrack panel appose to EOR (End-of-Row) or MOR (Middle-of-Row).

hth