6807-XL chassis with only 3 out of 7 modules

[Madura Malwatte]

I have a 6807-xl chassis with only 3 modules (2 linecards + 1 SUP6T), which means 4 will be free slots with the blanking plate cover. Is there any best practice on which slots to use for linecards when the chassis is not fully populated (I know slot 3 & 4 is reserved for SUP)?

Example should I put the linecards in slot 1 and 2 and SUP in slot 3? Or is it better to go slots 1 + 3 + 5, so there is an empty slot between each card? Does this help with cooling better?

[Leo Laohoo]

Does this help with cooling better?

Doesn't make any difference.  The main important thing to remember if never leave an empty slot without a blanking plates.  The plates ain't just there for "good looks".

[Joseph W. Doherty]

As Leo mentions, per spec, as long as your blanking plates are in place, it doesn't matter where you install cards.

However, that said, difficult to actually say whether cooling would actually be better with cards without an adjacent card.  You would think it would be better, but good cooling airflow designs take into account what's where in the chassis, so actually adjacently installed cards might get more airflow across the cards as the adjacent cards direct/channel airflow.

Only Cisco would know for sure, and they probably would say, again, as long as the blanking plates are installed, it doesn't matter.

That being the case, what Reza suggested, i.e. card placement convenient for your cabling plant, would likely be your better consideration.

[Reza Sharifi]

In situation like this, I usually put one line card and leave the next slot next to it empty.  This way, it is so much easier to cable the line card specially if you are using 48 port copper blades and also when the time comes to replace the card, it is easily accessible. So, 1, 3, 5, 7, etc with sups in 3 and 4.

HTH