Insight / Fiber Cabling / Fiber Cable Management

Basic Knowledge & Tips for Data center Cabling

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John

Posted on December 2, 2014

With the benefits of fast-speed, high-capacity and high-performance, optical fiber cables are widely deployed around the world and have been the first option for data center cabling, no matter in data center structured cabling design or top of rack (ToR) cabling. And copper cables also play an important role in today’s data center cabling. How to avoid unnecessary loss and problems during deploying these network cables in data centers? Here are some essential knowledge and tips for you.

Data Center Cabling Standards

Industry cabling stands for data centers is to ensure safety and provide the basis for building an integrated infrastructure. At the same time, they also offer guidelines for maintaining high-levels of cable performance for the next several years. There are a number of data center standards for cabling. Here are the three common ones.

Cabling Standard Type	Function
ANSI/TIA-942	This standard outlines the functional areas specific to the data center and provides a minimum recommendation for pathway and space, distance between the backbone and the horizontal cable medium, redundancy, cable management and environmental considerations.
ISO/IEC 24764	Based on TIA-942 and EN 50173-5, this international standard specifies the cabling used in the data center. We refer to ISO/IEC 11801 and add information related to data center.
ANSI/BICSI 002-2014	This standard provides guidelines for data center design and operation. It covers planning, construction, commissioning, protection, management and maintenance of the data center, as well as cabling infrastructure, pathways and spaces. It also covers modular data center, container type data center, and energy efficiency, and also describes its own availability class structure for determining reliability.

Data Center Cabling Best Practices

Tips for Data Center Cabling Design

Before starting cabling a data center, planning the basic design for the data center is essential.

Using structured cabling—this approach to cabling includes designing cable runs and connections for better data center cable management. And compared with traditional point-to-point cabling, using structured cabling means establishing a main distribution area (MDA), one or several horizontal distribution areas (HDAs), and two-post racks for better access and cable management.

Choosing the right cabling solution—though UTP copper cable is used commonly in data center today, but as mentioned above, the need for maximum and future support for higher-speed system is resulting in the installation of more fiber. Fiber optic cabling in data center is becoming the non-negligible option.

Cable routing and design—airflow and cooling issues have become a new challenge in data center cabling design. Cable routing and design can strongly influence and affect airflow design efficiency.

Planning cabling patch ways—it’s one of the most important factors to consider when cabling a data center. The key parameters that affect this the cabling pathways are the rack density, type/count/diameter of cables, end equipment cable entry and the room height. All these should be paid attention to.

Data Center Cable Installation & Maintenance

Though fiber optic cabling has distinct benefits compared with copper cable in regard to work performance, improper practices of fiber cabling may lead to bad effect on data transmission. Therefore, we must maintain the best practices when we installing both fiber optic cable and copper cable. data center cabling

Pay attention to fiber bend radius. The bend radius, or measurement of a curve, can determine how strong the data signal will flow. When installing fiber patch cables, don’t bend them beyond its specified bend radius.

Avoid end faces contamination. Debris, dust and oil on your cabling end faces can wreak havoc on your network. This is one of the most common issues when dealing with fiber optic cabling failure. So check the condition of the end face of optical cables carefully.

Keep fiber and copper cable runs separated. Copper cables are heavy and can damage any fiber cables that are placed underneath.

Do not place copper cable near equipment that may generate high levels of electromagnetic interface. Generally locations near power cords, fluorescent lights, building electrical cables, and fire prevention components.

For horizontal and backbone twisted-pair cabling, preserve the same density of twists in the pairs up to its termination.

Apply sufficient vertical and horizontal managers to data center cable management, which can provide convenience for future changes as cables are removed for upgrade or unforeseen downtime events.

Using fiber raceway. Routing path has been clearly defined by the fiber raceway and easy to follow, which can make sure the validity of cabling, as well as reduce congestion in the termination panel.

Using cable labels. Cable labeling makes cabling jobs easier and safer. Label cords with “from and to” location. Clear and intuitive identification eases installation along with moves, adds, and changes. Every cable in your cable room should be clearly labeled so you can trace any faults.

Do not leave loose cables on the floor, which is a major safety hazard. And try to maintain a small stock of the most commonly used fiber patch cables for extra use.

A Closer Look at FS.COM Data Center Cabling Solution

Cabling is an important part in data center designs. Regardless of how or where you deploy your infrastructure, FS.COM has an end-to-end fiber optic cabling solution to support your growing networks demands in data centers.

data center cabling, fiber optic cabling, copper cabling

Fiber Optic Cabling Solution for Data Center

Optical fiber cables are able to provide up to 60 percent space saving over copper UTP cabling in trunking or backbone cabling applications, making them a perfect option for high-density data center cabling. For different areas in data centers, requirements for optical fiber cables are different. FS.COM provides a variety of fiber patch cables, such as OS2 single mode fiber, OM1/OM2/OM3/OM4/OM5 multimode fiber, MTP/MPO cable, etc., to meet different demands in data center fiber cabling. Get more details here: Data Center Network Solution

Copper Cabling Solution for Data Center

Though optical cables are getting popular in data center cabling, copper cabling still occupies large percent in existing data centers. In today’s copper cable market, there are various types of copper network cables for users to choose from. To help users build a modern high-density data center, FS.COM provides a series of copper cables includes Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6a and Cat7 for quality data transmissions.

Data Center Cable Management Assemblies

Follow best practise to route and protect cabling to achieve the highest reliability and ease moves, adds and changes. Cable management assemblies, such as cable ties, fiber raceway system and cable managers, are necessary for orderly data center cabling. FS.COM provides completed cable management solutions for various applications.

Type	Description	Type	Description
	1U Metal Detachable Horizontal Cable Management Panel with 5 D-ring & Lacing Bar		10pcs/lot Color Label Numberic Cable Wire Marker Identification
	25pcs/Bag 10in.L x 0.5in.W T type Magnetic Velcro Cable Tie-Colorful		4"x10" Horizontal Cross Fiber Raceway / Fiber Routing System