cable labeling is a key component of data\u00a0center<\/a> best practices.\u00a0 Consistent cable labeling provides data center staff \u201cat a glance\u201d the location of cable termination points.\u00a0 A clear understanding of cable connections is important when planning any moves, additions, or changes in the data center and significantly increases mean time to repair (MTTR) when troubleshooting connectivity issues.<\/p>\nA variety of cable labeling standards exist within the IT industry.\u00a0 One popular standard is to include both the source and destination device names on the label.\u00a0 The problem with this standard is device names can be lengthy and at times difficult to fit on a small cable label.\u00a0 Also, there may be more than one name for an IT device which can cause confusion for someone if an unfamiliar name is on the label.\u00a0 Device names can also change while the cable connections remain the same.\u00a0 This results in an outdated label.<\/p>\n
Another popular cable labeling standard uses a numeric code.\u00a0 For example, a cable labeled with a unique number such as \u201c00123\u201d is recorded in a database or spreadsheet along with its location, cable type, and connection details.\u00a0 The advantage of this standard is the amount of text printed on the label is minimal.\u00a0 However, this two-step process wastes technician\u2019s valuable time having to first read the cable\u2019s numeric code and then look up the number in a spreadsheet.\u00a0 Furthermore, these spreadsheets or databases are prone to becoming outdated and unreliable.<\/p>\n
A practical cable labeling standard exists that is both concise yet provides data center staff a quick and easy way to confirm a cable\u2019s location at both ends without using a spreadsheet.\u00a0 This standard includes rack grid location or rack label, U location within the rack, and port number for both the \u201csource\u201d (the cable end near you) and also for the \u201cdestination\u201d (the far end of the cable). Symbols such as a colon separate the grid, U, and port locations, and a forward slash followed by a second row of text separates the cable\u2019s source location from its destination (far end) location. \u00a0This labeling method avoids using IT device names as that information can be found when a person is physically at the cable\u2019s end location.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s an example of how using a rack, U, and port label standard would appear on both ends of a cable:<\/p>\n
![\"Label](\"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Proper-Cable-Labeling-1024x569.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Standardized labeling of cables is a key aspect of data center best practices.\u00a0 In order for a labeling standard to be useful, it needs to be concise while providing the necessary information to quickly locate both ends of the cable when planning for future changes, or when diagnosing connectivity issues.\u00a0 Excluding device names and avoiding cumbersome spreadsheets, while instead including rack, U, and port location on labels is a practical cable labeling standard for data center staff to adopt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written by Nate Josephs Sr. Systems Engineer\/Data Center Manager Standardized cable labeling is a key component of data\u00a0center best practices.\u00a0 Consistent cable labeling provides data center staff \u201cat a glance\u201d the location of cable termination points.\u00a0 A clear understanding of cable connections is important when planning any moves, additions, or changes in the data center and significantly increases mean time to repair (MTTR) when troubleshooting connectivity issues. A variety of cable labeling standards exist within the IT industry.\u00a0 One popular standard is to include both the source and destination device names on the label.\u00a0 The problem with this standard is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Label Cables - Practical Way - 2NSystems Data Center Solutions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This article goes over practical ways to label cables with a variety of cable labeling standards existing within the IT industry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/tips-from-a-data-center-manager-a-practical-way-to-label-cables\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Label Cables - Practical Way - 2NSystems Data Center Solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article goes over practical ways to label cables with a variety of cable labeling standards existing within the IT industry.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/tips-from-a-data-center-manager-a-practical-way-to-label-cables\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"2NSystems Data Center Solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/2NSystems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-05T08:45:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-22T20:23:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Proper-Cable-Labeling.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Celina\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Celina\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Label Cables - Practical Way - 2NSystems Data Center Solutions","description":"This article goes over practical ways to label cables with a variety of cable labeling standards existing within the IT industry.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/tips-from-a-data-center-manager-a-practical-way-to-label-cables\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Label Cables - Practical Way - 2NSystems Data Center Solutions","og_description":"This article goes over practical ways to label cables with a variety of cable labeling standards existing within the IT industry.","og_url":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/tips-from-a-data-center-manager-a-practical-way-to-label-cables\/","og_site_name":"2NSystems Data Center Solutions","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/2NSystems\/","article_published_time":"2021-10-05T08:45:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-22T20:23:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Proper-Cable-Labeling.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Celina","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Celina","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/tips-from-a-data-center-manager-a-practical-way-to-label-cables\/","url":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/tips-from-a-data-center-manager-a-practical-way-to-label-cables\/","name":"Label Cables - Practical Way - 2NSystems Data Center Solutions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-10-05T08:45:08+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-22T20:23:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1a1351c59db5cc0dc393eae2ecb1fe55"},"description":"This article goes over practical ways to label cables with a variety of cable labeling standards existing within the IT industry.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/tips-from-a-data-center-manager-a-practical-way-to-label-cables\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/tips-from-a-data-center-manager-a-practical-way-to-label-cables\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/tips-from-a-data-center-manager-a-practical-way-to-label-cables\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TIPS FROM A DATA CENTER MANAGER – A Practical Way to Label Cables"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/","name":"2NSystems Data Center Solutions","description":"DESIGN YOUR DATA CENTER FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1a1351c59db5cc0dc393eae2ecb1fe55","name":"Celina","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0bd980c8ac786f3f4b80b1b0c43ab55?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0bd980c8ac786f3f4b80b1b0c43ab55?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Celina"},"url":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/author\/celina\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5374"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5374"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5940,"href":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5374\/revisions\/5940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/2nsystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Nate-1-1-212x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n