Hospital’s Server Room Structured Cabling System Solution

As the wave of information modernization continues to surge, informatization has ushered in the era of big data. In this new wave, the times have shown a new perspective for the Structured Cabling System and cable management of the server room.

The article expounds on the importance of server room Structured Cabling Systems and cable management. By analyzing a case of a server room Structured Cabling System in a hospital, the server room is examined from several aspects, such as thinking before Generic Cabling, issues that need to be paid attention to during and after Cabling, etc. How to analyze and discuss reasonable Generic Cabling.

When it comes to the central server room, the first thing that comes to mind is generally servers, storage, Private Automatic Branch Exchange, and other equipment. But there is an inextricable link between these devices: the line.

In addition to modern equipment, a modern central server room must also have a good and beautiful Structured Cabling System pattern and cable management art.

With the continuous upgrading and expansion of the comprehensive business of medical institutions, the number of server room lines will only increase.

If there is no reasonable Structured Cabling System and cable management, not only will it not be beautiful, but there will also be many hidden dangers, hindering future maintenance and even cause losses. The significance of the reasonable Structured Cabling System and cable management of the server room lies in the following aspects.

After a reasonable Structured Cabling System and cable management, the most natural feeling is that it is highly ornamental and pleasing to the eye. The modern server room will not be born in a place that looks like a garbage dump.

Nothing new can escape the influence of time. Whether a network cable or an optical fiber, various problems will inevitably occur over time. This requires us to make room and prepare for their aging when Structured Cabling systems and cable management. Good cable management can make the replacement of lines handier, reduce the probability of errors, and reduce the occurrence of accidents.

Through a reasonable layout, you can identify which lines are business lines, security lines, and which are management and operation and maintenance lines.

When administrators need to find or replace them, they can locate them as soon as possible, accurately determine their functions, and improve work efficiency.

After reasonable Generic Cabling, the overall line will be very layered. Based on modern equipment and technology, it can enhance the modern and contemporary sense of the server room in the center.

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After understanding the importance of Generic Cabling and cable management, you need to consider how to carry out reasonable Generic Cabling and cable management. This article takes Generic Cabling and cable management in the server room of the hospital center as an example to introduce the cable management process.

Before Generic Cabling and cable management, you must do the necessary thinking and rehearsal and form the perfect layout in your mind.

This part is the most important. Because the consideration is not perfect, the cable management process will be more complicated if it is overturned in the half of Generic Cabling. Questions to think about before starting the cable management process are:

When developing Generic Cabling or cable management, consider the current server room layout and problems, such as the open rack space and the layout of various lines.

Such as a 42U open rack, plan how many U to place the network cabinet or cable manager;

Is it at the top of the open rack or the bottom of the available frame;

Is there any space occupancy when placing the network cabinet or cable manager?

What Generic Cabling equipment is needed.

Whether the line should be entered from the left, the right, or separated from both sides, the above patterns and expected effects must be considered in advance.

The Generic Cabling distance between open racks is also a factor to consider.

Because the distance directly determines the length of the line used.

The line length should be close to the distance of Generic Cabling. If it is too long, it is bound to wind up the excess line on the edge, which will affect the appearance, cause waste, and speed.

Reasonable Generic Cabling should be transparent at a glance; the lines and the functions need to be precise. It can be distinguished by color according to the process of each type of line.

For example, in-network cables, the server room uses black ground wires to identify jumpers between open racks, blue gold-plated flat wires to mark data network jumpers, and yellow gold-plated flat wires to label security equipment jumpers, and white flat wires to keep server or storage management Jumpers, etc.

Because the distance between open racks is relatively long, and the lines between available racks are generally relatively permanent layouts, round bars should be used, which are pretty thick and stable;

The jumper wire in the open rack is made of flat wire, which is lighter, thinner, and easy to handle, and the color is relatively bright, more beautiful, and elegant.

In addition, in addition to the network cable and fiber optic cable, there are also different colors and thicknesses. The Generic Cabling method is similar to the network cable.

The site and number of cable managers are also a factor to consider.

Because the cable manager’s location determines the cable management’s directionality.

For example, suppose two cable managers clamp a 24-port Private Automatic Branch Exchange during cable management. In that case, the network cables from the odd-numbered ports of the Private Automatic Branch Exchange can be put on the shelf, and those from the even-numbered ports can be taken off the frame.

If a single cable manager is above or below the Private Automatic Branch Exchange, then only the single and double ports will go in the same direction.

In the same way, the more the number of cable managers, the clearer the routing can be, but at the same time, it will occupy more positions in the open rack.

Too many cable managers will cause a waste of open rack space; too few cable managers will cause jumper congestion, which is not convenient for future maintenance.

So the quantity also needs to be within the calculation range.

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The main components of server roomGeneric Cabling are network cables, optical fiber cables (single-mode/multi-mode), and power cables.

Although now in the server room, fiber optic lines have become mainstream, especially after the popularity of Gigabit and 10 Gigabit fiber Private Automatic Branch Exchange. However, the network cable is still essential.

At present, the server room adopts CAT.6 Cable, and its main function is to use it as pipe cable management;

The second is to use as part of the heartbeat line;

The third is to use as operation and maintenance control;

Fourth, as a backup line;

Finally, it is also about saving costs, especially if the distance is not long.

For the Generic Cabling of the network cable, in addition to the color and thickness mentioned above, it is a problem to use the coiled tube. It is recommended not to use restrained accessories such as winding pipes, even the part between the network cabinet and the network cabinet.

The reasons are: First, although the restrained cable management is beautiful, it has many inconveniences during maintenance, especially when the network cables are thick and numerous;

Second, the part between the network cabinet and the network cabinet usually uses a thicker network cable, so even if it is exposed outside, it is not afraid of damage by mice, etc. At the same time, as long as the colors are uniform and the order is consistent, the beauty is naturally a matter of course.

Therefore, it is recommended to use unbound cable management methods such as cable manager.

Optical fiber jumpers are divided into single-mode and multi-mode, all of which use 10 Gigabit jumpers.

Single-mode is usually used to connect bare wires or bank lines between the two hospital districts.

Multi-mode patch cords are used for daily data transfer between devices.

Due to the nature of the fiber optic cable, it is usually thin and easily broken after it is made.

Not only that, fiber optic patch cords are vulnerable to rodent damage.

Therefore, the optical fiber Generic Cabling between the open racks is best covered with a coiled tube or a winding tape. The optical fiber jumper from the network cabinet to the device depends on the situation. The cable manager can also be used.

Power cords are mainly PDU and power wiring for servers, Private Automatic Branch Exchange, and other devices.

Aviation plugs connect PDUs, so the power cables are distributed to the top of each open rack through the aluminum cable manager above the available frame.

The power cords of servers and other equipment are distributed to each device through the vertical 42Ucable manager without bundling; cover the cover to organize and sort the power cords.

This is both beautiful and easy to replace in the future. At the same time, the power cord does not need to use a coiled tube.

Commonly used cable management includes waterfall cable management, improved waterfall cable management, reverse cable management, forward cable management, etc.

This kind of cable management is a more commonly used cable management method. When arranging, let the network cable sag naturally. You can use a cable tie to tie the network cable to the column or beam inside the open rack. The advantage of this method is that it saves labor.

But the disadvantage is that when there are many network cables, the water curtain-like network cables are not easy to distinguish, and it is easy to make mistakes when replacing them.

This cable management method is improved based on the waterfall cable management method.

The open rack part of the hospital also adopts this approach.

Although it is still said that the network cable is naturally vertical and tied to the column or beam, the cable tie is not secured tightly but a loop that can accommodate a certain number of network cables and is labeled on the circle. It is equivalent to dividing the original whole “water curtain” into multiple “water curtains” in a certain order (such as a network cabinet).

At the same time, because the network cables are measured and arranged according to the length close to the just-needed size, the “waterfall” will be much less than before.

This cable management method performs cable management after the network cabinets at both ends are connected to the test, also known as reverse cable management.

Although this method of cable management does not need to worry about re-cable management due to a network cable failure, the cable management method is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and it is easy to form crossovers in the middle. Therefore, this cable management method has been gradually eliminated.

The forward cable management starts from the network cabinet of any open rack between the cabinets and manages it as it goes until it reaches the network cabinet at the other end. The advantage is that it is organized section by section, ensuring that each team is neat.

The disadvantage is that after finishing the test if there is any damage, it may bring about the problem of re-Generic Cabling.

At present, a variety of cable management methods are used. Of course, forward cable management also takes a certain amount of time.

And cable management is, of course, inseparable from the use of cable management materials. Commonly used in the server room are aluminum alloy cable trays, bridge frames, network cabinets, cable managers, hoses, wire fixers, and so on.

Aluminum alloy cable trays and bridges are mainly used for cable routing on the top of the open rack. The server room uses a double-track aluminum alloy cable tray.

The outer rail is mainly used for UPS and PDU power cables, and the inner rail is used for network cables, optical fibers, etc.

This will facilitate future maintenance and care.

The network cabinet mainly includes the network cabinet and the optical network cabinet, which are used for the jumper between the open and open rack. The network cabinet should preferably be free of modules so that the administrator does not have to worry about the line sequence and the wiring is easy and convenient to replace.

The cable manager has many specifications, 1U, 32U, 37U, 42U, etc., and the shapes are straight and curved.

Which one to use depends on the situation of the server room. The server room uses 1U, 37U, and 42U cable managers, and the 1U cable manager is placed on the front of the open rack.

The 37U and 42U are placed on the left and right sides of the back of the open rack, with jumpers on the left and power cables on the right; the advantage of this is that there is no need to fix the jumpers, which is convenient for administrators to replace the jumpers or power cables.

The cable fixer can mainly fix the network cable layer by layer, with layers and a beautiful appearance. However, suppose there is a problem with any network cable. In that case, it will be time-consuming and laborious to replace and maintain, so it is recommended to use the retainer with caution.

The label holder becomes a vital link when the cable management is completed. It is like a road sign in a complicated circuit to indicate the direction to the administrator and the path to go.

Several questions that label holders need:

Label holders are available in various colors, such as black characters on a white background, black characters on a yellow stage, black characters on a red background, etc. Through the different colors of the label holder, it can be clear and understood. For example, use black characters on a yellow background to represent all power cords, jumpers for safety equipment, and black characters on a red stage to describe server names, rack names or jumpers, etc.

There are many formats of label holders, for example, left and right arrows can be used to indicate entry or exit, and underscores can be used to separate different cabinets, different racks, different ports, and so on.

Sorting is also worth noting—for example, the power cord. Generally, the server room is divided into UPS and mains, so you can use odd and identify the line sequence. For example, if the UPS is marked as an odd number, and the mains are marked as an even number, it will be much easier to find the power line in the future.

Each label holder should be printed on two sides when the label holder is printed. This advantage is that the label holder can be seen no matter which direction the label holder is facing after pasting, which is convenient for identification.

Pay attention to the orientation when pasting the label holder.

One is the orientation of the label holder. The uniform orientation will make the whole look neat and not messy;

The second is the orientation of the characters. The characters should face the user directly and avoid twisting the neck to read the characters.

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In addition to the above problems, there are other problems in the cable management of the server room.

In, especially in cable management, we must pay attention to safety, that is, try not to affect the regular business of the hospital.

You can use the existing spare lines to comb one first and then the other.

For example, an available server or storage has a central line and a backup line, whether an optical fiber or a network cable.

When sorting, you can first organize the backup line and then type the main line after it is stable. This ensures uninterrupted business.

Generally, the label holder is marked at both ends of the line to indicate the direction of the line, and it is also pasted on the open rack and equipment to keep it. However, between cabinets and network cabinets, label holders also need to be marked with a specific visual distance and the spacing between label holders.

The purpose is that when the line between the network cabinets fails when the administrator climbs to the open rack and draws the line, he can know which networking cable belongs to which strand, making maintenance more efficient.

In recent years, due to the rapid development of the network, the integrated business has also increased, especially the cash business.

Therefore, business and bank lines have also been connected to the hospital. One line is one Optical to Electrical convertor, which has led to a significant increase in the number of Optical to Electrical converters, which has brought trouble to the server room administrator.

Optical to Electrical converter is divided into 100M and 1000M, multi-mode and single-mode. Business lines are generally leased telecommunication or mobile optical cables. Usually, single-mode 100M single-core or single-mode 100M dual-core, and the optical fiber wavelength is generally 1310nm.

Therefore, it can be summarized as long as the above conditions are met.

The server room uses two sets of 1U, 4-bit Resconda electromechanical finishing boxes. By inserting the corresponding photoelectric conversion board, the unified power supply of the Optical to Electrical converter is realized to achieve the effect of unified and cable management.

As equipment and other items are put on the shelf, the dim light behind the open rack can hinder cable management.

Therefore, it is best to be equipped with a flashlight or work light with a solid magnetic tail, preferably more than 500 lumens, and with a rotating function.

This way, no matter where the open rack is located, the work light can be magnetically attached to the metal, providing sufficient light for cable management and routine maintenance work. Of course, lithium battery headlights are also a good choice.

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In general, the cable management in the server room is not as complicated as managing servers nor as technical as configuring Private Automatic Branch Exchange. Still, it is also a branch of knowledge and art simultaneously.

As a server room administrator, I not only must master the server, Private Automatic Branch Exchange technology, but also follow the modern Generic Cabling perspective, take safety production as the criterion, rational and cable management, stable but not chaotic, keep pace with the times, and improve the performance of the server room. Maintainability and appreciation enhance the sense of hierarchy, technology, and a good mood at work in the server room.