Cloud solutions and other technological advancements have made IT operations exponentially more efficient. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for data centre cabling infrastructure. A good number of the hardware and solutions are now long in the tooth, making optimising data centres a challenging task for builders and operators.
As such, what might seem like a rudimentary task in cable management becomes a crucial aspect of the ever-growing data centre market. This is where the time-tested patch panel comes in. Despite being a piece of equipment older than the computer, it can still do wonders for a data centre’s operations.
This article discusses the primary reasons you should have a patch panel in your data centre and provides tips on making the most of it.
But first, what is a patch panel?
Also referred to as a patch field or patch bay, a patch panel is structural hardware housing a set of ports. With a patch cable, you can connect individual ports to other ports in your network, such as a server or network switch.
By grouping multiple ports, patch panels remove the clutter of network cables at the back of a console. Instead, they enable you to route signals to the appropriate destinations via the patch cables on the front of the hardware. To give you a better visual, patch panels make it easier to connect multiple computers in a LAN setup to each other and the internet.
A patch panel is a simple but effective tool for organising your data centre or server room. Furthermore, it makes it more convenient to move and scale your cabling infrastructure should you need to make changes. Visit CablePro’s site to learn more about patch panels and other cabling solutions.
Data centres entail connecting multiple devices to different networking hardware components. As such, this involves a significant number of cables to manage. This is where patch panels are at their most beneficial.
If you’re looking to optimise your data centre, a patch panel’s key benefits include the following:
- Organisation
As mentioned earlier, patch panels keep your cabling structure organised and easy to modify. Even if you don’t have the highest technical know-how, the ability to label specific cable runs makes it easier to identify functionality flows. Apart from preventing spaghetti incidents behind your servers, patch panels simplify troubleshooting and checking network connections as well.
Additionally, patch panels reduce cable clutter, as they are located closer to equipment and other hardware, allowing you to use shorter cables.
- Network management
When you install a patch panel at a strategic point in your network, it’s much more seamless for the network admin to update, move, or make specific changes to your network structure. Installing it in a central location also removes the need to relocate hardware or re-route existing cabling. This is especially helpful if your data centre is in a shared office space.
And in case the need calls for it, patch panels can make transferring lines between offices less cumbersome.
- Flexibility
A patch panel on your data centre allows you to adjust your cabling infrastructure while making your connections more stable. For example, without a patch panel, you’ll need to route cables from a wall or ceiling and plug them directly into a switch port. This would make the wires vulnerable to pulling and pushing. And when you use plugs, such as an RJ-45, this can compromise connectivity inside a switch port or the cable.
Moreover, when you need to scale your data centre, a patch panel makes it easier to add and remove cables end-to-end.
Tips for making your patch panel more efficient
Here are a few more things you can do to heighten the organisational efficiency of your patch panel.
- Label cables: Depending on your data centre’s capacity, hundreds of cables could come in and out of a patch panel. One set of cables plugged into the wrong switch, and you can suffer an outage. In addition, labelling cables makes it easier for a technician to troubleshoot your data centre, even if it’s their first time encountering the cable infrastructure.
- Colour code cables: This serves a similar purpose to labelling your cables. Colours make it even easier to identify lines even at a glance.
- Use zip ties: It’s also best to bundle cables going to the same location with zip ties. Zip ties are a simple but highly-functional tool to keep your data centre neat. Plus, they prevent networking errors stemming from faulty connections.
Final words
As data increasingly becomes one of the most valuable assets in the business world, so does the accuracy and efficiency of data centres. So, while patch panels may seem like an elementary aspect of a digital world that processes information at hyper speed, their benefits remain critical to the global economy.
