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I manage a server room with approx 20 rack servers in two racks. I find all kinds of videos and such on how to manage the network cabling. That is fine, but I would like to see how power cables from the servers are managed in a neat fashion.

HopelessN00b
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user158051
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3 Answers3

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...the same as any other cable?
Shortest distance to the side of the rack, strap it down, then shortest distance to the termination point strapped every 3/6/9/12 inches (depending on personal style).

Typically you put the power cable (AC) on the opposite side of the rack from data cabling (DC) to avoid interference. Which side is data versus power is decided by where the bulk of your power connectors are.

Extra style points for using special-length power cables (so you don't have to make cable loops / bundles to take up slack)

enter image description here
This guy did a pretty nice job (except his power and data cables are mixed)

voretaq7
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  • Hmmm... Nice wood/laminate floor. Where is this rack? – joeqwerty Feb 07 '13 at 20:03
  • @joeqwerty Dunno, grabbed the first decent-looking back-of-rack shot that showed power cables from /r/cableporn :-) – voretaq7 Feb 07 '13 at 20:04
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    I see zip-ties, so someone needs to be set on fire and pushed out a window. – HopelessN00b Feb 07 '13 at 20:09
  • @HopelessN00b He has velcro too - maybe he's converting away from his heathen ways? – voretaq7 Feb 07 '13 at 20:13
  • @voretaq7 Don't you have cable management arms in the U.S.? How would you ever go about drawing out a system when it is tied down with cables like this? SCNR. – the-wabbit Feb 07 '13 at 20:15
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    @syneticon-dj personally if I have to service a system it's uncabled and pulled from the rack. Datacenters are LOUD (like "OSHA Hearing Protection Required" Loud), and too hot/cold depending on which side of the racks you're on. It's much nicer to work on the machine at a bench. – voretaq7 Feb 07 '13 at 20:17
  • @voretaq7 you do not have many >4U machines to service, do you? I always have to think twice if I am to lift the 65 kg dumbbell out of the rack and drag it all through to the opposite side of the data center (500 m, a number of steps and tight doors). – the-wabbit Feb 07 '13 at 20:24
  • @syneticon-dj Indeed I don't, nor would I want to (the only use I can see for that is an ungodly amount of disk - at which point I'd buy a SAN. Most of my machines are 1U compute nodes :-) – voretaq7 Feb 07 '13 at 20:30
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Cable management arms. Simple as that.

HopelessN00b
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Arrange the cables so that they don't block airflow and can easily be removed/replaced/added. The rest will fall into place.

89c3b1b8-b1ae-11e6-b842-48d705
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  • +1 for not blocking airflow (or equipment removal/servicing) - this is the most important consideration. Pretty is usually a byproduct of good airflow. – voretaq7 Feb 07 '13 at 20:04
  • Thanks! Back when I used to rack a decent amount of hardware (sysadmin at an ISP), I'd even usually skip cable management arms because they sort of missed the point - if you're wiring for constant server movement, you're doing something wrong. – 89c3b1b8-b1ae-11e6-b842-48d705 Feb 07 '13 at 22:32
  • Fortunately during my ISP days we had a strong Datacenter Operations team (2 guys, but they were good) who handled the racking and cabling. When it's a dedicated team who do almost entirely cabling you get awesome work. – voretaq7 Feb 07 '13 at 22:40