About Cabling Racks, Enclosures, & The Component Inside

Written by Julianus Yu

Racks are the pieces of hardware that help you organize cabling infrastructure. These racks are commonly called just 19-inch racks, Mounting holes are spaced between 5/8 and two inches apart, so you can be assured that no matter what your preferred equipment vendor is, its equipment will fit in your rack.

Here is generally types of racking system available for purchase;

Wall-Mounted Brackets
For small installations and areas where economy of space is a key consideration, wall-mounted brackets may provide the best solution. Racks such as the one in Figure are ideal for small organizations that may only have a few dozen workstations or phone outlets but are still concerned about building an organized cabling infrastructure.

Skeletal Frames (19-Inch Racks)
Skeletal frames, often called 19-inch racks or EIA racks, are probably the most common type of rack. Their open design makes it easy to work on both the front and back of the mounted equipment. When installing a skeletal frame, you should leave enough space between the rack and the wall to accommodate the installed equipment. You should also leave enough space behind the rack for an individual to work. You will also need to secure the rack to the floor so that it does not topple over.

Racks are not limited to just patch panels and network-connectivity devices, many accessories can be mounted into rack spaces, including utility shelves, monitor shelves, and keyboard shelves.

Full Equipment Cabinets
The most expensive of your rack options, full equipment cabinets, offer the security benefits of locking cabinet doors. In some high-security environments, this type of rack is required for LAN equipment and servers.

For some reason of managing the cabling structure we need some accessories that could help to manage the wire, another reason to be considered is that the rack equipment sometimes does not included the wire management. Large wiring closets can quickly make a rat’s nest out of your horizontal cable runs and patch cables. Rear-mounted cable hangers provide strain-relief anchors and can help to organize horizontal cables that terminate at the back of patch panels.

When we talk about grounding system, We recommend working with your electrical contractor and power company to get the best and shortest ground you can afford. One way to achieve this is to deploy separate breaker boxes for each office area. Doing so will shorten the grounding length for each office or group.

Inside the racking system we could see some kind of cross connect devices, why we should consider this part as main part of the racking system?, because Cross-connect devices are cabling components you can implement to make changes to your network less painful. what kind of device consider as cross-connect device?

The 110 and S-210 Punch-Down Blocks
The 110-blocks come in sizes that support anywhere from 25 to 500 wire pairs. Some network hubs and phone systems use these 25-pair connectors, rather than modular-type plugs like the RJ-45, to interface with their hardware. You can purchase 110-style connector blocks prewired with 25-pair connector cables.

Modular Patch Panels
As an alternative to punch-down blocks, you can also terminate your horizontal cabling directly into RJ-45 patch panels, This approach is becoming increasingly popular because it lends itself to exceptionally easy reconfigurations. To reassign a network client to a new port on the switch, all you have to do is move a patch cable. Another benefit is that when they’re installed cleanly, they can make your wiring closet look great!

Fiber-Optic Connector Panels
These will sometimes look similar to the UTP RJ-45 panels seen earlier in this chapter, but they are commonly separate boxes that contain space for cable slack.

At last most of us forget how important of administration of the cabling, After troubleshooting a network issue and figuring out that it’s a problem with the physical layer, have you ever found complete spaghetti in a wiring closet? In our consulting practices, we see this all too often. Our clients then pay two to three times the regular consulting fees because it takes so much time to sort through the mess.

In addition to guidelines for labeling, the Standard also recommends the color-coding scheme shown

Besides labeling and color coding, you should also consider bundling groups of related cables with plastic cable ties (tie-wraps). When bundling cables, however, be sure not to cinch them too tightly, as you could disturb the natural geometry of the cable.