Don’t pity incompetence…
I was digging digg and found this offbeat picture of a guy sitting amidst a web of wires using some paper documentation to figure out what is connected to what. Well if the wiring in your datacenter looks like this you can be sure that the chances of the documentation being accurate are neigh.
Aren't you glad you don't work in IT? No! I'm just glad I don't work here
Anyway the caption on the image on digg was “Aren’t you glad you don’t work in IT” as if we need to feel pity for this guy or any other IT guy. Well the wiring in this picture is a clear demonstration of incompetence (not perse by the guy in the image). Don’t pity them, educate them. I’ve done my rounds in datacenters and I’ve seen many examples of wiring gone haywire. I don’t take pictures at client sites to respect the confidentiality agreements but I found some great examples on the web of proper wiring and many examples of even worse wiring than depicted above. See below.
Here’s proper wiring. Notice how the cables are actually labeled. Labeling is your friend m’kaaay? Please label at least both ends of the wire. You will thank yourself one day for putting in that little extra effort. Proper wiring will also make sure the airflow is optimal so changes of overheating are reduced and the airco’s don’t have to pump at maximum power.
Wiring done right. Looks pretty eh?
Now here’s the worst example of bad wiring I could find. The serverracks are prey to a giant spider who entangled the servers in a bolt of yellow silk. If your organization insists of wiring like this please use different color cables for different racks. That will at least help a bit.
Tony, can you replace the cat5e cable of the database server? It's the yellow one...