Need advice for organizing network room - Pics are coming...

[Transition]

Our networking room looks like a bomb went off. Wires all over, crap all over the floor, total chaos. Sys admins says there's no reason to clean things up (mentality is if it's not broken, don't fix it). The room is fairly simple.. 2 Patch panels, 2 50? port 3Com hubs, 4 active concentrators, CSU/DSU, router, and about 5 dialup modems. Things will make much more sense when i post the pic (should have it around 1pm). What's the best way to manage a small network room (organization wise)? Anyone have any pictures or suggestions of products i could look at to help straighten out the confusion? We currently have about 110 users hooked up into the system - most of which are just patched into our server to interact w/ our distribution software.

Suggestions would be apprecaited. Thanks guys (pics are on the way).

 

[Z_Amon]

We have a number of network rooms, as well as electronic equipment rooms for video and audio equipment. Our engineers typically label cables at both ends using premade labels, then bundle cables together using straps - the velcro straps work very well and allow you to move things around if you need to. That means that despite having 30-100 or more cables that look essentially identical, they can pick out the proper one to re-route in a matter of a couple of minutes at the most.

Once you've labelled and bundled, get some wire conduit or guides as needed, run the wires through those, and that will take care of a lot of your issues. We also use a lot of cable ties and even some standard twist ties to bundle things effectively. Proper labelling is a must though, as the first time you have to sort through bundle to find a single cable, you'll curse yourself if you don't!.

Good luck.

Z.