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You are here: Home / Basics / Top 20 Practical Cabling Tips for Network Engineers Part
One

Top 20 Practical Cabling Tips for

Network Engineers Part One
19TH JULY 2012 BY GREG FERRO

20 Practical Cabling Tips for

Network Engineers
I think that most Network Engineers have forgotten or dont know about network cabling.
Things that I have learned, the hard way, in twenty years of looking after networks.
I find that most engineers think that cable is simply plug and play. And, mostly, that is true.
In recent years, Ethernet standards and manufacturing have developed into reliable and
good enough but the realities are still in place. Cabling needs some care and attention to
detail to be reliable.

The Forgotten Things.

1. Cable Length Matters
The EIA/TIA standard says a 100 metres is the maximum cable length. THIS INCLUDES

PATCH LEADS. If you are using 10 metre patch leads at each end your horizontal cable run
should be only 80 metres. If you have 20 metre patch leads then you can only have 60
metres in the wall.

2. Long Patch Leads Can be a Bad Idea

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You can go longer it might work. Its more likely to work if

you have good quality cable and connectors and a well
executed cabling system since the electrical signal will
degrade less in that environment. Cheap installs are more
likely to have problems.
Thats why long patch leads can be a bad idea in some places
in your office work just fine. And in other places they dont. A
150 metre cable run probably wont work, or worse, wont
work reliably.

Physical Considerations
3. Overloaded Cable Trays
Cable trays should not be overloaded. Suspended cable trays are mounted to something
either ceiling mounts or support from a rack underneath. If its too heavy, they can fall off
the wall/ceiling etc. On to expensive things. That break.

4. Leave Space to Remove Unused Cables

Too many cables is not only a safety problem, but leads to poor operational practices when
people stop removing cables from trays because its too hard or fear of disturbing cables.

5. Crushed Cables in overloaded cable trays.

Cables at the bottom of cable tray can be crushed by weight of cables. This especially
applies to Cat6 cabling which is thicker and heavier than previous copper cabling. Cables
which have been crushed will degrade signal propagation.

6. Hanging Cables will Stretch

Hanging cables within the rack means that means that gravity will induce physical stress on
the copper core which will stretch and distort over time. A longer patch lead is heavier and
will cause more shear stress on the cable. This will create signal degradation over time and
leads to intermittent failures over time. Patch management isnt just to keep your rack tidy,
it has a mechanical purpose too.

7. Dont pull too hard

Pulling cables can damage them by stressing the copper core. Stressing the copper core
can cause stretching and thinning of the copper wire which affects the signal performance.
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In extreme cases it will cause unwinding of the twists in the sheath. Thats why standards
specify 110Newtons as maximum draw force to be applied during installation. The cabling
manufacturer should ensure that their cables are able to withstand this stress (cheap
cabling is often not tested or designed, its just made).
Your cabling installer should use a force meter when pulling cable to Category 6 standards
to ensure that pulling strength does not exceed to the stated maximum.

8. Electrical Conduits cant be used for data cabling

Electrical conduits and termination boxes dont work for Category 6 cabling because the
right angle bend radii are smaller than the permitted bend radius for Cat 6 copper cable.
Bend damage increases changes of cable kinking, copper core stress and leads to signal
degradation.

Cheap Cables
9. Less Copper
Cheap cable has lower than standard diameter copper cores which causes signal loss and
results in imperfect signal propagation. When non-standard copper cores are mated to
standard cores it creates more interference because impedance mismatch causing signal
reflections due to impedance mismatch.
Narrow diameter cores are also physically weaker and are more likely to snap or stretch
further over time thus making them more likely to fail.

10. Cheap Patch Leads

Dont use cheap patch cords. Again, cheaper cables often dont quite match the standard
and can cause signal degradation. Other possibilities to reduce manufacturing costs
include:
non pure copper cores,
poor quality control over twist ratios,
poor packaging
sub standard sheathing
These things can all result in damaged copper cables.

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More to Come..
You can find the Second Part at Top 20 Practical Cabling Tips for Network Engineers Part
2

Other Posts in A Series On The Same Topic

1. Top 20 Practical Cabling Tips for Network Engineers - Part Two (31st July 2012)
2. Top 20 Practical Cabling Tips for Network Engineers - Part One (19th July 2012)

Related Posts & Articles

Why Replacing The Fibre Optic Patch Lead Often Fixes Network
Vendor Price Variation on 40 Gigabit SFP Modules
FCoE, 10GBaseT and BER problem managed
Tech Notes: Difference Between OS1 and OS2 Fibre Optic Cable
Interesting Cumulus Networks Use Case
FILED UNDER: BASICS, BLOG, FEATURED, OPERATION
TAGGED WITH: BASICS, CABLE, OPERATIONS, TIPS, TRICKS

About Greg Ferro

Greg Ferro is a Network Engineer/Architect, mostly focussed on Data
Centre, Security Infrastructure, and recently Virtualization. He has over
20 years in IT, in wide range of employers working as a freelance consultant
including Finance, Service Providers and Online Companies. He is CCIE#6920 and
has a few ideas about the world, but not enough to really count.
He is a host on the Packet Pushers Podcast, blogger at EtherealMind.com and on
Twitter @etherealmind and Google Plus
You can contact Greg via the site contact page.

COMMENTS

Howard Marks says

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19th July 2012 at 17:43 +0000

More significant than the stretch on the conductors because of hanging cables is
the strain on the connectors from the weight. Ive seen several failures at the
connector pin-conductor interface. This is common with self crimped cables.

Etherealmind says
19th July 2012 at 21:04 +0000
Good point. Should have thought of that myself.

Julien Goodwin says

20th July 2012 at 05:10 +0000
One to add *never* crimp your own cables at >= 1gb, sure it will probably work, but
its highly likely to be worse then a prebuilt one and wouldnt pass a certification
test.
Stocking a variety of lengths for intra-rack, desk-to-device and using fibre
elsewhere (in DCs) should be standard these days and if you consider the cost of
your time when making a cable its likely much cheaper.
Also if a cable is at all questionable (or the clip breaks) *chuck it*, but only after
either tying it in a hard knot (competent network people wont touch it) or cutting it
in half (sane people wont touch it). Again the cost of a replacement cable is far
less then the time youll spend debugging it when it just barely slips out of the
socket on a server hidden away in a rack.

Norgs says
27th July 2012 at 00:44 +0000
2 knots and then snip the middle.

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javelin says
20th July 2012 at 09:24 +0000
Thoughts on using mjr21 to do inter rack cabling?
If you are having to pull multiple runs its quite simple, but lack of demand means
lead times arent in the same timeframe as pulling them yourself

Etherealmind says
20th July 2012 at 22:12 +0000
In general terms, I dont believe in copper cabling any more. Its a
technological dead end. The technical performance of MJR21 is only Cat5 AFAIK
and not Cat6 so not suitable for 10GBaseT (well, I wouldnt use it).

Will says
22nd July 2012 at 23:16 +0000
Could you please add your recommended vendors?

Etherealmind says
24th July 2012 at 14:01 +0000
What ? For cabling ? I dont get involved in vendor selection or have much
knowledge of the cable manufacturers so I couldnt make any
recommendations. There are some differences between them but Im not
much bothered.
Only recommendation: dont buy proprietary cabling systems.

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sganpat says
27th July 2012 at 12:18 +0000
Dont call it 20 tips, give 10 and then say more later. Call it 10 Tips and then you can
have another post with more.
Great tips by the way. Half of these Ive never considered.

Engineers_R_alwaysright says
28th July 2012 at 03:36 +0000
Greg,
Nice Read. I would add as being network Engineer m,an years myself
Use ONLY AMP precision RJ connectors. It is OK to crimp your own as long as you
have a
Betts or other high quality crimper Also
In addition to AMP connectors only, Use the correct kind for stranded or solid wire
respectively.
One argument i always have to make is that 110 blocks and krone blocks are
superior
to any 66 block cross-connects. Its like pulling hair trying to get a technician to
understand
micro-connections at HIGHER frequency and data rates. They wiil fight you toothe
and nail Ignorance is bliss.
Roy

Etherealmind says
28th July 2012 at 19:26 +0000
I disagree. I believe its completely impractical to make Cat6 grade patch leads
by hand. You really need the jigs to make them, and testing equipment to
validate them.
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Paul Walton says

31st July 2012 at 07:42 +0000
The overtightning of cable ties will also crush the cable. There are several reports
by the IEEE to show how throughput is reduced when a cable tie is over tightened
even by hand. Please dont use the tie setting tools!

Michael Kantowski says

31st July 2012 at 19:37 +0000
I would add the following:
1) Stock (or plan for) many different patch cable lengths. You should have 1/2 foot,
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 foot cables for TOR installations. Its OK to have a couple of cables
that are 1 or 2 feet too long/short, but when you have many in the cable
management that are off by a foot, its a problem.
2) If you are working with fiber, carry a cleaning kit at a minimum, and if you want
to ensure your work is done well, also carry a scope so you can inspect the end of
the ferrule and core surface for oil and dirt.
3) For copper, color makes a big difference. Use a different color per purpose.
Regarding copper for 10G DAC cables are the way to go for low latency and low
cost.

network cabling world says

26th March 2013 at 22:22 +0000
There is no way length should be an issue as all jobs these days require us to
submit test results. All cable runs need to be under 295. When cable tray is
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overloaded you can also have overheating of the cables. Something else that can
happen is the cables at the bottom of the tray can become crushed especially
when the tray drops down to the rack from overhead.

jamassica says
18th April 2013 at 06:56 +0000
I have some basic information of this Cable. Like:
4-pair unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable, 24 AWG Copper Clad Aluminum, Verified
Compliant With EIA/TIA /ETL, Low Smoke, CMP Plenum rated jacket.
Can anyone suggest me more informations about this ethernet cable?

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