why do they always do this? (server rooms)

[latrosicarius]

Hey, i am just curious about this. I'm just going to post a couple pics found on google images to illustrate what I'm talking about.

The question: Why do they always have racks of servers, and then a separate rack of switches, and then connect them all together with a huge bundle of cables going across the whole room?

For example: Racks of servers


Rack of switches


I would think it might be much less cabling if there was a switch at the top of each rack, which handled all the computers in that rack. Then each of those switches would connect to a central switch to tie the racks together.

My awesome MS Paint skills at work:

[Barry]

One reason is to keep others away from it all, data centres have more than staff roaming around in

[Blastuk]

lol, that's done in paint?
i don't believe it

and you seem to have found one of the tidier pics of a rack of switches

[Jay]

your method has too many single points of failure. The reason you split your patches / switches and servers is due to a few things. One is that having to route patch panels around servers is a nightmare, another is so access to switches and servers can be separated, cooling and positioning of racks is not random, the room is planned with airflow in mind, ease of access. It all depends on space really. I have (had )a few nodes with 42U racks mixed with servers at the bottom and switches at the top, its not the best way to do it but due to space issues I hadn't other option. I tend to usedifferent racks for different purposes as well. Eg I try to use the HP/Dell/APC racks for servers and due to their size I try and use prysim racks for patch / switches.

[moogle]

lol, that's done in paint?
i don't believe it

It's a bloody good paint job if it's true

[Moby-Dick]

We have edge switches in each row , with fibre going back to the core switches , much less cabling - all servers have teamed NIC's so a cable is patched from each port to each edge switch.
but thats for our given setup. Jay also makes valid points regarding power and cooling - spreading the load of both around the datacentre is important. Structured networking makes it a lot easier to move things.

[Petem95]

It's a bloody good paint job if it's true

Clearly someone with too much time on their hands!

[latrosicarius]

omg its not that hard to make, its just lines and boxes. i made one and copy paste. one time i drew a picture of a backhoe in paint on windows 98. it was really good but i cant find it any more

[latrosicarius]

Update! I found pictorial evidence that some people do it just like my MS Paint drawing (a switch per rack)

[Ben Rogers]

I have worked removing rackmount servers for 5 hours at CSC DataCentre in Kingswood, Bristol and the cabling was no where near as neat as that, to say the least. Apparently they host data bases etc for the NHS, or did 2 years ago. They wouldn't tell me what Internet connection they had lol

[Chan]

Rack of switches

MAINTAIN PAIR TWIST, those panels are so boring to terminate. Systimax don't even recommend tie-wrapping bunches perfectly like that, can get cross talk! Least it looks good I guess.

[Ben Rogers]

I don't think that kind of neatness with cables is even required in such an enviroment tbh.

[Craig321]

MAINTAIN PAIR TWIST, those panels are so boring to terminate. Systimax don't even recommend tie-wrapping bunches perfectly like that, can get cross talk! Least it looks good I guess.

Would have thought they'd use STP cables in such a big setup?

Hey, i am just curious about this. I'm just going to post a couple pics found on google images to illustrate what I'm talking about.

The question: Why do they always have racks of servers, and then a separate rack of switches, and then connect them all together with a huge bundle of cables going across the whole room?

For example: Racks of servers
[img]http://zhost.tk/up/b0a341d0d3e6ef0afc225dbe339e8482.jpg[/i=mg]

Rack of switches
[img]http://zhost.tk/up/dbd925b18186cbd6a2fbf4a7e0d6720f.jpg[/ig]

I would think it might be much less cabling if there was a switch at the top of each rack, which handled all the computers in that rack. Then each of those switches would connect to a central switch to tie the racks together.

My awesome MS Paint skills at work:
[img]http://zhost.tk/up/acb47e348d6b707851de5a9fa1bf5980.PNG[/ig]

You have way too much time at work