Patch Panel: What it is and Why Your Data Center Needs it

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What is a Patch Panel?

A patch panel is a piece of hardware
with multiple ports that helps organize a group of cables. Each of these ports
contains a wire that goes to a different location.  Patch panels can be quite small, with just a
few ports, or very large, with many hundreds of ports. They can also be set up
for fiber optic cables, cat5 cables, RJ45 cables, and many others.

 

What is a Patch Panel Used for?

Patch
panels connect various IT devices together.
They are in many different environments including communications closets,
telephone company central offices, and data centers. Understanding the role
they play can help to determine if your facility requires a patch panel, and if
so, how to set it up.

 

Each port in a patch panel goes to a
different device somewhere in the facility. Each panel bundles all the
connections together in order to connect to another network. This is often how
a LAN connects to a WAN, or to the Internet. Patch panels are also commonly
used in facilities with a lot of telephone lines, in which one mainline is used
for all phones.

 

Advantages of Patch Panels

Patch panels are an important piece of
equipment in the data center. Using a patch panel comes with many advantages
that make it well worth the investment. Some of the most significant benefits
of using patch panels include:

 

Scalability – After installing a patch
panel, you can easily add new devices without having to run new cables
end-to-end.

 

Reduces Cable Clutter – Patch panels
are typically located closer to the actual equipment. This makes it possible to
use a shorter patch cable. From the panel, a fiber optic or other high capacity
connection runs to the next network or the internet.

 

Inexpensive – Patch panels aren’t
considered “smart” devices in that they don’t perform any function other than
facilitating the passing of data. This means they are very inexpensive.

 

Lowering Cable Cost – Having a patch
panel allows you to use shorter cables, which cost less than longer ones.
Typically, you can also use inexpensive cat-5 cables to get to the patch panel
rather than costly fiber optics.

 

Easier Maintenance – If you ever need
to run a test cable, test a port, or perform any other common maintenance
tasks, it can be done more quickly and is much easier than if each device had a
cable run to its final destination.

 

Patch panels are one of the oldest
types of technical equipment still popular today. They are quite simple in
their design and function, but still, help to improve the organization and
function of a data center or almost any other environment with lots of equipment.

 

Patch Panel Cable Management System

With dozens, or even hundreds, of
cables coming into and out of a patch panel, it can be easy for things to
become quite tangled and messy. Unorganized cables can make troubleshooting
much more difficult, and can even lead to outages if someone unplugs the wrong
cable. This is why it is critical to keep organization in mind from the first
cable you plug in. There are many things that a person can do to help keep a
patch panel organized, including:

 

Labeling Cables – All cables should be
properly labeled at both ends, and in many cases, along the middle as well.
Having labels on the cables will make it easy for technicians to confirm they
are working on the right lines.

 

Patch Cable Organizers – Patch cable
organizers allow you to run lines neatly and evenly to each port so you can see
exactly where things are coming from and going to.

 

Color-Coded Cables – Using color-coded
cables will allow you to quickly identify what type of cable is in each place.

 

Zip Ties – Using zip ties to bundle
cables that are going to the same server rack or other location will help keep
things looking neat and organized.

 

The most important thing when it comes
to patch cable management is having a good plan right from the beginning. It is
much easier to spend a little extra time coming up with a good way to run your
cables than it is to try to untangle hundreds of wires down the road.