A 20-year IT vet told me I was doing cable management backwards

I was running cables for a server rack at a dental office in Austin last Thursday and this old-timer watched me for a minute before saying I was making a mess by tying bundles too tight. He showed me how leaving slack and using Velcro loops instead of zip ties actually makes future swaps way faster (which makes total sense now). Has anyone else found that loosening up your cable management saves time down the road or am I just being lazy?

2 comments

2 Comments

faithrodriguez12d ago

Read something in a sysadmin blog last year that compared tight cabling to packing for a move with no space left. You are basically painting yourself into a corner. The guy who wrote it said he leaves about 6 inches of service loop at both ends and it took his average switch replacement time from 45 minutes down to 10. Made me rethink every rack I touched before that.

shah.evan12d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah the old school "snake it tight" method is a trap. I used to do the same thing with zip ties on patch panels at my old job and then when a cable went bad I had to cut half the bundle loose just to pull one line. Velcro is the way to go for sure. Started leaving loops near the switch and the patch panel so you've got room to shift things around. Made my life way easier when I had to swap out a bad keystone last month.