Cable Spaghetti: How To Avoid It

The dreaded spaghetti! Nobody likes it when their network cable becomes tangled that much that it looks like a big plate of spaghetti. Careful planning and maintenance are required to prevent your cabling from catching the deadly disease. Below you will find 4 best practices that will prevent cable spaghetti:

1 – Ensure your cables are labelled – This may be a chore when you are first installing new cables however, it will save you a great deal of stress later on down the line. Don’t take advantage of your memory, by thinking that you will be able to remember all of the cables and where they all go! This is because, when you have a new device that needs installing, you will have to unplug old cables and then insert them back later on, so you will be extremely thankful to yourself for labelling everything first.

2 – Only use the required cable length – You may be tempted to use a longer cable to connect two servers that are only five feet away from each other. You are probably thinking that you will just be able to roll up the excess to save time from having to cut and patch the cable. DON’T do this as you are just setting yourself up for major cable spaghetti a few months down the line. Overall efficiency will be increased by taking the time to measure your cables and using the exact length required. This will also make your server room look neat and organised.

3 – Plan your network expansion with cabling in mind – The layout of cables can prove the difference between a planned and unplanned network. Cable crisscross will occur from unplanned network expansion when new equipment is randomly added. Again, your cable spaghetti is beginning to grow. By planning out your network, you will be able to position existing and future equipment in areas that will require less cable length and have minimal overlap.

4 – When installing a new conduit…make it large – Having a conduit that is larger than required is probably the best way to avoid cable spaghetti. If you install a conduit that only covers your existing requirements, then you are going to be facing a serious case of spaghetti in the future, when new wired need to be added to the already full conduit. When this happens, you will have the option to buy another conduit, which will be expensive and time-consuming or take shortcuts and run a cable along the outside of the conduit, leaving you with an untidy and tangled area.

If you have already found yourself with major cable spaghetti and you require some assistance, speak to our friendly team! We will have the solution to your problem!

Telephone: 01604 259467
Email: sales@nortechservices.co.uk