Does your wiring look like this?

[Ben Scott]

On Jan 25, 2008 12:24 PM, Scott Mellott <scott at mellott.com> wrote:
> Take a look at the link for the worst rack installation . . . .
>
> http://royal.pingdom.com/?p=234

  "That yellow cable is mine."  (from the comments on that page)

On Jan 25, 2008 1:40 PM, Scott Mellott <scott at mellott.com> wrote:
> NBC has been in that building since it was built in the 1930s.
> The engineer speculated that 80% of the cable was unused.

  Part of the complex I work at includes some mill buildings erected
during the 1900s -- the decade, not the century.  There have been at
least three owners.  There's at least four generations of telephone
wiring, including stuff that dates well back to before the AT&T
divestiture.  I've removed over 200 pounds of dead wiring so far, and
I've barely scratched the surface.  I've found telephone terminal
blocks made out of wood.  Inside trunk cables with semi-rigid lead
sheathes.  Inside wiring that has other people's dialtones on it
(bridge taps + pre-divestiture wiring = oops).  Multiple 100-pair
inside wiring trunks.  I've also found various data cables, including
some kind of non-Ethernet RJ-45, coax, and twinax.  Some of the
ceiling tiles are, indeed, hard to move.  :)

On Jan 25, 2008 1:55 PM, Bill McGonigle <bill at bfccomputing.com> wrote:
> A pox on zip ties, though.  At least use Velcro straps if you don't
> feel like tying waxed lacing cord!

  Zip ties have their place.  I avoid using them to lash down
equipment cables, for reasons already noted.  For bundling permanent
premises wiring that isn't expected to change, they're not so bad if
done properly.  They're also smaller and neater than most anything,
which sometimes makes them appropriate when appearance matters but a
cable tray would look worse and in-wall isn't feasible.

> The comments there suggest zip ties aren't Cat-5 kosher - good to know.

  Zip ties are no more or less appropriate for Cat 5 than velco or any
other strap.  If you over-tighten them, you'll pinch the cable.  That
potentially takes the cable out of Cat 5 compliance (since the
twisting can be distorted).  But you can do that just by *bending* a
Cat 5 cable -- you don't need to (ab)use a wire management mechanism.
:)

-- Ben