Is there any EIA/TIA standards on patch cable colors in the MDF/IDF?
Should all clients be a certain color? All WAP another? Uplinks another?
Anyone have a website with this? Can anyone say what they use?
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Well I use blue patch cables from my switches to my patch panels, and red cross over cables between switches. I use black patch cables to my servers, and from the patch panel out to the drops they are grey or white, the white is cat6. I think it's a matter of preference since you can get the cables in many different colors.
There is no real "official" standard for cable jacket colours. Any standards would be purely based on the business' preference or method.
It is, however, recommended you set up your own system the differentiate between various device types. There are some "unofficial" mouth-in-cheek standards, such as Red which leew mentioned, however this is mainly because Red is a hot colour and can be easily associated with the fire system ("Red like a Firetruck"). In the end however, it is really up to you.
It is also recommended, just to mention, that physical ports be labeled as well (ie. on patch panels, switches, routers, wallplates, etc.). This way no matter what colour convention you use, you know in the end where things are wired to.
Ah, here it is. From the BiCSi Telecommunications Distributions Methods Manual, 11th Edition.
Color-Coding
The color codes for cross-connect fields are shown in Table 10.5.
Table 10.5
Color codes
The Color& Identifies&
Orange Demarcation point (e.g., central office connections)
Green Network connections (e.g., network and auxiliary
equipment)
Purple Common equipment (e.g., connections to PBX, main
frame computer, LAN, multiplexer)
White First-level backbone (e.g., termination of building
backbone cable connecting MC [CD] to ICs [BDs])
Gray Second-level backbone (e.g., termination of building
backbone cable connecting ICs [BDs] to HCs [FDs])
Blue Horizontal cable (e.g., horizontal connections to
telecommunications outlet/connectors)
Brown Campus backbone (campus cable terminations)
NOTE: Brown takes precedence over white or gray
for campus runs.
Yellow Miscellaneous (e.g., auxiliary, alarms, security)
Red Reserved for future use (also, key telephone systems)
BD = Building distributor
C D = Campus distributor
FD = Floor distributor
HC = Horizontal cross-connect
I C = Intermediate cross-connect
MC = Main cross-connect
NOTES: Industry practice varies according to local codes and practices (e.g., industry practice in Canada is to use white or silver for common equipment terminations and purple for first-level backbone terminations).
Industry practices in some areas reserve red for life-safety alarm systems.
Accepted methods for color-coding cross-connect fields include the use of colored
backboards, connections, covers, or labels. These color assignments are for identifying only cross-connect fields. They are considered to be independent of media type and telecommunications services (e.g., voice or data) and do not
apply to protection apparatus or other elements of the cabling system for which other (proprietary) color schemes may be used.
Business Accounts
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by: pseudocyberPosted on 2008-04-03 at 13:17:37ID: 21276511
Sort of - I'll have to look it up for you.