Don’t try this in your data center! In this example, it was not possible to close the floor anymore.
If you’re responsible of a data center (whatever the size! One rack is enough), follow simple rules:
- Arrange cables in separate cable-ways (power, data, voice);
- Use colored cables (red for backbone, blue for management, …);
- Ensure enough space for air circulation;
- Write down information in a database, even a text file will be better than nothing;
- Do not extend electric circuit with low cost plug sets;
- Use appropriate cable length;
If you apply those simple rules, it will be much more easy to solve any problem in the future! Brainstorm your engineers and do not tolerate any exception! Cases like “It’s just an urgent temporary solution!” will often become a definitive solution. No way!
Once the data center is safe, you can start to build your server farms. Running high-availability clusters on top of a unsafe environment is a non-sense.