Best Practice Cabling a VLAN Switch

[sk55]

Hi guys,

I am new to the forum and layer-3 switching.

I just got a hp procurve layer-3 switch. just wondering how you guys wire these switches neatly?

when using VLANs... do you keep to try to keep each vlan at on certain ports?
1-5 vlan1
6-10 vlan 10

OR should i color code for different vlan?

[Reiß, Thomas]

both

Greetings
Thomas

[Pieter 't Hart]

depends on the complexity of the network.
it also depends on the number of mutations in your network.

for a small number of vlan's and switches it will be sufficient to use the ports in groups. Colored tape can be helpful to label the ports.

Colored cables is very nice but a lot of work.
=> when changing vlan for an outlet you need to
- remove the old patch cable
- route a new colored cable
- recode the outlet
- replace the cable from the outlet to the device.
So it's hard to apply so much dicipline when making changes to the network.
Unless all making changes are very dedicated to the job, this is doomed to fail.
With many vlans you may run out of colors.

hence it may be easier to
- use consecutive ports for vlan's
- mark the ports (colored tape or labelprinter)
- use same color cable for all connections
- mark the outlet for vlan

Pieter

[sk55]

thanks guys. these tips will help. my switch was looking a bit messy already!