What is a Patch Panel and Why Your Data Center Needs it?

What is a Patch Panel?

A patch panel is a piece of hardware with multiple ports that helps organize a group of cables. Each of these ports contains a wire that goes to a different location. Patch panels can be quite small, with just a few ports, or very large, with many hundreds of ports. They can also be set up for fiber optic cables, cat5 cables, cat6 cables, RJ45 cables, and many others.

What is a Patch Panel Used for?

Patch panels connect various IT devices together. They are in many different environments including communications closets, telephone company central offices, and data centers. Understanding the role they play can help to determine if your facility requires a patch panel, and if so, how to set it up.

Each port in a patch panel goes to a different device somewhere in the facility. Each panel bundles all the connections together in order to connect to another network. This is often how a LAN connects to a WAN, or to the Internet. Patch panels are also commonly used in facilities with a lot of telephone lines, in which one mainline is used for all phones.

Patch Panel Cable Management System

With dozens, or even hundreds, of cables coming into and out of a patch panel, it can be easy for things to become quite tangled and messy. Unorganized cables can make troubleshooting much more difficult, and can even lead to outages if someone unplugs the wrong cable. This is why it is critical to keep organization in mind from the first cable you plug in. There are many things that a person can do to help keep a patch panel organized, including:

Labeling Cables – All cables should be properly labeled at both ends, and in many cases, along the middle as well. Having labels on the cables will make it easy for technicians to confirm they are working on the right lines.

Patch Cable Organizers – Patch cable organizers allow you to run lines neatly and evenly to each port so you can see exactly where things are coming from and going to.

Color-Coded Cables – Using color-coded cables will allow you to quickly identify what type of cable is in each place.

Zip Ties – Using zip ties to bundle cables that are going to the same server rack or other location will help keep things looking neat and organized.