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So I just started a new job about a month ago, and one of the very first tasks I am going to be in charge of is cleaning up the data center.  Our current data center has around 50 physical servers, 3 SANs, and a whole slew of switches, routers and other networking equipment.  It has been a few years since the last reorganization of the Data Center, and as you can imagine, the twisting mass of orange, blue, yellow and gray has grown somewhat out of control.  Anyone with experience troubleshooting network problems knows that tracing cables through a spaghetti-like mess is very difficult and time consuming, and if you are like most IT staff, you don't have that kind of time.  Enter the Neat Patch...


Now the Neat Patch is not some overly complicated cable management structure built into the side of your rack where you stuff all of your cables to keep them out of sight.  It is a simple device that occupies 2U of space in your rack and allows you to neatly tuck your cables behind a flat, removable panel.  Behind the panel is a box which allows you to loop the supplied 2ft. cat 6 patch cables and neatly feed them out the top.  You simply place the Neat Patch between your switch and your patch panel and route all of the interconnecting cables through it.  The front panel hides the loops (although you could just as easily leave the front panel off and it would still look neat and organized) and the end result is a neat, tidy network rack that is easy to manage and looks good.

The Neat Patch works simply by providing a place to neatly loop your cables while connecting them between the patch panel and the switch.  The box that the patch cables sit in provides enough room for the provided 2ft. patch cables to loop while not overextending the bend and damaging the cable.  The Neat Patch uses 2ft. patch cables so that if you have to connect ports on the opposite ends of the panel, you can do so by simply forgoing the loop and stretching the cable across through the panel, something that you cannot do with shorter 1ft. cables.  The Neat Patch does all this while keeping your cables neatly organized.


While the Neat Patch can provide all of these features, there is some forethought that has to go into your cable management strategy to make them work effectively.  Obviously, you cannot have your patch panels on the top of a rack while your switches are on the bottom.  This simply will not work, for obvious reasons.  You have to have everything in a tight proximity.  The guide that we are following currently is to place your router at the very top of the rack, then your patch panel.  You then place one of the Neat Patches directly below the patch panel followed by your switch.  In most of our data closets, we have stacked 1U switches, so we would place 2 in the rack on top of each other.  Below the switches, install another Neat Patch followed by another patch panel.  The basic idea is to have the switches and patch panels separated by a Neat Patch so that you can keep your cables organized.  Using this plan so far has yielded some pretty well organized racks that are easy to maintain.  If you are thinking about doing any kind of cable management projects, the Neat Patch is definitely worth taking a look at.