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I inherited a bit of a mess. And I'm not all that experienced with cabling, so I was hoping to get some advice on where to start when it comes to organizing things. In the image, patch panels are on top, switches are in the middle.

Or maybe I should just forget about it since everything is working? I hate to look at it though. My switches

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    At the very least, start with getting some cable management, both horizontal and vertical. It is relatively inexpensive, and it will make a big difference.
    – Ron Maupin
    Jul 2, 2015 at 15:22
  • While I have lots of opinions on this, they are unfortunately only my opinions. So I'm voting to close.
    – Ron Trunk
    Jul 2, 2015 at 17:27
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    – YLearn
    Jul 2, 2015 at 19:22
  • Given that the main question is "where to start" my answer (were the question open) would be "document what is there now" - you can't make it sane, and do what it does now, if you don't KNOW what it does now. Only when you know what's connected to what and the associated VLANs if any can you start grinding through to make it more tidy (without breaking things, anyway.)
    – Ecnerwal
    Jul 7, 2015 at 13:55

2 Answers 2

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If it works don't mess with it, save yourself the headache. Looking at this I sincerely doubt there is any extensive documentation behind it. If I were in your position I would begin planning for the upgrade of this switch stack. You can define your cable color scheme, include cable management, and any other items that you deem important! Save all of this for when the upgrade takes place and then implement it at that time.

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    You can add some cbl mgt and strain relief, but don't touch the existing cables. Each time you make a change, put a new cable (colored/labeled) and slowly migrate into sanity. Jul 2, 2015 at 16:33
  • I dislike this answer but not enough to downvote it. Craig's comment is much closer to a good way forward. What I don't like specifically is that it does not take into account troubleshooting connectivity problems between now and the time of this future upgrade, which depending on budget and so on could be a long time in the future. In my experience, an attitude of "I know this looks bad but it's working right now so why make it better?" is asking for trouble. I would actually come in outside of business hours and start re-routing and replacing cables that are dark. Jul 2, 2015 at 17:54
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If and only if every walljack is patched into a switchport, invest the time in cleaning up the cabling.

If a subset of walljacks are patched in, do not invest the time to clean it up as you will end up having to unplug and move cables among the patch panel and switch ports.

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