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What do you use for cross-connect documentation that stays accurate?

Datacenter Talk by mediaaustin 17 replies 1.7K views
mediaaustin

Member OP

Deliverability Nerd

7 #1

Your spreadsheet is lying to you right now.

For what it's worth, I have seen this at three providers. The "master" Excel lives on a share drive, last modified by someone who quit in 2022, and the color code legend is a scanned PDF with coffee stains. SPF records are easier to keep straight than fiber pairs, and that is saying something.

Current attempt: NetBox at HostHatch with custom cables module. Problem is remote hands do not update it after moves. They update the ticket, not the source of truth.

I have watched a "green" cross-connect turn out to be orange in reality because the original installer was colorblind and nobody documented the exception. This is not a joke. The documentation stayed "green" for four years.

What actually works in production? Not theory. I need something a field tech will use without cursing my name.

SPF, DKIM, DMARC — holy trinity ✉️
SH

Member

5 #2

Netbox good. Field tech bad. Perkele.

Excel worse. Single person quits. Nobody knows purple from blue. Network okay until not.

Physical tags okay if locked cabinet. Key with one person. Person goes vacation. Chaos.

No perfect system. Only less bad.

SingaporeRep

Member

Benchmark Addict

#3

> "master" Excel lives on a share drive, last modified by someone who quit in 2022
> Color code legend is a scanned PDF with coffee stains
This

> Original installer was colorblind
> Documentation stayed "green" for four years
Also this

> What actually works in production?
Still waiting for answer

fio, iperf, geekbench. results or gtfo.
Marek

Member

Traceroute Detective

#4

We had same at Beyond.pl in Wrocław. NetBox beautiful, cable traces perfect, then remote hands moves fiber for emergency and updates ticket only. Now NetBox says patch to switch 7, reality is switch 12. I learn this when my traceroute dies at hop 3.

My fix: QR on every patch panel. Scan with phone, photo required before close ticket. Not perfect but 80% better. Still need human to actually scan.

frankfurt_ops

Member

#5

QR codes work until they don't. Frankfurt here, we tried at Interxion. Humidity peeled labels in six months. Switched to metal tags laser-etched, cost more but survive.

Real problem is who owns the update. Remote hands works for facility, not for you. Their SLA is power and ping, not your documentation. You want accuracy, you pay for smart hands or you send your own.

mediaaustin

Member OP

Deliverability Nerd

#6
frankfurt_ops said:
Their SLA is power and ping, not your documentation

This is the core insight I was missing. HostHatch remote hands are not bad people. Their ticket system is not my NetBox. Two different worlds.

I am going to try the QR + photo requirement. Not for remote hands, for *me* when I visit. At least my own moves get logged.

SPF, DKIM, DMARC — holy trinity ✉️
SingaporeRep

Member

Benchmark Addict

#7

Benchmarked this problem. Three months with QR+photo at Equinix SG. 94% compliance when my own tech, 31% when remote hands. Numbers over vibes confirmed: vibes lose.

Better result: prepaid smart hands block. Buy 10 hours, they know your name, they know you check. Still not 100%, maybe 67%.

fio, iperf, geekbench. results or gtfo.
Fritz48

Member

Datenschutz First

#8

Datenschutz angle: photos of your infrastructure in third-party ticket systems. Where stored? How long? GDPR forget-me-right versus audit trail. I have had this fight with two providers in Berlin. No good answer yet.

NetBox self-hosted solves this. But then you carry the backup burden.

Neuland. Aber schnell.
DA

Member

#9

Antwerp small shop here. We use DCIM from Device42, not NetBox. More expensive, worse UI, but their "work order" module forces tech to confirm each cable before close. Not perfect, 45 minutes per order instead of 15.

Trade-off is real. Speed or accuracy. Pick one.

nangwill

Member

#10

First server yesterday feeling: I do not understand half this thread. But I understand Excel lie. My "server" is VPS at HostHatch Singapore. No cables to trace. Someday maybe I have real rack and this problem. Following.

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