The high-density cabling solution simplifies the data center design (figure)

With the increasing call to reduce operating costs and improve system performance, enterprise-level data centers are experiencing a huge revolution. This will directly affect strategic business development and have a profound impact on its ability to adapt to rapid changes in the market. We know that the following factors have driven the growth of today's data centers and system changes: business or system integration, necessary disaster recovery, surge in application and information carrying capacity, and increased costs and complexity of data centers. New technology solutions with virtual servers, storage area networks, 10G Ethernet, and InfiniBand as the core have been widely used in the entire data center. Their purpose is to meet the growing business needs of the data center, it also minimizes operating costs and improves overall system performance.

Undoubtedly, information technology has become a strategic commercial asset. Therefore, for the healthy development of the entire business, it is particularly important to ensure the efficient storage, protection, processing, transmission, and reliable recovery of information. Nothing is more important than this. The complexity of the data center increases the overhead and risks, this makes the deployment of new technologies meet business growth needs, and must consider seamless integration with the original technology platform, minimum risks, and simplified management and maintenance. Today's information network infrastructure is far from simply one-time delivery to customers, but must have high reliability, high scalability, high performance and high availability.

A large number of new technologies, represented by distribution, cooling, and structured cabling, have been applied in the physical layer of the data center, achieving the aforementioned scalability, scalability, reliability, reduced operating costs, and improved system performance. Specifically, these typical technologies include: high-voltage distribution system, enhanced cabinet Design for improving air circulation, and high-bandwidth optical fiber technology. In particular, managers of the data center infrastructure network are building scalable infrastructure cabling systems from a global perspective to better meet current and future needs.

The brand-new optical fiber cabling solution breaks the shackles of previous network-based applications. Deploying a brand-new optical fiber network can simplify network changes and adapt to future topology changes flexibly, achieve organic convergence of networks, devices, and applications. These solutions have built a high-reliability, flexible transfer to multi-application transmission technologies such as fiber channel, Ethernet, InfiniBand, and a high-scalability network that is easy to expand to a higher number of ports. We have also built a network foundation for an optical fiber system using a laser optimized high-bandwidth 50um multimode fiber and a high-density MTP connector. In the near future, we will be able to smoothly evolve to a higher-speed G Ethernet.

Traditional optical fiber cabling solutions, such as Duplex jumpers and duplex optical fiber connectors, are competent only for network environments based on specific applications, with few ports. With the increase in the number of ports and the acceleration of system device updates, the manageability and reliability of the network are greatly reduced. In addition, new cabling may throw discarded cables aside, resulting in a large number of idle cables in cabinets and routes (the US National Electrical Code requires that discarded cables be removed ). In the past, a series of reliability problems will occur in the data center. When a large number of cables are filled in the cabinet, route laying, and all the space, the air circulation is blocked, heat cannot be discharged, and risks of hot spots become near. Managing discarded cables undoubtedly increases daily operating costs. The complexity of the network also increases with the increase in channel recognition difficulty and the decrease in port utilization on the panel.

The most important aspect of MTP-based high-density modular data center structured cabling system is the ability to quickly respond to any movement, increase, and change of the network. Centralized wiring and star network wiring are adopted in the main distribution area of the data center, which makes it easy to change the wiring of data equipment on the panel, and perfectly integrates the physical layer and application layer in the main distribution area. Practice has proved that the high-density optical fiber cabling system using the band-optic cable technology can reduce the congestion of large cables in routing compared with traditional cabling methods, and save more than half of the wiring space. In addition, the factory pre-fabricated high-density MTP trunk cable components simplify network deployment, saving 80% of the installation time for traditional optical fiber solutions. The high-bandwidth laser is used to optimize the 50um Multimode Optical Fiber (OM3) optical fiber network, which provides a wide range of space for processing higher-speed applications, for example, the fiber channel is upgraded from 8G to 128G, and the Ethernet is upgraded from 1G to 100G, greatly expanding the use cycle of the cabling infrastructure.

Another benefit of deploying MTP-based optical fiber networks is the flexible transmission of serial and parallel signals. Parallel Optical Fiber technology such as InfiniBand and the 40/100G Ethernet technology are implemented based on the MTP trunk cable system. Converting MTP to an independent dual-core connector, such as a general module and branch jumper, can be directly connected to the MTP trunk for serial communication. Common modules are typically used in branch cabling environments with low-number ports, such as server cabinets. For applications with high-density cabling environments and high-number ports, such as SAN switches, the dispatch cords provide extraordinary improvements to the conversion capability (see for details ). This modular design built in the solution provides great flexibility to adapt to frequent configuration changes in the cabling infrastructure, meeting or even surpassing the current and future network needs. Once any device in the data center network needs to change, increase, or change, the fan-out jumper and common modules can respond quickly and flexibly switch between devices, it is easy to remove all from the trunk network.

This branch module is typically used in rack-mounted fiber distribution frames. The MTP trunk cable can be connected from the backplane of the module. The traditional duplex jumper is connected from the front panel of the module and connected to the system device port through routing. Branch jumpers can be connected to the MTP trunk cable hardware through the MTP adaptation panel. The MTP adapter panel can also be installed on a rack-mounted optical fiber distribution frame.

Another value-added solution is to install optical fiber cables and panel devices and racks, the fiber solution is integrated into the cabinet side bar with the vertical line feature (this solution is called the Zero-U system because it does not occupy any valuable horizontal space in the Cabinet ). In fact, the complete MTP-based high-density cabling integration solution is perfectly implemented in the data center, greatly enhancing the overall deployment and operation performance of the data center integrated cabling infrastructure. As shown in table 2, the Cabinet is neatly deployed with a high-density MTP trunk cable, and the airflow is maximized. The Artistic integrated design highlights the excellent torque release function. Branch plug built into the MTP trunk cable and built-in vertical/horizontal line support built on the rack side bar of the Cabinet, so that the data center can perfectly deploy and manage the trunk cable. The cable management bracket ensures the routing purity of the cables in the Cabinet within the bending radius.

This cabinet trunk cable integrated management solution simplifies the upgrade and maintenance of the wiring system to the maximum extent. The branch plug is integrated with the cabinet column to maximize the available unit space in the rack, so that more devices can be placed in the data center. It is conveniently attached to the unit bracket on the side of the Cabinet between the frame and the side panel. These complete design and processing solutions ensure that the branch module is perfectly integrated with the low-number port system equipment in the rack, and provide neat and reasonable jumper routing.

The value of the high-density MTP cabinet cabling integration system is more obvious in deploying cabling solutions with extremely high port numbers such as requiring SAN Switch directors. The number of ports in the cabinet equipped with a SAN Switch can reach more than 700, which means that more than 19 inch fiber routes are required in a 1500 cabinet. The high-density MTP trunk cabling uses a strategic solution integrated with the cabinet vertical cable management rack, greatly improving the airflow circulation efficiency. The Zero-U solution is designed to fully consider the need for air flow to traverse all cables and connection points without hindrance, which is particularly important for devices that "rack side cooling. As shown in table 3, MTP trunk cabling is installed on the backplane of the high-density MTP adaptation panel assembled on the rack of the vertical cabinet line. These MTP adaptation panels have clearly identified labels that correspond strictly to SAN Switch interfaces. This simplifies the installation of the wiring system and optimizes and manages the strict data center compiling system.

The MTP end of the 12-core MTP-LC branch jumper is connected to the front panel of the adaptation panel, and the duplex LC end is connected to the network port of the switch after passing through the switch board (see for details ). Although the small diameter of the branch jumper is easy to route and the size is reserved without special consideration of bending factors, the factory pre-fabricated fan-out jumper is machined to a precise length with strict tolerances, to minimize the remaining length. The branch Jumper can be used to provide customized design for system devices with high port numbers in the data center to facilitate installation and adapt to configuration changes at any time. Each LC duplex optical fiber connector of the branch jumper is also pre-fabricated by the factory. The branch diameter is only 1.6mm and is staggered along with the switch port to avoid cable congestion. This factory-tailored branch jumper is combined with the vertical cable rack of the Cabinet, eliminating a maximum of 77% of the congested cables in the Cabinet and the Bottom Plate of the SAN Switch. With the deployment and application of this premade cabling scheme, not only the construction and installation process is greatly simplified, but also the time for designing the SAN and preparing relevant documents is greatly reduced through the perfect ing between the device port and the network architecture.

In the past, it was characterized by a traditional low-density duplex jumper and optical fiber cable assembly hardware. Now it uses a high-density MTP-based cabinet vertical cable rack integration solution, this evolution provides high manageability, flexibility, and scalability for the physical layer of the data center to a considerable extent.

Features and values of high-density cabling solutions:

◆ The Zero-U system maximizes the available space on the rack for data center system devices.

◆ The innovative concept of device port and infrastructure ing greatly reduces the design and construction time of the basic network from the Main Wiring area to the SAN Switch.

◆ Flexible customization of high-density MTP trunk cable system assembly hardware can simplify the deployment of the data center infrastructure, accelerate the movement, increase, and change of the infrastructure in the future, and promote the effective circulation of air flow in the cabinet.

◆ The perfect integration of trunk MTP cable assembly hardware and cabinets provides a concise and optimized way for the organization and deployment of trunk cabling in the data center.

◆ In stark contrast to the traditional patch cord Wiring Scheme: the rack and the bottom plane of the SAN Switch can reduce the number of congested cables by more than 77%.

◆ The highly modular system design is easy to flexibly configure to meet the future needs of the data center network.

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