Network/Fibre Cabling Documention

[StephenPink]

So how do you do it?

 

I'm after a way of getting the network sockets and cabling routes mapped out onto floor plans - preferably without overly expensive CAD software. Needs to be simple enough to maintain too! Free would the dream of course

 

Likewise for the fibre routes - and then how do you manage the multiple floor spanning runs?

 

That sort of visual documentation would be oh so useful, and yet seems so hard to obtain or create...

 

Thanks,

Stephen

[DalekSec]

We use Visio

[Rob_D]

Visio here too.

Not sure how you would mark runs between floors. Maybe have a number/letter for each riser so you can line up the different floors.

[StephenPink]

Thanks both - any tips for getting started with Visio? Not used it much really. Can you import a floor plan easily enough? Any good templates for standard network sockets/cabling types?

 

Cheers

[Davit2005]

I'd combine Spreadsheets with Visio drawings in your documentation. You could put interface names on the Visio for switch to switch links but I would not personally put too much info on Visio just a physical layout with the possibly major links labelled. Then in the spreadsheet document wall ports, patch panel ports, switch ports, switch names, switch IPs, switch models, etc.

 

You can download Visio objects for majority of manufacturers too.

 

I even jus used paint at a few places with spreadsheets and I'm still praised 10+ years later by former employers for the documentation I did, but remember you need to keep it up to date.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Davit2005

[Chris_Cook]

Inkscape maybe?

 

I've got a logical diagram somewhere that was done in Excel (yes you read that right - done by a predecessor). It took me a while to realise there is a pen tool in excel for doing the borders that they used for the links. Daft, but it kind of works.

[Aprice]

If you fancy doing some installation, we quite like Netbox. It's free!

[jthompson]

If you fancy doing some installation, we quite like Netbox. It's free!

Similar to this we've used RackTables.

[StephenPink]

Thanks all - I'm looking for a way to make something like this? Outlet numbers etc and what cab they go to?

 

[Frodo_Baggins]

Thanks all - I'm looking for a way to make something like this? Outlet numbers etc and what cab they go to?

 

I use Visio with and have similar maps that can be layered on for fibres, cabs, and AP's - I've got a separate excel document setup that we update with switches\ patch panels and corresponding ports in rooms (something like the above with all room ports would get quite messy in a med-large school IMO)

[jthompson]

In addition to using a spreadsheet or something like Netbox to document patch panels, you could add some overlays to your floorplans which show a zone for each cab, so that you can see at a glance which cab a room or area runs back to. Labelling of your modules and patch panels should hopefully then match up sensibly so that you don't have to document them in minute detail.

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by jthompson

[Andrew_C]

I'd go Visio too. It can produce tables internally (or export to Excel) Not used it for IT, but door schedules, room sizes etc.

[pete]

I tend to do a logical diagram (double-checked against LLDP data) and then a physical diagram like @jthompson suggests that highlights rooms 1-12 are fed back to cabinet X.

 

For "exactly where does that fibre run go through in the building", I'd create a wiki page with photos of transition points (into manholes, moving between wall and ceiling, from roofspace A to roofspace B) and a map with routes in different colours per run.

[Squip]

I've used drawio.com a couple of times before. I understand it to be an open source equivalent to Visio. It did the job perfectly!

[robintech]

I like the idea of improving things so it's easy to understand and photos of important areas, instead of making a very detailed diagram of everything which was my first thought. We've done the different patch lead colours in one cab and it makes things much easier at a glance, keeping it up is hard though.

[ColinP]

Gosh netbox looks amazing!!!

[TechMonkey]

I had something similar at my last place. I was very lucky the head of estates had decided to go around with a laser measure and draw plans of each floor and map it out in Visio. I then did as Frodo said and created layers for each thing, sockets, printers, switches, cabs, etc. I colour coded network sockets and cabs so you could easily see where they went back to without lines. I'd love to do an area map here like jthompson but you would end up with some weird surrealist product as differnet parts of a single room would be multicoloured!!