When we consider network infrastructure, sometimes we say we need to "clean house" before we update. But that can be a misnomer, because what really needs doing is correction of all the layered-in generations of infrastructure gone wild.
Installations and infrastructure demand good housekeeping, but most IT best-practices guidelines don't cover existing or grandfathered infrastructure the way they should. IT folks are challenged on how to:
In the photo after the jump, you can see how anyone tempted to just rip it all out could be blindsided by any number of problems. Scores of cross-connects and old wiring intermingle with three types of protectors. An old, unused network interface device (NID) tangles with jumpers and 25-pair cables bridging to connectors. Then there's outside plant and biscuit jacks for devices, and beanies splicing wire pairs. There's grounding, too, but you need to follow it out to dark places to find its origin.
The 66-block connectors and RJ21X NIDs don't help either, since their labels are distorted from mark-overs and cross-outs. You can even see abandoned remnants of an aerial cable spliced to another location on the property before it exits the second-floor roof. Painstaking as it may be, you'd have to go through the process of identifying every pair of wires and where each cable ends up.
If you can't follow this trail of "speak," then you need to proceed with extreme caution. Actually, even those who can follow the trail need to do the same.
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