What do all of those Ethernet cables do in Servers

[AlphaBetaDelta]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to servers and networking and stuff. What is the point of having all of those Ethernet cables and what do they do? 

[minibois]

See I'm no network guy.. But I would suggest they connect stuff to other stuff.

 

Connecting multiple cameras to a security system.. Connecting all the PC's in the building to another switch/router that handles the internet.. and of course some sort of NAS system.. etc. etc.

[Taswell]

That is where the Ethernet cables in the walls go into the patch panel and then into a Switch. All of them are not plugged right into a server, Although each server can have multiple lines running to it for multiple IP addresses.

 

Blue cables are going into the patch panel

 

The white cables are the patch cables going from the patch panel to the switch are most likely are logged and tagged so you can trace traffic easier

 

This way cables can be moved and repaired easier than if all the cables were terminated straight into a switch or something. Faster repairs/easier trouble shooting = less downtime. Its all about being organized and efficient

 

 

 

[Taswell]

1 minute ago, ITheSpazI said:

That is where the Ethernet cables in the walls go into the patch panel and then into a Switch. All of them are not plugged right into a server, Although each server can have multiple lines running to it for multiple IP addresses.

 

Blue cables are going into the patch panel

 

The white cables are the patch cables going from the patch panel to the switch and are most likely are logged and tagged so you can trace traffic easier

 

This way cables can be moved and repaired easier than if all the cables were terminated straight into a switch or something. Faster repairs/easier trouble shooting = less downtime. Its all about being organized and efficient

 

 

 

FML Im a tard

[Phentos]

17 minutes ago, AlphaBetaDelta said:

Hi,

I'm pretty new to servers and networking and stuff. What is the point of having all of those Ethernet cables and what do they do? 

They connect things to other things so that those things can talk to other things.

[jared404]

Each server typically has 4-5 Ethernet ports for load balancing and multiple hosts on the same box. Also, all of the desktops in the building are typically hard wired, all of those connections all go to the sever rack to be connected to the switches.

[bgibbz]

I assume your refering to the short cable runs that go between a router and a patch panel on a server rack? When a building is built, cat XX cables are run throughout the walls and cut to length. One end of the cable goes into a terminal on the wall like this , or terminates like this.

 

The other end gets wired into a patch panel where it automatically gets keyed to a jack in a much easier to wire format than a keystone. In a given server rack, you would have a patch panel with all of the raw ethernet cables terminating into standared rj45 jacks, and then short cables connecting the patch panel to your router/switch. 

 

 

edit - after rereading your post, seems your referring to having multiple network cables connected to one NAS. This can increase speed and stability of the server, and allow individual VMs to have there own dedicated network line. 

[samiscool51]

allows fast communication between servers without going though things like, routers, network switches, network hubs etc

e.g, from a main storage server to a long term storage server without slowing the rest of the network down and taking long to back up the data

so..

put the thing, into the other thing

[Donci]

An ethernet cable isn't just used to connect to the internet. If you want servers to be able to work together, they will need a means of communication. Lots of ethernet cables might also be a result of a need for higher bandwidth between servers, because there is a way to leverage the bandwidth of multiple cables. Servers usually also use sfp+ or qsfp+ cables, they are also used as an interconnect, and can carry both ethernet and infiniband.

[jamescr]

in a server farm, you may find that servers have a "public" interface (i.e. internet facing), "private" (i.e. internal, for accessing databases/etc) and "storage" (for accessing the storage network), or they may be multiple connections bonded together to increase the maximum throughput. There can also be ethernet cables for access to the management interface (idrac/ipmi/similar)

[Nikolithebear]

In short!

 

-Mutliple connections (NIC Teaming).   Two 1gigabit cables combined through software or hardware to make a 2gigabit path (or more)

Redundancy!  If one nic or port fails the other can take over.  And to connect everything