Notes from the team
Restricted: rack and switch ports
- U42: Fibre patch, Corning Closet Connector Housing, 1U
- U41: Out-of-band console server, ZPE Nodegrid Serial Console Plus, 48 ports
- U38 to U39: Patch panel A, Level 13, Panduit NetKey Cat6A patch panel, 48 ports
- U37: Access switch 1, Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P, In service, no open incidents
- U34 to U35: Patch panel B, Level 13, Panduit NetKey Cat6A patch panel, 48 ports
- U33: Access switch 2, Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P, In service, no open incidents
- U30 to U31: Patch panel C, Level 13, Panduit NetKey Cat6A patch panel, 48 ports
- U29: Access switch 3, Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P
- U26 to U27: Patch panel D, Level 13, Panduit NetKey Cat6A patch panel, 48 ports
- U25: Access switch 4, Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P
- U23: Patch panel, AV outlets
- U22: AV switch on a shelf, Netgear AV Line M4250-9G1F-PoE+ (GSM4210PD), In service, no open incidents
- U19 to U21: Space for a large room's codec
- U3 to U18: Space for growth
- U1 to U2: UPS, APC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2U
Rack space
19U free of 42U
23U used. 3U kept for a large room's codec.
Needs 42U for what it serves: exactly enough.
Access ports
10 free of 192
- Access switch 146 of 48
- Access switch 246 of 48
- Access switch 345 of 48
- Access switch 445 of 48
- Outlets patched181 of 192
- AV switch9 of 10
Needs 218 (181 + 20% headroom): short by 26.
PoE 437W to 1440W of PoE+ power depending on power-supply configuration on each of 4, as the vendor states. The draw is not measured.
Power
APC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2U
- FeedsA and B
- Load and runtime35%, 29 min
2 power strips at the back: Raritan PX3 monitored rack PDU.
Circuits: A from DB-13A, way 12; B from DB-13B, way 14.
Uplink
- To the MDF, 12.11 Comms room (MDF)8 fibres over the riser (Fibre OM4), from Access switch 1 and Access switch 2 and Access switch 3 and Access switch 4
Out-of-band: out-of-band console server (ZPE Nodegrid Serial Console Plus, 48 ports).
Power and temperature
Against the power and racks standardsUPS runs 29 min at 35% load, inside the standard · the room is at 22.4 °C
UPS runtime · APC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2U
29 min at least 15
UPS load
35% at most 80%
Temperature Simulated
22.4 °C 18 to 27
Runtime and load as measured at the last timed test, 21 Oct 2025 Demo value. Temperature from the temperature probe on the UPS network card, at the front of the rack, reporting to monitoring; live readings come by connector.
If this were off
SimulatedPick a switch, gateway or circuit here to see which spaces, meetings and services would lose the internet. Worked out from the recorded patching.
Access switch 1 Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P · Rack 1, U37 · 13.20 Comms room (IDF)
Would affect 12 spaces, 42 meetings in the next 24 hours (149 people) and 2 services
Level 12
Level 13
Restricted: rack and switch ports "Up" is an uplink: the way this switch reaches the internet.
Spaces it would cut off 12
- 13.01 OystercatcherFloor 13 · 2 units · 8 bookings
- 13.02 LapwingFloor 13 · 4 units · 3 bookings
- 13.03 KingfisherFloor 13 · 4 units · 6 bookings
- 13.04 CormorantFloor 13 · 4 units · 5 bookings
- 13.05 WrenFloor 13 · 3 units · 2 bookings
- 13.06 RobinFloor 13 · 2 units · 1 booking
- 13.07 GoldcrestFloor 13 · 1 unit · 4 bookings
- 13.08 StonechatFloor 13 · 1 unit · 3 bookings
- 13.09 GoldfinchFloor 13 · 2 units
- 13.10 Focus 13.10Floor 13 · 1 unit · 4 bookings
- 13.11 Focus 13.11Floor 13 · 1 unit · 1 booking
- 13.12 Focus 13.12Floor 13 · 1 unit · 5 bookings
VLANs at the Chicago office
9 VLANs · 0 ports to reviewEvery port on its planned VLAN
Switches here chi-1320-as01Access switch 1chi-1320-as02Access switch 2chi-1320-as03Access switch 3chi-1320-as04Access switch 4
In-room switches chi-1208-sw0112.08 Barn Owl
| VLAN | Prefix | Gateway | Addresses | Reaches | Ports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Management | 10.40.10.0/24 | 10.40.10.1 | 22 reservationsreserved 10.40.10.20 to 10.40.10.219 · pool 10.40.10.220 to 10.40.10.254 | Only the network team's tools and the controller | 48 |
| 20 Corporate | 10.40.20.0/22 | 10.40.20.1 | None reservedreserved 10.40.20.20 to 10.40.20.219 · pool 10.40.21.1 to 10.40.23.254 | Internal services and the internet | 51 |
| 30 Room systems | 10.40.30.0/24 | 10.40.30.1 | 31 reservationsreserved 10.40.30.20 to 10.40.30.219 · pool 10.40.30.220 to 10.40.30.254 | Their cloud services, device management and the booking service | 32 |
| 31 Displays and signage | 10.40.31.0/24 | 10.40.31.1 | 28 reservationsreserved 10.40.31.20 to 10.40.31.219 · pool 10.40.31.220 to 10.40.31.254 | The display and signage management platforms, NTP and the room control system | 28 |
| 40 AV | 169.254.0.0/16 | None: not routed | Link-local, in each room | Nothing outside the room (not routed) | 1 |
| 50 Building | 10.40.50.0/24 | 10.40.50.1 | None reservedreserved 10.40.50.20 to 10.40.50.219 · pool 10.40.50.220 to 10.40.50.254 | The building management platform only | 0 |
| 60 Security | 10.40.60.0/24 | 10.40.60.1 | None reservedreserved 10.40.60.20 to 10.40.60.219 · pool 10.40.60.220 to 10.40.60.254 | The security platforms only | 0 |
| 70 Printers | 10.40.70.0/24 | 10.40.70.1 | 1 reservationreserved 10.40.70.20 to 10.40.70.219 · pool 10.40.70.220 to 10.40.70.254 | The print service | 1 |
| 90 Guest | 10.40.90.0/23 | 10.40.90.1 | None reservedpool 10.40.90.20 to 10.40.91.254 | The internet only, clients cannot see each other | 0 |
From the network standard's VLAN plan. Prefixes, gateways and addresses are made up for the demo; the ports are as recorded for the demo, as the switch platforms would report them.
Compared against
Cisco (older): The earlier build: the floor's patch panels and Cisco access switches, a fibre link back to the MDF, an out-of-band console server, and room for a large room's codec, on a UPS. Rooms built to it move to UniFi when their switches are refreshed.
- Network standard
- Older kit, due 2027
- Required devices
- All recorded
- Optional fitted
- None of 1
Older kit: Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P. Moves to UniFi when refreshed.
Lifecycle
- In service
- 3
Upkeep
Room checks from the maintenance planner
Next check: Thu, 29 Oct
- Quarterly comms room checkThu, 29 Oct, Grace, with 1 more space
Sized for what it serves
20 spaces, 58 desks, 9 video rooms · How a comms room is sized- Data outlets18120 spaces, 58 desks, 9 video rooms192panel ports11 to spare
- Access ports218181 + 20% headroom192on 4 switchesShort by 26
- Access switches548 ports each4Short by 1
- PoE budget377 W16 devices as the vendors state; 9 PoE devices with no figureNot recordedNot recorded
- Rack space42U24U of parts + 25% growth42UExactly enough
- UPSNot sizedload and runtime not recordedAPC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2Uin the rackNot checked
Patching
219 cables in 15 runs, coloured by the house cable standard · All cables at Chicago officeRestricted: rack and switch ports
- 5 × Console1.5 m, purpleto Console ports: access switches and the AV switchConsole and out-of-band
- 46 × Cat6A0.5 m, blueto Patch panel A, Level 13, ports 1 to 46Panel A outlets 1 to 46 live; 47 to 48 spare.User data
- 2 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Fibre patch, ports 1 to 2Riser to the Level 12 MDF.Multimode fibre
- 45 × Cat6A0.5 m, blueto Patch panel B, Level 13, ports 1 to 45Panel B outlets 1 to 45 live; 46 to 48 spare.User data
- 2 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Fibre patch, ports 3 to 4Riser to the Level 12 MDF.Multimode fibre
- 1 × Cat6A1 m, yellowto AV switch on a shelf, port 10AV switch uplink.Uplinks and trunks
- 45 × Cat6A0.5 m, blueto Patch panel C, Level 13, ports 1 to 45Panel C outlets 1 to 45 live; 46 to 48 spare.User data
- 2 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Fibre patch, ports 5 to 6Riser to the Level 12 MDF.Multimode fibre
- 45 × Cat6A0.5 m, blueto Patch panel D, Level 13, ports 1 to 45Panel D outlets 1 to 45 live; 46 to 48 spare.User data
- 2 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Fibre patch, ports 7 to 8Riser to the Level 12 MDF.Multimode fibre
- 8 × Cat6A0.3 m, greento Patch panel, AV outlets, ports 1 to 8AV switch to the AV outlets.AV and room systems
- 1 × Power C19 to C202 m, blackto Power strip AUPS to power strip A.Power, feed A
- 1 × Power C19 to C202 m, greyto Power strip BUPS to power strip B.Power, feed B
- 7 × Power C13 to C141 m, blackto Power strip A, ports 1 to 7Power, feed A
- 7 × Power C13 to C141 m, greyto Power strip B, ports 1 to 7Power, feed B
Spaces it serves
20 spacesLevel 13 20 spaces
- 13.01 Oystercatcher
- 13.02 Lapwing
- 13.03 Kingfisher
- 13.04 Cormorant
- 13.05 Wren
- 13.06 Robin
- 13.07 Goldcrest
- 13.08 Stonechat
- 13.09 Goldfinch
- 13.10 Focus 13.10
- 13.11 Focus 13.11
- 13.12 Focus 13.12
- 13.13 Office 13.13
- 13.14 Office 13.14
- 13.15 Pantry
- 13.16 Flex desks A
- 13.17 Flex desks B
- 13.18 Flex desks C
- 13.19 Assigned desks D
- Open areas and corridors, Level 13
Notes
- The rack also holds access switches 3 and 4, added as the floor filled. The comms room (IDF) type gives two access switch positions, so they are counted from the rack.