Notes from the team
Restricted: rack and switch ports
- U42: Fibre patch, Corning Closet Connector Housing, 1U
- U29 to U41: Space for growth
- U28: Out-of-band router, cellular, ZPE Nodegrid Gate SR
- U27: Out-of-band console server, ZPE Nodegrid Serial Console Plus, 48 ports
- U26: Wireless controller, Cisco Catalyst 9800-L
- U24: Internet circuit handoffs, two providers, ADVA FSP 150-GE114Pro
- U23: Firewall B, Palo PA-445, In service, no open incidents
- U22: Firewall A, Palo PA-445, In service, no open incidents
- U20: Core switch B, Cisco Catalyst 9500-24Y4C, In service, no open incidents
- U19: Core switch A, Cisco Catalyst 9500-24Y4C, In service, no open incidents
- U16: Access switch 2, third floor, Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P
- U15: Access switch 1, third floor, Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P, In service, no open incidents
- U12: Fibre patch, floor riser, Corning Closet Connector Housing, 1U
- U9 to U10: Patch panel B, third floor, Panduit NetKey Cat6A patch panel, 48 ports
- U6 to U7: Patch panel A, third floor, Panduit NetKey Cat6A patch panel, 48 ports
- U3 to U4: UPS battery pack
- U1 to U2: UPS, APC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2U
Rack space
17U free of 42U
25U used.
Needs 42U for what it serves: exactly enough.
Access ports
9 free of 96
- Access switch 2, third floor44 of 48
- Access switch 1, third floor43 of 48
- Outlets patched87 of 96
Needs 94 (78 + 20% headroom): 2 to spare.
PoE 437W to 1440W of PoE+ power depending on power-supply configuration on each of 2, as the vendor states. The draw is not measured.
Power
APC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2U, with a battery pack
- FeedsA and B
- Load and runtime41%, 22 min
2 power strips at the back: Raritan PX3 monitored rack PDU.
Circuits: A from DB-3A, way 12; B from DB-3B, way 14.
Internet and uplinks
- Internet circuit handoffs, two providersInternet providers, ADVA FSP 150-GE114Pro
- A pair of firewallsPalo PA-445
- Down to 4.21 Comms room (IDF)Fourth floor, over the riser fibre
- Down to 5.21 Comms room (IDF)Fifth floor, over the riser fibre
Out-of-band: out-of-band router, cellular (ZPE Nodegrid Gate SR); out-of-band console server (ZPE Nodegrid Serial Console Plus, 48 ports).
Power and temperature
Against the power and racks standardsUPS runs 22 min at 41% load, inside the standard · the room is at 21.7 °C
UPS runtime · APC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2U
22 min at least 15
UPS load
41% at most 80%
Temperature Simulated
21.7 °C 18 to 27
Runtime and load as measured at the last timed test, 2 Apr 2026 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.
Firewall B Palo Alto Networks PA-445 · Rack 1, U23 · 3.21 Comms room (MDF)
Would affect nothing: Firewall A carries every space
Third floor
Fourth floor
Fifth floor
Restricted: rack and switch ports "Up" is an uplink: the way this switch reaches the internet.
Spaces it would cut off 0
- None: Firewall A carries every space.
VLANs at the Dublin office
9 VLANs · 2 ports to review- To reviewdub-321-as02 port 24 · Display 2 · dub-309-dsp02, 3.09 Whooper SwanPlanned VLAN 31 Displays and signage, seen VLAN 20 Corporate on the switch.
- To reviewdub-421-as01 port 22 · Scheduler panel · dub-404-sch01, 4.04 RobinPlanned VLAN 30 Room systems, seen VLAN 1 (the switch default) on the switch.
Switches here dub-321-cs01Core switch Adub-321-cs02Core switch Bdub-321-as01Access switch 1dub-321-as02Access switch 2
In-room switches dub-303-sw013.03 Herondub-309-sw013.09 Whooper Swandub-502-sw015.02 Boardroomdub-504-sw015.04 Briefing auditorium
| VLAN | Prefix | Gateway | Addresses | Reaches | Ports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Management | 10.20.10.0/24 | 10.20.10.1 | 36 reservationsreserved 10.20.10.20 to 10.20.10.219 · pool 10.20.10.220 to 10.20.10.254 | Only the network team's tools and the controller | 75 |
| 20 Corporate | 10.20.20.0/22 | 10.20.20.1 | None reservedreserved 10.20.20.20 to 10.20.20.219 · pool 10.20.21.1 to 10.20.23.254 | Internal services and the internet | 58 |
| 30 Room systems | 10.20.30.0/24 | 10.20.30.1 | 46 reservationsreserved 10.20.30.20 to 10.20.30.219 · pool 10.20.30.220 to 10.20.30.254 | Their cloud services, device management and the booking service | 52 |
| 31 Displays and signage | 10.20.31.0/24 | 10.20.31.1 | 37 reservationsreserved 10.20.31.20 to 10.20.31.219 · pool 10.20.31.220 to 10.20.31.254 | The display and signage management platforms, NTP and the room control system | 37 |
| 40 AV | 169.254.0.0/16 | None: not routed | Link-local, in each room | Nothing outside the room (not routed) | 11 |
| 50 Building | 10.20.50.0/24 | 10.20.50.1 | 1 reservationreserved 10.20.50.20 to 10.20.50.219 · pool 10.20.50.220 to 10.20.50.254 | The building management platform only | 1 |
| 60 Security | 10.20.60.0/24 | 10.20.60.1 | 2 reservationsreserved 10.20.60.20 to 10.20.60.219 · pool 10.20.60.220 to 10.20.60.254 | The security platforms only | 2 |
| 70 Printers | 10.20.70.0/24 | 10.20.70.1 | 2 reservationsreserved 10.20.70.20 to 10.20.70.219 · pool 10.20.70.220 to 10.20.70.254 | The print service | 2 |
| 90 Guest | 10.20.90.0/23 | 10.20.90.1 | None reservedpool 10.20.90.20 to 10.20.91.254 | 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 and Palo Alto (older): The earlier build: two Palo Alto firewalls in a pair, two Cisco core switches, the floor's access switches, a wireless controller, an out-of-band console server and cellular router, fibre and copper patching, on a UPS with power strips on two feeds. Rooms built to it move to UniFi when their network kit is refreshed.
- Network standard
- Older kit, due 2028
- Required devices
- All recorded
Older kit: Cisco Catalyst 9800-L, Palo PA-445, Cisco Catalyst 9500-24Y4C, Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P. Moves to UniFi when refreshed.
Lifecycle
- In service
- 5
Upkeep
Room checks from the maintenance planner
Next check: Thu, 29 Oct
- Quarterly comms room checkThu, 29 Oct, Liam, with 2 more spaces
Sized for what it serves
14 spaces, 8 video rooms · How a comms room is sized- Data outlets7814 spaces, 8 video rooms; 1 space set per project96panel ports18 to spare
- Access ports9478 + 20% headroom96on 2 switches2 to spare
- Access switches248 ports each2Exactly enough
- PoE budget361 W20 devices as the vendors state; 12 PoE devices with no figureNot recordedNot recorded
- Rack space42U20U of parts + 25% growth42UExactly enough
- UPSNot sizedload and runtime not recordedAPC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2Uin the rackNot checked
Patching
157 cables in 31 runs, coloured by the house cable standard · All cables at Dublin officeRestricted: rack and switch ports
- 4 × Fibre OS23 m, yellowto Internet circuit handoffs, two providers, ports 5 to 8Both internet providers' fibre.Singlemode fibre
- 1 × Cat6A0.5 m, purpleto Out-of-band console serverConsole and out-of-band
- 7 × Console1.5 m, purpleto Console ports: core, access, firewalls and wireless controllerConsole and out-of-band
- 1 × Cat6A1 m, yellowto Internet circuit handoffs, two providers, port 2Uplinks and trunks
- 1 × Cat6A0.5 m, redto Firewall B, port 8Firewall failover link.Critical and security systems
- 1 × Cat6A1 m, yellowto Internet circuit handoffs, two providers, port 1Uplinks and trunks
- 2 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Fibre patch, floor riser, ports 3 to 4Riser to the fourth floor IDF.Multimode fibre
- 2 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Fibre patch, floor riser, ports 7 to 8Riser to the fourth floor IDF (access switch 4).Multimode fibre
- 2 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Fibre patch, floor riser, ports 15 to 16Riser to the fifth floor IDF (access switch 2).Multimode fibre
- 1 × Fibre OM43 m, aquato Access switch 1, third floor, port 50Multimode fibre
- 1 × Fibre OM43 m, aquato Access switch 2, third floor, port 50Multimode fibre
- 1 × Cat6A1 m, yellowto Firewall B, port 1Uplinks and trunks
- 1 × Cat6A2 m, yellowto Wireless controller, port 2Uplinks and trunks
- 2 × Fibre OM41 m, aquato Core switch B, ports 25 to 26Core interconnect.Multimode fibre
- 2 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Fibre patch, floor riser, ports 1 to 2Riser to the fourth floor IDF.Multimode fibre
- 2 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Fibre patch, floor riser, ports 5 to 6Riser to the fourth floor IDF (access switch 3).Multimode fibre
- 2 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Fibre patch, floor riser, ports 9 to 10Riser to the fourth floor IDF (access switch 5).Multimode fibre
- 2 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Fibre patch, floor riser, ports 13 to 14Riser to the fifth floor IDF (access switch 1).Multimode fibre
- 1 × Fibre OM43 m, aquato Access switch 1, third floor, port 49Multimode fibre
- 1 × Fibre OM43 m, aquato Access switch 2, third floor, port 49Multimode fibre
- 1 × Cat6A1 m, yellowto Firewall A, port 1Uplinks and trunks
- 1 × Cat6A2 m, yellowto Wireless controller, port 1Uplinks and trunks
- 44 × Cat6A1 m, blueto Patch panel B, third floor, ports 1 to 44User data
- 40 × Cat6A1 m, blueto Patch panel A, third floor, ports 1 to 40User data
- 2 × Cat6A1 m, redto Patch panel A, third floor, ports 41 to 42Reception CCTV camera and door controller (Security VLAN). Red: never moved without a change record.Critical and security systems
- 1 × Cat6A1 m, blueto Patch panel A, third floor, port 43Reception environment sensor (Building VLAN).User data
- 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
- 12 × Power C13 to C141 m, blackto Power strip A, ports 1 to 12Power, feed A
- 12 × Power C13 to C141 m, greyto Power strip B, ports 1 to 12Power, feed B
- 5 × Cat61 m, greyto Out-of-band router, cellular, ports 2 to 6Management
Spaces it serves
41 spacesThird floor 14 spaces · Patched in this space
Fourth floor 21 spaces · Through 4.21 Comms room (IDF)
- 4.01 Kingfisher
- 4.02 Cormorant
- 4.03 Wren
- 4.04 Robin
- 4.05 Goldcrest
- 4.06 Stonechat
- 4.07 Goldfinch
- 4.08 Chaffinch
- 4.09 Focus 4.09
- 4.10 Focus 4.10
- 4.11 Focus 4.11
- 4.12 Focus 4.12
- 4.13 Office 4.13
- 4.14 Office 4.14
- 4.15 Pantry
- 4.16 Copy and print
- 4.17 Flex desks A
- 4.18 Flex desks B
- 4.19 Flex desks C
- 4.20 Assigned desks D
- Open areas and corridors, Fourth floor