Notes from the team
Restricted: rack and switch ports
- U24: Fibre patch, Corning Closet Connector Housing, 1U
- U23: Internet circuit handoff, ADVA FSP 150-GE114Pro
- U22: Out-of-band router, cellular, ZPE Nodegrid Gate SR
- U21: Firewall A, Palo PA-445, In service, no open incidents
- U20: Firewall B, Palo PA-445, In service, no open incidents
- U18: Core switch A, Cisco Catalyst 9500-24Y4C, In service, no open incidents
- U17: Core switch B, Cisco Catalyst 9500-24Y4C, In service, no open incidents
- U14 to U15: Patch panel, seventh floor, Panduit NetKey Cat6A patch panel, 48 ports
- U13: Access switch, Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P, In service, no open incidents
- U3 to U11: Space for growth
- U1 to U2: UPS, APC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2U
Rack space
9U free of 24U
15U used.
Needs 24U for what it serves: exactly enough.
Access ports
15 free of 48
- Access switch33 of 48
- Outlets patched32 of 48
Needs 46 (38 + 20% headroom): 2 to spare.
PoE 437W to 1440W of PoE+ power depending on power-supply configuration, as the vendor states. The draw is not measured.
Power
APC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2U
- FeedsA and B
- Load and runtime64%, 12 min
2 power strips at the back: Raritan PX3 monitored rack PDU.
Circuits: A from DB-7A, way 12; B from DB-7B, way 14.
Internet and uplinks
- Internet circuit handoffInternet provider, ADVA FSP 150-GE114Pro
- A pair of firewallsPalo PA-445
Out-of-band: out-of-band router, cellular (ZPE Nodegrid Gate SR).
Power and temperature
Against the power and racks standardsUPS runs 12 min, under the 15 minutes the standard asks
UPS runtime · APC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2U
12 min at least 15
UPS load
64% at most 80%
Temperature Simulated
23.6 °C 18 to 27
Runtime and load as measured at the last timed test, 4 Sep 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.
Firewall A Palo Alto Networks PA-445 · Rack 1, U21 · 7.08 Comms room (MDF)
Would affect nothing: Firewall B carries every space
Seventh 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 B carries every space.
VLANs at the Toronto office
9 VLANs · 0 ports to reviewEvery port on its planned VLAN
Switches here tor-708-cs01Core switch Ator-708-cs02Core switch Btor-708-as01Access switch
In-room switches tor-703-sw017.03 Curlew
| VLAN | Prefix | Gateway | Addresses | Reaches | Ports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Management | 10.50.10.0/24 | 10.50.10.1 | 8 reservationsreserved 10.50.10.20 to 10.50.10.219 · pool 10.50.10.220 to 10.50.10.254 | Only the network team's tools and the controller | 16 |
| 20 Corporate | 10.50.20.0/22 | 10.50.20.1 | None reservedreserved 10.50.20.20 to 10.50.20.219 · pool 10.50.21.1 to 10.50.23.254 | Internal services and the internet | 1 |
| 30 Room systems | 10.50.30.0/24 | 10.50.30.1 | 10 reservationsreserved 10.50.30.20 to 10.50.30.219 · pool 10.50.30.220 to 10.50.30.254 | Their cloud services, device management and the booking service | 11 |
| 31 Displays and signage | 10.50.31.0/24 | 10.50.31.1 | 7 reservationsreserved 10.50.31.20 to 10.50.31.219 · pool 10.50.31.220 to 10.50.31.254 | The display and signage management platforms, NTP and the room control system | 7 |
| 40 AV | 169.254.0.0/16 | None: not routed | Link-local, in each room | Nothing outside the room (not routed) | 1 |
| 50 Building | 10.50.50.0/24 | 10.50.50.1 | None reservedreserved 10.50.50.20 to 10.50.50.219 · pool 10.50.50.220 to 10.50.50.254 | The building management platform only | 0 |
| 60 Security | 10.50.60.0/24 | 10.50.60.1 | None reservedreserved 10.50.60.20 to 10.50.60.219 · pool 10.50.60.220 to 10.50.60.254 | The security platforms only | 0 |
| 70 Printers | 10.50.70.0/24 | 10.50.70.1 | 1 reservationreserved 10.50.70.20 to 10.50.70.219 · pool 10.50.70.220 to 10.50.70.254 | The print service | 1 |
| 90 Guest | 10.50.90.0/23 | 10.50.90.1 | None reservedpool 10.50.90.20 to 10.50.91.254 | 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 2030
- Required devices
- All recorded
Older kit: 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, Nathan
Sized for what it serves
9 spaces, 5 video rooms · How a comms room is sized- Data outlets389 spaces, 5 video rooms48panel ports10 to spare
- Access ports4638 + 20% headroom48on 1 switch2 to spare
- Access switches148 ports each1Exactly enough
- PoE budget212 W7 devices as the vendors state; 5 PoE devices with no figureNot recordedNot recorded
- Rack space24U16U of parts + 25% growth24UExactly enough
- UPSNot sizedload and runtime not recordedAPC Smart-UPS SRT 3000VA, 2Uin the rackNot checked
Patching
65 cables in 14 runs, coloured by the house cable standard · All cables at Toronto officeRestricted: rack and switch ports
- 2 × Fibre OS21 m, yellowto Internet circuit handoff, ports 5 to 6The internet provider's fibre.Singlemode fibre
- 1 × Cat6A0.5 m, redto Firewall B, port 8Firewall failover link.Critical and security systems
- 1 × Cat6A1 m, yellowto Internet circuit handoff, port 1Uplinks and trunks
- 1 × Cat6A1 m, yellowto Internet circuit handoff, port 2Uplinks and trunks
- 2 × Fibre OM41 m, aquato Core switch B, ports 25 to 26Multimode fibre
- 1 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Access switch, port 49Multimode fibre
- 1 × Cat6A1 m, yellowto Firewall A, port 1Uplinks and trunks
- 1 × Fibre OM42 m, aquato Access switch, port 50Multimode fibre
- 1 × Cat6A1 m, yellowto Firewall B, port 1Uplinks and trunks
- 32 × Cat6A0.5 m, blueto Patch panel, seventh floor, ports 1 to 32User data
- 1 × Cat61 m, orangeto Engineer laptopPatched for the access switch upgrade. Remove by 2026-10-16.Temporary
- 8 × Power C13 to C141 m, blackto Power strip A, ports 1 to 8Power, feed A
- 8 × Power C13 to C141 m, greyto Power strip B, ports 1 to 8Power, feed B
- 5 × Cat61 m, greyto Out-of-band router, cellular, ports 2 to 6Management