learn fiber optics with senko data centers are in the heart of our daily lives with the never-ending bits of data that flow through the data centers at every moment a reliable and high performance structured cabling system is essential to understand the fundamentals of structured cabling let's first have a look at the layout and the connectivity between the different parts of a typical data center equipment such as servers are mounted in racks that are housed in the equipment distribution area and are then consolidated to leaf switches the leaf switches are then connected through horizontal cabling to spine switches in the horizontal distribution area which in turn connect back to routers in the main distribution area through data center interconnect networks the routers are connected to cross connect racks in a meet me room where multiple service providers can bring the connection back to their desired data center location for security reasons the meet me room is the only location that is accessible to external parties [Music] racks are the most fundamental element in structure cabling as it is where we mount modules and equipment there are many different types of racks that are in the market and are usually specified by their dimensions rack heights are usually classified by the number of rus with standard racks having 42 or 48 rus ru or better known as rack units is a standard unit of measurement of rack heights standard rack widths available in the market are either 19 inches or 21 inches which is also known as the etsi rack which is standardized by the european telecommunications standards institute racks usually have depths of 600 millimeters 800 millimeters or 1200 millimeters rat posts are vertical support beams racks usually have two posts or four posts with the four post rack being able to carry more weight so what is a sub rack sub racks are storage devices mounted on racks and used to house both active and passive equipment subracks are also known as chassis or card cages there are many types of cable support structures that are needed to carry cables from one point to another cable trunking or fiber runners are designed to carry and fully support the weight of fiber cables between racks wire baskets that are also known as cable baskets or wire mesh cable trays are structures that are constructed out of wire mesh materials [Music] they are usually used for copper or power cables as they can better dissipate heat but many network operators have started using them for cables with bend insensitive fibers cable ladders are usually used to secure cables that are installed vertically when being routed from one floor to another [Music] cable ties or velcro straps are usually used to secure the cables to the ladder the racks in a data center can be mounted on a raised floor which provides space to install cables under the racks making them more accessible [Music] so how are the connections managed from one point to another in the data center the meet me room is a demarcation point in data centers where the connectivity to different equipment services telecommunication providers converge to interconnect with each other cross connect racks are housed in this room to provide access to the physical patch panel the connectors and the cables that provide the connection between the different locations within a data center [Music] equipment mounted on different racks can be connected using individual jumpers or often referred to as patch cords a jumper which is also known as a patch cord is a cable that contains one or two fibers that is used to connect between the patch panel to the equipment this is known as a point-to-point connection however as the point of connections increases installing each connection individually using the point-to-point method is not an effective solution trunk cables that have high fiber counts that are pre-connectorized on both ends reduce the number of cable runs between racks the use of multi-fiber connectors such as the s and mt uniboot connector will also reduce the number of connectors needed allowing for quicker installation these trunk cables are usually connected in a patch panel or top of rack module which presents itself to the trunk cable connectors in the rack patch panels are shelves which adapters or modules are housed while a top of rack module is the component that houses the adapters or fan out modules [Music] well that's all the time we have hope you were able to learn something new about the terminologies used in data centers please like and subscribe to our youtube channel for our latest updates and we will see you in our next video