UF Campus Backbone Labeling Conventions in Accordance with the Proposed EIA/TIA-606-A

Author: Sheard Goodwin
First Revision: 4-13-2001
Last Revision: 5-1-2002

Introduction

The new labeling standard as presented in the EIA/TIA-606-A addresses the need for an independent and scalable labeling standard in the administration of telecommunications cabling infrastructure. In order to standardize and administer the totality of fiber optic cabling here at the University of Florida it is necessary to have a complete standard for labeling so that technicians do not need to reinterpret the labeling as they move from one building to the next.Contractors need a concrete labeling scheme furnished to them so that they can make their products as useful as possible to us.

According to the 606-A standard, what we are presently concerned with would be considered a class 3 labeling standard. We have multiple buildings and outside pathways that must be documented.All identifiers are independent and scalable. All labels read from the general to the specific from left to right.

Particulars of the Standard

Every component of the telecommunications infrastructure is to be labeled in an independent manner. For purposes of tracking the fiber the most important things to keep in mind with the labeling system are buildings, telecommunication rooms, fiber panels, port numbers, pedestal labels, and of course the fiber itself. Following the 606-A, here is what we propose...

LabelTarget Example Explanation
Building 0115 University of Florida official building number
Telecommunications Room 1A 1 - first floor, A - Telco room A
Port Number 15 Designates port number 15
Communication Cabinet PCB001 Designates Pathway communication CaBinet #1
Fiber cable FSM1 Designates the first Single Mode cable in a particular path

These individual identifiers can be combined to create an overall and accurate picture of a cabling plant. Test reports will use a combination of these pieces to completely identify any piece of the cabling plant, where it is connected and the pathway that it follows. This requires that every piece of equipment should be labeled.

Fiber cable should be labeled on the outside jacket of the cable. Fiber panels should be labeled on the outside of the box. Individual modules or ports inside a fiber panel should be clearly labeled. Documentation should be located inside the fiber panel that clearly identifies what fiber strands are connected to which bulkhead. Under no circumstances should a technician need to open the installer's side of an LIU in order to determine the identifier for a bulkhead or what fiber is attached to that bulkhead.

Reading a name

A name is constructed combining the pertinant labels from the appropriate infrastructure elements. These names will be used in documentation to track each component of the infrastructure. Below is an example of a singlemode fiber label.

reading name

For composite fiber cables, the identifier would be shown as below.

reading name

Order of the termination points in the label is decided alphanumerically, not based on physical location itself.

Numeric identifiers for cables and cable strands are used solely to differentiate them selves from other cables sharing their same charactoristics. A cable should only be identified with a 0047-1A/0193-1A, FMM2 if there is already a 0047-1A/0193-1A, FMM1 in existence

Examples

Fiber examples:

0047-1A/0193-1A, FMM1

Cable terminates in Building 047, Telecommunications Room 1A
Cable terminates in Building 193, Telecommunications Room 1A
This is the first multimode cable connecting these rooms in these buildings

0047-1A/0193-1A, FSM1.1

Cable terminates in Building 047, Telecommunications Room 1A
Cable terminates in Building 193, Telecommunications Room 1A
This is the first strand in the first singlemode cable connecting these rooms in these buildings

0047-1A/0193-1A, FCM1

Cable terminates in Building 047, Telecommunications Room 1A
Cable terminates in Building 193, Telecommunications Room 1A
This is the first fiber composite cable connecting these rooms in these buildings

0047-1A/0193-1A, FCM1.SM1

Cable terminates in Building 047, Telecommunications Room 1A
Cable terminates in Building 193, Telecommunications Room 1A
This is the first strand of single mode fiber in the first composite cable connecting these rooms in these buildings

Hardware examples:

0047-1A-1FPL1

Fiber panel is located in Building 047, Telecommunications Room 1A
Fiber panel is monted in rack number 1
This is the first fiber panel, in the first rack, in Telco Room 1A

0047-1A-WFPL1.1/1

Fiber panel is located in Building 047, Telecommunications Room 1A
Fiber panel is mounted on the wall
This is the first bulkhead position in the first module of this fiber panel

PCB001-WFPL1.2/4

Fiber panel is located in Pathway Cabinet #1
Fiber panel is mounted on the wall
This is the fourth bulkhead position in the second module in this fiber panel

The Standard in Implementation

Implementing a new labeling scheme for as large a body is the University of Florida is going to be a long multi-step process. The first and most important step of which is to make sure that any new installations are labeled in accordance with the new scheme.

New installations should follow the scheme as laid out above.

How to Label:

Fiber Optic cable

  1. The fiber optic cable should be labeled on the outside jacket of the cable within 8 inches of the breakout point for the individual strands. This label will follow the conventions outlined above with a typical label being 0147-1A/0147-3A, FSM1.
  2. When deciding which end of the fiber to denote first in the label, use the lower alpha numeric characters first. For example, 0147-1A/0347-1A, FSM1 would be proper and 0347-1A/0147-1A, FSM1 would not.
  3. Individual fiber strands should be inserted into any fiber panel following the standard color code for fiber with Blue being first and so on. This color code should be followed so it can be read from left to right and from up to down for each module as viewed from the front of the fiber panel. In the documentation, strand numbers will begin at 1 and ascend in keeping with the color code, i.e. blue=1, orange=2, green=3, and so on.

Blue-Orange-Green-Brown-Slate-White-Red-Black-Yellow-Violet-Rose-Aqua

A Fiber Panel

Outside

  1. A fiber panel should be assigned an independent identifier and be labeled with it in the upper right hand corner of the front of the LIU. Appropriate identifiers include FPL1, FPL2, and so on.
  2. A fiber panel should have a list of all fiber cables that are held in the box itself. Often times, this will just be one fiber cable but could be much more. This list should be preceded with an introduction of 'This FPL holds:' or the like to prevent confusion between the fiber name and the recorded name of the fiber panel. This list should be in the upper left hand corner of the fiber panel.
  3. In the event that both ends of a particular fiber cable terminate in the same room, the name of that cable on the front of the fiber panel should be followed by an additional label that specifies the rack and fiberpanel numbers on both ends of that cable. For example, 0019-2A/0019-2A,FMM1 followed by WFPL6/1FPL1 would communicate that one end of the cable terminates in a wall mounted fiber panel labeled fpl6 and a rack mounted fiber panel labeled fpl1 in rack 1. This additional label does not add to the cable name for record purposes but exists solely to assist technicians in the field
FPL

Inside

  1. Fibers should be installed in each module of a fiber panel from left to right and up to down in accordance as you look at the face of the bulkheads with the standard color code for fiber installation.
  2. Each fiber termination should be labeled on the boot by a number that corresponds to it's placement in the colorcode of the cable. Numbers should begin at 1and ascend from there with duplicate numbers used for different types of fiber strands in one cable. For example, a composite fiber cable will have multiple strands designated with a 1 to correspond to the first MM fiber cable and the first SM fiber cable. Numbers will not refresh for different binder groups, only for different classifications of fiber.
  3. Each bulkhead will have an independant identifier. In a fiber panel that has been subdivided in to modules, label the modules with numbers beginning with 1 and ascending. The individual bulkheads need not be labelled and they will be identified with numbers that begin with 1 and will be read from left to right or up to down in accordance with the orientation of the module. In fiber panels that have not been subdivided, the individual bulkheads will need to be identified with a number. If the fiber panel does not come preprinted, the installer will be responsible for labelling the bulkheads.
  4. A documentation page will be supplied inside the panel and should be marked with which fiber strand matches up to which bulkhead. The installer may create a simple spreadsheet similar to that pictured below. In this case, labeling should make clear the identity of each bulkhead and the fiber strand that is connected to it. At this time, copies of this spreadsheet should be sent to Network Services.
    Fiber Panel # 0047-1A-WFPL1
    Module / Port Fiber Identifier
    1/1 0047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.1
    1/2 0047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.2
    1/3 0047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.3
    1/4 0047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.4
    1/5 047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.5
    1/6 0047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.6
    2/1 0047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.7
    2/2 0047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.8
    2/3 0047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.9
    2/4 0047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.10
    2/5 0047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.11
    2/6 0047-1A/0149-3A, FMM1.12
    This is the first fiber panel mounted on the wall in Telco Room 1A in Building #0047. Bulkhead #1 holds the first strand of the first fiber cable between Telco Room 1A of Building #0047 and Telco Room 3A of Building #0149.
  5. At no time should the labeling inside a fiber panel require a technician or engineer to open the installer's side of the fiber panel to retrieve labeling information.Bulkhead or module position labels should be apparent from a grid work sheet or labeled explicitly by the installer.

A Communications Cabinet

  1. Communications Cabinets are to be labeled with their standard label being in the form of PCB###. For example, cabinet #4 would be PCB004.
  2. Cabinets should be labeled outside on the most visible side.
  3. Cabinets should be labeled inside as well. The inside label will be applied to the interior of the fiber side door with the locking assembly.

A Telecommunications Room

  1. Telecommunications rooms should be labeled with the floor they are on and a letter designation to prevent their confusion with other Telco rooms on the same floor. 1A would designate the first floor telecommunications closet and have a designation of A.
  2. Unless previously labeled, Telco Rooms should be labeled on the interior of the doorjamb near the property decal. Final labeling should consist of a plastic sign on the outside door of the Telecommunications Room. This sign should designate the use of the room as a Telecommunications Room and display the appropriate identifier for that specific room; Telecommunications Room 1A, for example.

A Telecommunications Rack

  1. Telecommunications rooms should be labeled numerically beginning with 1 and ascending as more racks are added to the room. The rack should be clearly labeled along the top crossbar of the rack. For purposes of this labeling standard, a telecommunications rack is considered to be any structure capable of holding telecommunications terminations and electronic hardware. This includes but is not limited to 7ft free standing racks, free standing enclosures, 3-4ft wallmounted fixed racks, wall mounted enclosures and so on.

Conduit

  1. An installed conduit should be labeled with the point of origin, point of termination and a unique identifier to differentiate it from other conduit sharing the same pathway. This label follows the same guidelines as discussed above. 0147-1A/0347-1A, PCO1 would designate the first conduit running between building 147 telecommunications room 1A and building 347 telecommunications room 1A.
  2. Labels should be affixed to both ends of the conduit. Labels are to be applied within 6 inches of the termination of each end of the conduit.

Conclusion

This document covers the most common labeling needs for the installation of fiber optic cable and conduits across the University of Florida. There are a number of more specific situations covered in the EIA/TIA 606A labeling standard. If you have any questions concerning these standards and their interpretation in reference to the University of Florida, please contact CNS-Network Services