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Network cable labelers?

Pheran

Pheran

Diamond Member
Anyone have recommendations for good labelers for network cables (standard Cat5/Cat6)? We have a few but none of them seem to work very well (labels tend to fall off, etc.). This is for a business so cost isn't particularly important (within reason). To be clear, I'm talking about the devices with LCD screens where you can type in your label text and generate a label.
 
Working here at school we have a couple we use by DYMO that I haven't had any problems with. I'll either run the label the long way and have it adhere to the cable if its not long (say, under 1.5" or so) and if its longer than that I make a longer label and wrap the label around the cable to adhere to itself.

But maybe you can just find some better label material for what you currently have?
 
I use a Brother P-Touch PT-18R. You can get tape for it that has extra strength adhesive on it (which works better than the standard). I just fold the label over the cable once and stick it to itself so that it's adhesive sticking to adhesive. I find that it works well as long as you aren't messing with the cables a lot.
 
xSauronx said:
wtf is a ;thumbsdown: when you need it?
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The software has it for thread not as in text smily.

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In order to show you the text I omited the
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Usually boards that support inline images have a whole slew of tools above the message box to use (such as bold, italics, http link etc), this did not have those so i assumed it didnt support the tags and so pasted the link directly.

And ive been using these to label cables for years, cheap and never comes off, call it lame all you want, it works. Spend all you want on your pretty flags or color coded labels, this has never failed me. Even for pulling cable from one end of a building to another.
 
Paperlantern said:
Usually boards that support inline images have a whole slew of tools above the message box to use (such as bold, italics, http link etc), this did not have those so i assumed it didnt support the tags and so pasted the link directly.

And ive been using these to label cables for years, cheap and never comes off, call it lame all you want, it works. Spend all you want on your pretty flags or color coded labels, this has never failed me. Even for pulling cable from one end of a building to another.
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You honestly write - LOUKY-US-BGR1-TE3/1/4 , R3PP4CC23 on a cable with a sharpie?
 
JackMDS said:
The software has it for thread not as in text smily.

Up

"http://forums.anandtech.com/images/icons/icon14.gif"

Down

"http://forums.anandtech.com/images/icons/icon13.gif"

In order to show you the text I omited the
at the end of the url

It has to be in as


I keep these in macros and insert them in the post's text.

icon14.gif


icon13.gif


icon3.gif
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yeah, too much like work, which is why i didnt use those 😛

You honestly write - LOUKY-US-BGR1-TE3/1/4 , R3PP4CC23 on a cable with a sharpie?
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maybe he just writes "dell server" on one end and "switch" on the other?

labelers with 2 rows are nice else the label has to get damn long with a decent description. the old nutjob at the school makes a really long label (3 inches or more, often enough) which is good for description...but he tapes it down the cable with clear tape which is... annoying. a two row labeler or just wrapping the label back to itself is so much easier.
 
spidey07 said:
You honestly write - LOUKY-US-BGR1-TE3/1/4 , R3PP4CC23 on a cable with a sharpie?
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Never had to write that much on a cable... ever, you number them when you are pulling so you can label all the terminations appropriately. You asked for something to label network cable, how the heck was i supposed to know you were writing a flipping novel on the stupid thing. We used a simple 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... etc, at the most in some of the larger projects 1-1-2A01, 1-1-2A02 etc, never anything that long. Not everyone's labeling needs are the same. Had you provided the example of the shpeil of stuff you were intending to write on said cables, i wouldnt have suggested the sharpie sir.
 
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I use the Brother P-Touch Labeler .. They make a few different models and price range and they have tapes in a few widths and colors. The trick to not having the labels come off is to print the information twice with about a 6 character space between them. Then after you remove the backing you place the blank space on the cable and put both sides of the tape together. In effect, you make a semaphore flag on the cable. Works every time.
 
Paperlantern said:
Never had to write that much on a cable... ever, you number them when you are pulling so you can label all the terminations appropriately. You asked for something to label network cable, how the heck was i supposed to know you were writing a flipping novel on the stupid thing. We used a simple 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... etc, at the most in some of the larger projects 1-1-2A01, 1-1-2A02 etc, never anything that long. Not everyone's labeling needs are the same. Had you provided the example of the shpeil of stuff you were intending to write on said cables, i wouldnt have suggested the sharpie sir.
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he wasnt the OP, and I expect that if all the OP needed to write was "1" and "2" he could have figured out how to use a sharpite.

Descriptive labeling on a cable to a standard set for a given environment is a huge help in a room where a rack could have several switches and patch panels going to a multitude of devices and switches and rooms and buildings and such. That kind of information needs to be recorded somewhere, and doing it directly on a given cable is a huge time saver. I did it once on a sheet of paper for a rack with 100+ jacks in use, and it was such a bitch to find out which cable was what until we labeled them all later on.
 
xSauronx said:
he wasnt the OP, and I expect that if all the OP needed to write was "1" and "2" he could have figured out how to use a sharpite.

Descriptive labeling on a cable to a standard set for a given environment is a huge help in a room where a rack could have several switches and patch panels going to a multitude of devices and switches and rooms and buildings and such. That kind of information needs to be recorded somewhere, and doing it directly on a given cable is a huge time saver. I did it once on a sheet of paper for a rack with 100+ jacks in use, and it was such a bitch to find out which cable was what until we labeled them all later on.
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Okay, point taken, but then how does he know what the OP is writing on the cable, for all intents and purposes of the OP, the sharpie may be perfect.

I have also punched down racks with 100+ terminations with nothing more than a sharpie and it worked fine, no confusion, no pain in the ass. Looks like what we have here is a difference of opinion. As far as labeling the walljacks and perhaps labeling the actual terminations on the rack, i do think some sort of labeling device looks cleaner and more professional. However 99% of all punchdown racks use numbers, just sequential numbers, write the corresponding number on the cable with a sharpie, you'll never lose it.
 
Paperlantern said:
Okay, point taken, but then how does he know what the OP is writing on the cable, for all intents and purposes of the OP, the sharpie may be perfect.
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Uh, no. Anyone who thinks a Sharpie is adequate for more than the most basic "tell this cable apart from this other cable" needs has never worked in a real enterprise networking environment, especially not one that is subject to strict auditing requirements for management and security. As xSauronx pointed out, if all I needed was a Sharpie I wouldn't be asking this question.

Thanks for the recommendations folks.
 
Pheran said:
Uh, no. Anyone who thinks a Sharpie is adequate for more than the most basic "tell this cable apart from this other cable" needs has never worked in a real enterprise networking environment, especially not one that is subject to strict auditing requirements for management and security. As xSauronx pointed out, if all I needed was a Sharpie I wouldn't be asking this question.

Thanks for the recommendations folks.
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Well think what you want, but a drop is a drop, and as long as the numbers are the same on both ends, then you know where the drop is. However i never claimed to have worked in a enterprise networking environment, as far as i am concerned thats gruntwork and i've only done it a handfull of times in my career. I am more of a network systems administrator than the guy that builds the infrastructure. While I was half serious about the sharpie because i have used it before, the other half means i was half kidding but apparently no one cares and ya'll are too wrapped up in your own important seriousness to have seen that. So if ya'll will excuse me, I will not be returning to this thread for any reason. Good day, and good luck in your quest for a labeler, it seems this Brady labeler is getting some recommendations.
 
Paperlantern said:
Well think what you want, but a drop is a drop, and as long as the numbers are the same on both ends, then you know where the drop is. However i never claimed to have worked in a enterprise networking environment, as far as i am concerned thats gruntwork and i've only done it a handfull of times in my career. I am more of a network systems administrator than the guy that builds the infrastructure. While I was half serious about the sharpie because i have used it before, the other half means i was half kidding but apparently no one cares and ya'll are too wrapped up in your own important seriousness to have seen that. So if ya'll will excuse me, I will not be returning to this thread for any reason. Good day, and good luck in your quest for a labeler, it seems this Brady labeler is getting some recommendations.
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well since hes not going to come back and run his mouth...does anyone else think he sucks at half joking?
 
There are two different labeling needs being discussed in this thread. My personal opinion is:

If you're running network drops and terminating them from a patch panel to wall jacks, then writing a number on the cable with a sharpie can be more than sufficient. This numbering is temporary, and will be replaced with some type of permanent numbering convention when the cables are terminated (032, 1B-04, 1A-124, 2D-001, etc...whatever applies to the environment). I think it would be rediculous for someone running structured cabling to print out labels and attache them on each end.

However, if you're trying to identify what is connected to what inside of a rack, then labeling the cables with some type of label tape is a much better solution. As an example, I label patch cables for infrastructure equipment (servers, SANs, other switches, etc) at the end connected to the switch with the device's name. I also label power cables where they connect to PDUs or UPSs with the name of the device that it is connected to. For me, the optimal solution is to trace every cable when I need to find it, but the labels are reassurance that i've got the right one when tracing it is less than optimal (i.e. in the middle of a large bunch of cables).

No one was right or wrong in their recommendation...it just depends on the type of solution you're looking for.
 
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