What is A and B power feeds?
Two independent power sources delivered to a rack so that equipment with dual power supplies keeps running if one feed fails. Cables should be connected to the correct feed and recorded.
Glossary
Data center and infrastructure field services glossary
Plain-language definitions of the terms used when planning Remote Hands, Smart Hands, deployments, migrations and office moves. Each entry answers one question on its own, so you can read a single definition or scan the whole list.
Browse all terms, A to Z
What is Bill of materials?
A list of every item in a project with part numbers and quantities. It is used to check that the right equipment, rails, optics and cables arrive before an install.
What is Break-fix?
Reactive repair of equipment that has failed, as opposed to planned projects. Break-fix requests are often urgent and depend on having the right part, access and instructions ready.
What is Cable remediation?
Auditing, tracing, labeling and reorganizing existing cabling, and replacing damaged or wrongly sized patch cords, then recording the result. The goal is a physical layer that is understood and easy to change.
What is Cage and cabinet?
A cabinet is a lockable enclosed rack. A cage is a fenced area of data center floor with its own lockable door, holding one or more racks. Colocation customers rent either, and access rules differ for each.
What is Carrier hotel?
A building where many telecom carriers and network providers keep equipment and interconnect. They are often multi-tenant, with strict rules for visitor registration, deliveries and contractors.
What is Certificate of insurance?
A document from an insurer that shows the types and limits of cover a company holds. Many buildings and data centers ask contractors for one before allowing them on site.
What is Change window?
An agreed period when planned changes to production systems are allowed. Field work is sequenced to fit the window, with stop points where the responsible engineer confirms before the next step.
What is Colocation?
Renting space, power and connectivity for your own equipment in a data center operated by someone else. Customers often run equipment in facilities far from their engineers, which is why on-site support matters.
What is Completion report?
A record of finished field work: engagement details, work performed, before and after photographs, validation results, exceptions and sign-off. It is the proof of work and the starting point for the next change.
What is Console server?
A device with many serial ports that connect to the console ports of switches, routers and servers. It lets engineers reach those devices remotely, even when the production network is down.
What is Cross-connect?
A direct cable link between two customers or between a customer and a carrier inside the same data center. Facilities usually control how cross-connects are ordered and installed.
What is Cutover?
The moment production traffic or services move from old equipment or a site to the new one. A field resource supports cutover by moving cables and reporting what is physically happening while engineers run the change.
What is DCIM?
Software and processes for tracking a data center’s physical assets, power, cooling and space. Field work depends on accurate asset records, so installs and moves should update the DCIM data they change.
What is Demarc?
The point where a service provider’s network ends and the customer’s responsibility begins. It is usually a jack or termination block in a telecom room, and it is where a circuit is tested to show whether a fault is on the provider’s side or the customer’s.
What is Equipment staging?
Preparing equipment away from the site before an install: unboxing, labeling, updating firmware and pre-configuring. Staging leaves only mounting and connecting for the day on site.
What is Hands-and-eyes support?
A request for someone on site to see and report: what a device’s lights show, which port a cable is in, what is labeled on a rack. The remote engineer interprets what is reported and decides what happens next.
What is Hot aisle and cold aisle?
A way of arranging racks so cool air is delivered to the fronts of equipment in one aisle and warm air is exhausted from the backs into another. It is why airflow direction matters when mounting equipment.
What is Hot swap?
Replacing a component while the equipment stays powered on, as with many power supplies and drives. Whether a part is hot-swappable depends on the product, so check the vendor’s documentation before relying on it.
What is IMAC?
The routine physical requests that keep an environment running: install new equipment, move it, add components or connections, and change what is there. Each one should be recorded so asset and port records stay current.
What is KVM?
A switch or console that gives keyboard, video and mouse access to one or more servers. In a data center it may be a rack-mounted unit, an IP-based KVM reached over the network, or a portable crash cart.
What is MDF and IDF?
The main distribution frame (MDF) is a building’s central network room. Intermediate distribution frames (IDFs) are the smaller wiring closets on other floors that connect back to it. Office moves rebuild both.
What is Meet-me room?
A space in a data center where carriers and customers interconnect, usually through cross-connects. Access is controlled, and work there normally needs the facility’s approval.
What is MTTR?
The average time taken to restore a service after a failure. Definitions vary: some count only the repair, others include detection, response and recovery, so ask what a quoted figure includes before comparing.
What is Network refresh?
Replacing aging network equipment with new hardware on a planned schedule. The physical side covers removal, installation, moving connections and verifying ports; configuration stays with the network team.
What is Out-of-band management?
A separate management path to network equipment, such as a console server or dedicated management network, that still works when the main network is down. Deployments usually install it first.
What is Patch panel?
A panel of ports, usually in a rack, where permanent cabling terminates. Short patch cords connect those ports to switches, so changes happen at the panel without disturbing the permanent runs.
What is Patching?
Connecting devices or panels with short patch cords. Patch changes are among the most common physical changes in a data center and should follow a port map and be labeled at both ends.
What is PDU?
A device that distributes power to the equipment in a rack. Basic PDUs only distribute, metered ones report load, and switched ones let individual outlets be turned on and off remotely. Racks commonly have two for redundancy.
What is Port map?
A record of which device and port connects to which other device and port, with the cable type. A port map made before a move or deployment is what makes verification afterward possible.
What is Rack and stack?
The physical work of mounting servers, switches and other equipment in racks, connecting power and network cabling, and labeling everything so it is ready to be configured. Good rack and stack ends with verification and photographs.
What is Rack elevation?
A scaled front and back diagram of a rack showing what is in each rack unit. It is the main reference for installing, replacing or auditing equipment in a rack.
What is Rack unit?
The standard measure of vertical space in a rack: one U is 1.75 inches (44.45 mm). Equipment is described by its height in U, and a rack elevation shows what sits in each U position.
What is Remote Hands?
On-site, hands-and-eyes support at a data center or facility. A person inspects equipment, identifies and photographs it, checks connections and performs simple physical actions, such as a power cycle, that a remote engineer has authorized.
What is RMA?
A vendor’s approval and reference number for returning faulty hardware for repair or replacement. On-site support can pack the failed unit, attach the RMA details and coordinate the return.
What is Site readiness?
Whether a location is physically prepared for a deployment: rack space, power, connectivity, delivered hardware, access arrangements and current documentation. A readiness review finds gaps before the team arrives.
What is SLA?
A written agreement that defines what a provider will deliver, how it is measured and what happens if it is missed. For on-site work, the key questions are what the clock measures, which hours it covers and what the remedy is.
What is Smart Hands?
Technically capable on-site support. Beyond looking and reporting, a Smart Hands resource installs or replaces hardware, patches fiber and copper, swaps optics, connects consoles and helps troubleshoot at the physical layer under the customer’s direction.
What is Structured cabling?
A standardized cabling system of wall jacks, horizontal runs, patch panels and backbone links that supports voice, data and wireless. It is designed once, labeled and tested, then patched as needs change.
What is Top-of-rack switch?
A network switch mounted near the top of a rack that connects the servers in that rack to the rest of the network. Its uplinks run to the aggregation or core layer of the network.
What is Transceiver?
A small pluggable module that converts a switch or router port to a specific fiber or copper standard. The wrong optic type or an unclean fiber connector is a common cause of a link that will not come up.
What is White-label delivery?
Approved field execution carried out under a partner’s procedures, communication model and documentation requirements, while the partner keeps the customer relationship. It is a partnership model, not impersonation.
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