Device, Cable, and Panel Labeling scheme. V2 of the Device, Cable, and Panel Labeling scheme. It keeps the V1 content and makes the formats consistent. Items marked PROPOSAL are new rules that need your decision. Items marked UNTESTED have not been checked on a real printer or site. Items marked FIELD are how I actually label on jobs (first example: 919 Stanford, October 2026). Where FIELD and a proposal disagree, FIELD wins. Scope How to name and label sites, rooms, panels, patch panels, devices, and cables in my installations. Based loosely on ANSI/TIA-606 (see "Relation to TIA-606" below). Device naming (firewalls, switches, cameras, access control) is my own convention, not part of 606. General rules Rule Detail Characters Uppercase letters, digits, - and . . No & , no / . Lowercase is used only for the suffix letter (see below). IDs have no spaces. FIELD: location lines on a label may use spaces ( GARAGE RACK01 ). Patch panel port FIELD: P + panel number, dash, port. Example: P1-16 = patch panel 1, port 16. This dash is part of the port ID, not a field separator. - (dash) Separates fields: site, then room or device, then patch panel or role. Example: SASC-IDF.1.01-P6-12 . (dot) Separates numbers inside one field: floor, door or panel number, port. Example: IDF.1.01 = IDF, floor 1, door 01. SW01.49 = switch 01, port 49. Suffix letter Lowercase a , b , ... for a second item at the same spot, or the legs of a split cable. Example: SASC-IDF.1.01b , P6-12a . Padding PROPOSAL. Floor: 1 character. Door, panel, device number, port: 2 digits ( 01 ). Cable serial numbers: 3 digits ( 001 ). Floors PROPOSAL. 1 = ground or entry floor, 2 , 3 ... above. B = basement ( B , then C for a second basement level). Site prefix Required on room, panel, and device labels. May be left off cable labels when both ends are in the same site (saves label space). Same label both ends Every cable gets the same label at both ends. A cable label must use the exact device and port names on this page. Site codes Short code per site: letters, or the street number for a building ( 919 = 919 Stanford). Fill in the table as sites are added. Code Site Notes 919 919 Stanford Multi-unit residential. See "Multi-unit residential" below. SASC (fill in) MHF Wilson (fill in) 925 (fill in) Street number, like 919? Rooms, panels, and doors Doors and panels are numbered clockwise, starting at the Main Entry. PROPOSAL: on other floors, start at the stair or elevator nearest the Main Entry. Type Format Example Second one Main Point of Entry (MPOE) SITE-MPOE.floor.door SASC-MPOE.1.06 N/A. One MPOE per site. Intermediate Distribution Frame (IDF) SITE-IDF.floor.door SASC-IDF.1.01 SASC-IDF.1.01b (second IDF behind the same door) Media cabinet / panel SITE-PNL.floor.number SASC-PNL.2.01 SASC-PNL.2.02 Facility door SITE-DR.floor.door SASC-DR.1.01 SASC-DR.1.02 Patch panel (inside a room or cabinet) P + number, top to bottom P6 P7 Patch panel port P#-port P6-12 P6-12a , P6-12b (split cable) Port, full name SITE-ROOM-P#-port SASC-IDF.1.01-P6-12 The patch panel face only needs the short form ( P6-12 ), because the room is already known. Use the full name in records and on riser cables. Notes MPOE: where the carrier's service enters the building (the demarc). In houses it is often under the stairs or in the basement. In large buildings, riser cables run from the MPOE (or the main equipment room) up to the IDFs on other floors. IDF: the room or rack on each floor that holds the switches for that floor. It connects back to the MPOE with riser cables. Device labels Network and server devices Type Format Example Second one ISP handoff (modem / ONT) SITE-ISP## MHF-ISP01 MHF-ISP02 . Put the carrier name (e.g. ATT) in the records, not the label. Firewall / router SITE-FW## SASC-FW01 SASC-FW02 (HA pair: 01 = primary) Aggregation / distribution switch SITE-AGG## SASC-AGG01 SASC-AGG02 Access switch SITE-SW## SASC-SW01 SASC-SW02 Wireless access point SITE-AP## SASC-AP01 PROPOSAL (new in V2) Server / host SITE-SRV## SASC-SRV01 PROPOSAL (new in V2) NAS SITE-NAS## SASC-NAS01 PROPOSAL (new in V2) UPS / PDU SITE-UPS## , SITE-PDU## SASC-UPS01 PROPOSAL (new in V2) Cameras Type Format Example Second one Internal camera SITE-INT-What SASC-INT-CashReg SASC-INT-CashReg02 External camera SITE-EXT-What SASC-EXT-DrivewayN SASC-EXT-DrivewayS Cameras are named for what they look at. INT and EXT show access level at a glance: tenants and employees can usually see external cameras, but access to internal cameras is tightly controlled. The camera name is the exception to the uppercase rule, so it stays readable. Access control (physical hardware in panels or on walls) Type Format Example Second one Door access hub SITE-CTL.floor.door SASC-CTL.1.05 SASC-CTL.1.05b Reader-Flex (no hub) SITE-CTL.floor.door SASC-CTL.1.01 SASC-CTL.1.01b Badge reader (controller)-RDR SASC-CTL.1.05-RDR SASC-CTL.1.05-RDRb (second reader, e.g. exit side) Door intercom (controller)-INT SASC-CTL.1.05-INT The door number in a CTL label is the same as in the door's own label ( SASC-DR.1.05 uses SASC-CTL.1.05 ). Cable labels Every cable gets the same wrap label at both ends. Upstream (the end closer to the ISP / core) always comes before downstream. Structured cable runs (in-wall: rack to unit, rack to outlet, riser) FIELD. Three-line label: Line Content Example 1 (large) Cable ID = the patch panel port at the upstream end P1-16 2 Upstream location (room or rack) GARAGE RACK01 3 Downstream location (unit or room, and position) APT-G.02 919 Stanford: the cable from garage rack 01, patch panel 1, port 16 to position 02 in the Apartment G media panel. The bottom line of this label is wrong: it says UNIT J.02 , but the cable goes to Apartment G. Use the layout, not the text. It should read APT-G.02 . Patch cords between devices Two-line label. Line 1 = upstream device and port, line 2 = downstream device and port, using the device names on this page plus .port . The diagram above is from V1 and may still show V1 formats. This is different from TIA-606, where the near end is printed first so the order flips at each end. Here the order is always upstream first, so the label reads the same everywhere. Cable Line 1 (upstream) Line 2 (downstream) Notes ISP to firewall ISP01 FW01.WAN1 Second WAN: ISP02 / FW01.WAN2 Firewall to aggregation switch FW01.03 AGG01.01 HA: FW02.03 / AGG02.01 Aggregation to access switch AGG01.10 SW01.49 Bond / LAG: label each member normally (e.g. AGG02.12 / SW01.49 and AGG02.13 / SW01.50 ). Record the LAG in the docs. Switch to patch panel (patch cord in rack) SW01.12 P6-12 Patch panel to wall outlet (horizontal) Three-line label: P6-12 / IDF.1.01 / FL1-WALL . The outlet faceplate shows P6-12 . Split cable: P6-12a , P6-12b Riser / backbone (between MPOE, IDFs, panels) Three-line label: P1-01 / MPOE.1.06 / IDF.2.01 Add the site prefix if the cable leaves the site. Building rack to unit media panel FIELD. Three-line label: P1-16 / GARAGE RACK01 / APT-G.02 See "Multi-unit residential". Camera IDF.1.01-P3-05 or SW01.05 INT-CashReg The bottom line is the camera name. Access hub to badge reader CTL.1.05 CTL.1.05-RDR Intercom: CTL.1.05 / CTL.1.05-INT Switch to access hub / Reader-Flex SW01.20 CTL.1.05 FIELD: the 919 Stanford label fits one large line ( P1-16 ) and two small lines of up to 13 characters ( GARAGE RACK01 ) on the wrap label, with the clear tail left for laminating. Printed on the 1.5" x 1.0" M7-31-427 stock. Longer lines (more than 13 characters) are UNTESTED. Service type (from V1) V1 used a service prefix on patch cables: NET-001 , TEL-001 , COM-001 . In V2 the panel port ID replaces the serial number. PROPOSAL: show the service with cable color (see Relation to TIA-606) or with a third line on the label. See Open questions. Multi-unit residential FIELD, from 919 Stanford. A building rack in the garage feeds a media panel (structured media enclosure) in each unit. The ISP's ONT sits in the unit media panel. Names Item Format Example Building rack (ROOM) RACK## GARAGE RACK01 Patch panel port in the building rack P#-port P1-16 Apartment (unit) APT- + unit letter APT-G Position in the unit media panel APT-(letter).## , counted left to right across the top row, then the next row APT-G.02 Room drop (unit panel to a room) Letter = location, in order A , B , C .... Number = cable at that location: A1 is the first cable, A2 the second. D1 , A2 ISP feed (single-mode fiber from the building rack to the unit ONT) ISP-(apartment letter) , location GARAGE ISP-G Tag on a cable inside the media panel APT-(letter) (drop) APT-G D1 Drop location (small text under or over the ID) FL#-MOUNT FL1-WALL , FL2-CEILING , FL1-DRBL Unused jack BLANK BLANK Unit media panel label strip Each jack gets an ID (large) and a location (small). Jacks fed from the building rack use the rack port as the ID and GARAGE as the location. Red keystones mark the jacks fed from the garage rack. Row 1 2 3 4 5 6 Top P1-15 GARAGE P1-16 GARAGE A1 FL1-DRBL C1 FL2-WALL E1 FL3-WALL BLANK Bottom GARAGE ISP-G BLANK B1 FL1-WALL D1 FL2-CEILING BLANK BLANK DRBL = doorbell. ISP-G = the ISP single-mode fiber for Apartment G, from the garage. Use APT- for units, not UNIT . Positions are counted across, so P1-16 is position .02 in the photo. Stacking: put a second cable to the same location directly under the first ( A1 on top, A2 below), so the cables for one location share a column. In the 919 Stanford photo each location has one cable, so A1 / B1 and C1 / D1 share columns. Hardware and labels Printer: Brady M710 Label type Size Brady part number Per roll Price (V1, date unknown) Ribbon Basic sticker 1.0" x 1.0" M7-19-423 250 $43.50 (fill in) Metallic label 1.0" x 2.0" M7-20-435 100 $40.00 (fill in) Cable wrap (self-laminating) 1.5" x 1.0" M7-31-427 250 $68.00 R4300 ($73.00) Templates Site template (editable): NetworkIdentification.docx Patch bay label templates: PatchBaySize_12portLevitonKeystone.docx PatchBaySize_12portSurfacemount.docx PatchBaySize_24portKeystone.docx PatchBaySize_24port.docx PatchBaySize_48port.docx These templates were made for V1 formats and may need updating. Relation to TIA-606 ANSI/TIA-606 is the US cabling administration standard. ISO/IEC 14763-2 is the international equivalent. This scheme borrows its ideas (unique IDs, both ends labeled, records kept) but uses its own formats. This scheme TIA-606 term MPOE Entrance facility (demarc). Often in the same room as the equipment room / main cross-connect (MDF). IDF Telecommunications room (TR) Riser cable Backbone cable Patch panel to outlet Horizontal link Multi-site with site codes Class 3 (campus) / Class 4 (multi-site) 606 color codes (from memory, not checked against the current revision) Color Use Orange Demarc / carrier Green Network connections (customer side of demarc) Purple Common equipment (servers, PBX) White First-level backbone Gray Second-level backbone Blue Horizontal (to the outlet) Brown Between buildings Yellow Miscellaneous (security, alarms) Red Key telephone systems 606-B cable example (kept from V1) Near end AG09-35:01/AJ06-35:01 , far end AJ06-35:01/AG09-35:01 . AG09 = rack at grid AG09, -35 = patch panel 35 rack units from the bottom, :01 = port 1, / = separates near end from far end. Newer revisions (606-C, 606-D) exist. I have not checked what changed. Changes from V1 Item V1 V2 MPOE SASC-MPO.1.6 SASC-MPOE.1.06 IDF second unit IDF-1-1a SASC-IDF.1.01b Doors SASC-01-DR01 SASC-DR.1.01 Firewall on cables FW-Primary-WAN1 FW01.WAN1 (same name as the device label) Aggregation switch AGG-## and AGGR-## AGG## , with its own device row Site 925 devices 925-FW01 Same format, but see Open questions about the code Wilson-MHF patch port MHF-IDF2.1-P1.1 MHF-IDF.2.01-P1-01 (same rule as every site) Access hub suffix 1.1A / 1.05a mixed Always lowercase: 1.05b Intercom / reader -IntCom , -Reader -INT , -RDR Cameras INTERNAL-CashReg SASC-INT-CashReg Camera cable SASC-CAM-1.05 Port ID / camera name Wire label order Two conflicting wordings Upstream before downstream. In-wall runs: 3 lines (ID / upstream / downstream), from field practice. Patch panel port P6.12 P6-12 (field practice) Bond cables -BONDa / -BONDb Label each member normally. LAG in the records. New General rules, site code table, AP / SRV / NAS / UPS / PDU, patch panel naming, 606 mapping Open questions Fill in the site code table. Is 925 a street number, like 919 ? Agree with the separator, padding, and floor proposals? Service type: drop NET / TEL / COM , use cable color, or add a third label line? What did COM mean? Are MPOE and MDF always the same room in your sites, or do you need an MDF room type? Do you want rack positions (rack units, as in 606) in the labels, or is P# top to bottom enough? Riser and outlet labels with lines longer than 13 characters still need a test print. Ribbon part numbers for the basic and metallic labels. Related pages V1 of this page, saved as a copy ending in "_old" (link to be added)