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If one is going to run a cross-connect in a data center colocation does that mean that it requires another physical network port in the machine being connected? For example if a machine in a data center has three separate cross connects to other machines there does it then require two ethernet ports? Or do cross-connects collate at the switch before connecting to the machine?

Thanks!

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  • What's a "cross-connect"?
    – Chris S
    Apr 21, 2011 at 16:47
  • serverfault.com/questions/112051/…
    – user79126
    Apr 21, 2011 at 17:20
  • You'd have to contact you provider; they could easily do it via vLan, but might rely on separate ports too. It depends on what equipment they have, how they choose to use it..
    – Chris S
    Apr 21, 2011 at 17:29

2 Answers 2

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Generally the way I've seen this done in data centers like Peer1, is that they will provide a separate CAT5 drop for each cross connect. It's up to you what you will do with it. You can go direct into your servers via dedicated NICs. But we would always plug them into our own VLAN switch and then tag them to our router or servers appropriately.

All the DCs I've seen generally don't like to pass VLAN tags to customers. They will also want to ensure that you know your stuff and aren't going to cause a loop in their network.

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  • Your welcome. Please vote accordingly :-)
    – Wim Kerkhoff
    Apr 22, 2011 at 4:27
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I agree with @Wilm - I work in a colocation facility - we provide a Cat5 cable to the customer cabinet and they split it up however they seem fit. We'll also deliver several Cat5 cables if the customer wants to phsyically seperate networks within their cabinet.

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    Camron, welcome to Server Fault! Couple notes, post responses to Answers as a comment to that answer. Your username doesn't have to be unique, so putting a year in there isn't necessary (though you can enter your birthday in your profile if you want). Talking about your work offers us spectacular insights to an industry that's under-represented here! Blatantly plugging products you're related to is spam. If you've got any questions the FAQ covers most things and there's Chat for anything else.
    – Chris S
    Jun 10, 2011 at 1:29

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