During a scheduled server decommission, an administrator has already powered off the host and removed its VLAN assignments. The next step in the cable-remediation checklist is to remove the server's network cabling all the way back to the patch panel. Which action should the administrator perform first to minimize the risk of an unexpected network outage while the cables are being removed?
Remove every patch cord whose jacket color matches the decommissioned server's standard color code because those links are guaranteed to be unused.
Cut the horizontal copper cables at the server rack and pull the remaining lengths through the tray for faster removal.
Use a cable tracer to identify and label both ends of each suspected cable, then confirm that the corresponding switch ports show no link light before disconnecting anything.
Unplug the patch cords from the top-of-rack switch first and watch the interface error and traffic counters to make sure nothing important was disconnected.
Best practice is to trace and label each cable end-to-end and verify that its associated switch port shows no link activity before anything is unplugged. Physically confirming that the link LED is dark (or the port is administratively shut down) proves the cable is no longer serving production traffic.
Unplugging cords from a switch without first tracing them risks disconnecting the wrong cable, and simply watching traffic counters may not be reliable if the link is part of an aggregation group or a spanning-tree path. Cutting cables without verification is unsafe, irreversible, and does not confirm the correct cable has been chosen. Relying only on cable jacket color is also unreliable, as colors are not always unique to a single device and documentation may be outdated.
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Why is it important to confirm no link light activity before removing cables?
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What are the risks of disconnecting cables without end-to-end verification?