Part of Infrastructure hosting standards for the NHS
Rack, cabinet and space management
Standards you should meet on racks, cabinets and hosting space layout.
1. NHS organisations should ensure racks and cabinets are installed, secured and maintained in line with organisation current and future demand
Importance of meeting the standard
Well installed and secured racks and cabinets protect hosting equipment from physical damage, instability, accidental disconnection and environmental risks. Proper installation also supports safe maintenance, reduces service disruption, and extends hardware lifespan.
When to meet the standard
- deploying new racks, cabinets or hosted equipment
- refurbishing hosting rooms or consolidating equipment
- relocating hosting environments or increasing equipment density
- addressing risks identified through audit or incident review
How to meet the standard
- racks and cabinets are securely fixed, level and installed following manufacturer guidance
- equipment weight and load distribution are considered before installation
- all racks and cabinets are lockable or otherwise secured against unauthorised access
- minimum working clearance is maintained around all equipment for safety and maintenance access
- unused space is covered using blanking panels to support airflow
- racks should meet the most up to date and appropriate recognised industry standard for their environment
- cable openings should include grommets to prevent cable damage and
- racks should be earthed/bonded to building electrical standards where required
- rack numbering and labelling should be consistent and documented
2. NHS organisations should use cabling and cable management that meets the latest structured cabling standards in all hosting environments
Importance of meeting the standard
Poor cabling introduces operational risk, increases the likelihood of accidental disconnection, makes troubleshooting harder, and contributes to overheating by obstructing airflow.
Structured, well‑documented cable management improves performance, resilience and maintainability.
How to meet the standard
- cabling is designed and implemented using a structured approach aligned to recognised industry standards
- cabling infrastructure is planned with sufficient capacity and flexibility to support current and future hosting requirements
- cabling design supports safe operation, maintainability and resilience of hosting environments
- cables are routed using appropriate containment (for example trays, trunking or management arms)
- cabling does not obstruct rack airflow or access to equipment
- all cabling is labelled and recorded as part of asset and configuration management
- cabling should be designed and installed in accordance with recognised structured cabling standards and installation practices (for example ISO/IEC 11801, EN 50173, EN 50174 or BS 6701)
- copper and fibre cabling should meet appropriate performance standards (for example CAT6A or OM4/OS1 or better where required)
- patch leads and installed cabling should be of compatible type and standard
- cabling installations should be tested, certified and documented
- cable routing should maintain appropriate separation from power and interference sources
- minimum bend radius requirements should not be exceeded
- unnecessary joints, splices or daisy‑chaining should be avoided
3. NHS organisations should ensure hosting environments are designed and planned to support current and future capacity needs
Importance of meeting the standard
Insufficient capacity or poorly planned hosting environments can lead to overcrowding, increased failure risk, degraded performance and barriers to service growth. As digital services expand and data volumes increase, hosting environments must be able to scale without compromising safety, resilience or maintainability.
Effective capacity planning ensures that NHS organisations can support evolving clinical and operational demands while avoiding reactive, high‑risk expansion and unplanned investment.
When to meet the standard
- designing or refurbishing hosting rooms or environments
- deploying new systems or workloads that increase demand
- responding to sustained growth in compute, storage or data volumes
- reviewing estates, infrastructure or digital transformation strategies
- identifying capacity risks through monitoring or incident review
How to meet the standard
- hosting spaces are sized with sufficient headroom for growth, considering equipment, power and cooling
- physical constraints such as space, floor loading, power and cooling are considered alongside digital capacity
- compute, storage and platform capacity is reviewed in line with service demand
- growth can be accommodated without introducing single points of failure or unsafe layouts
- capacity constraints and dependencies are understood and documented
- options for scaling (including cloud, hybrid or co‑location) are considered where local expansion is constrained
- capacity constraints are reviewed at least annually
- capacity planning should cover compute, storage, power, cooling and physical space
- monitoring data, historical trends and growth projections should inform planning
- minimum clearance and safe access requirements should be maintained
- overcrowding of racks beyond manufacturer or operational recommendations should be avoided
- capacity forecasts, constraints and upgrade pathways should be documented and reviewed periodically
Last edited: 18 June 2026 12:36 pm