Greetings!

If you’ve read in my About page, you know that I’m a consultant.  I have to travel often to customer’s sites to do anything from general configuration and troubleshooting where I don’t physically touch any equipment (increasingly, the datacenter that holds what I’m working on isn’t even in the same building, city, state, or even country), to full on racking and stacking equipment.  Some things I never want to be without, some things I always want with me when I’m racking equipment, and then there are things I want in my car just in case, but I seldom need.

I also have two bad disks in my neck, so I don’t want to carry more than I need, so I really had to come up with a modular way to pack for whatever work I may be doing.

This post is lay the groundwork for how I manage this in a category of posts I’m calling “WhatsInTheBag.”  I’m also going to maintain a page of current contents as well, so you can easily see what I’m carrying.  Obviously, the contents will change. I might find something that fits my needs better by accomplishing the task better, or maybe it accomplishes multiple tasks acceptably better than several individual items.  I have to carry enough stuff, so I’m constantly looking for ways to conserve weight while still being able to get the job done.

But just so you know, here’s how I organize at a high level.  I have three basic containers for my work to carry stuff in:

• Laptop bag – this carries everything I always want with me when I go onsite for that work.  Most everything it it doesn’t change.  My next post in this series is what bag I use for this, as many people in IT discuss the perfect laptop bag for them.
• Racking bag – this carries everything I want with me when I’m racking equipment that I pretty much always will need, or would never even want to start racking equipment unless I have it, because if I don’t have it, I’m either screwed or I won’t be happy with the quality of the job.  Currently, I’m using a medium toolbag for this, but I’m considering alternatives for it.
• Toolbox – Stuff I generally don’t need for either of the above to carry into wherever I’m working, but I want it in my car in case I need it.  Currently, it’s an old Black and Decker toolbox my wife bought me 15 years ago when I did PC type builds and repair for side money on top of networking, but I’m considering replacing it once I find the right thing.

In the meantime, what do you use to carry your everyday must have items?  How do you organize to carry only what you need?