How necessary are attatching grounding ports on networking hardware?

[train_wreck]

I recently installed a TP-Link SG3216 as my main network switch for 4 separate VLANs with a total of 15 ports occupied. The switch has a screw-on ground connection on the back, and came with a rather thick grounding wire with what looks like bare aluminum on one end. Do I actually need to connect it to a grounding rod of some sort? Or is it fine just grounded via the power plug? (The switch is plugged into an APC UPS, which will supposedly give an error on a non-grounded power connection, and it is not doing so at the moment.)

 

[bill001g]

This is mostly for a data center requirement. Many times commercial data centers have the equipment racks grounded to separate ground. This is suppose to reduce interference. They still have the main power ground also since that one is primarily for safety. I never got a clear explanation why this made any difference since many times the power ground and the chassis ground connection are connected together inside the unit.

The only time I have seen it make any difference was with some older PBX equipment where the calls would have noise on them if you did not ground it.

In most cases you can ignore these connections.