Manage Port Connections

After you create all your network devices it is time to connection them all together.  This is where port connections come into play.  Port Connections allow you to connect your Access ports with your trunk ports.  You can also associate adapters to connections.

In order for you to see your network devices here, each device must be associated to a site and building.  Terminals are optional.

When you open up the Manage Network Connections window, there are three different columns.  In the Access port column, you will be selecting the service that is coming into the device.  The Manage Connections column allows you to select adapters and or associate a connection. The Trunk port column allows to you select the service that is leaving the device and going to a set/circuit/other piece of equipment or to another location.

Creating a Port Connection

  1. Click the Configured Items or Facilities
  2. In the Navigation pane, click Network Devices.
  3. There are two ways to create a port connection:
    • Within the toolbar directly above the Navigation pane, click the Manage Port Connections
    • Within the Actions pane, click the Manage Port Connections
  1. With either option the Manage Network Connection window opens.
  2. Here we will work from left column to the right column to complete the connection. In the Access Ports column, all the sites that are in your database will appear.  To start click on the site.
  3. The list changes to display all of the buildings associated to the site, click on the appropriate building name.
  4. Once the building is selected, all terminals and network devices assigned into the building appear in the column.
  5. Click on the terminal to further refine the list, if no terminals are displayed you can click on the network device to displays a list of access ports.

A few notes about each port.  Each port is contained in its own cell. When a port is connected the port connection indicator (the small icon to the very right of the cell) turns from green to blue. Also, when connected the name of the trunk port that the access port is connected to appears in the lower left-hand corner of the cell.

If a port is reserved the small icon will be orange.

If the port is bad the small icon will be red.

  1. To select the port, click on the appropriate cell within the Access Port column. The selected port now appears in the first box of the Manage Connection column.
  2. Next you will select the trunk port, you will notice that when you selected the site and building in the Access Port column, those same selections were made in the Trunk Ports column.

If you are connecting the access port to another building, click on the red X within the Building cell to return to the building list.  From the list select the appropriate building.

  1. Within the list of trunk port, you may see both network devices as well as jacks. To connect to a jack, find the jack within the list and click on the appropriate cell.  The jack information will now appear in the trunk port box of the middle column.
  2. If you are connecting to a network device, click on the device name to access a list of the ports. From the list, click on the appropriate port.  The port name will now appear in the trunk port box of the middle column.
  3. At this point, it is a good idea to save your connection. Within the center pane, click on the Save Connection button in the lower right-hand corner of the pane.

Searching for a Port

Instead of searching through the entire list of sites, building or devices every time you want to make a network connection you can use the search feature.  At the very top of either the Access or Trunk Ports pane, there is a text box.  Within the box, type in any portion of the record you would like to find, as things match, they will appear within the list.

Adding an adapter

In certain situations, you may need to use an adapter to connect ports together. As we talked about earlier, only same port types can be connected together, for example, you cannot connect an ethernet port to a fiber port.  In this situation an adapter would need to be used.  Previously, we built all your adapters into the database.

Each adapter included the type, media type and WAN port type.  The media type is essentially the type of cable being used to connect the ports together.  The WAN port type is the matching port type in the network device.

  1. After you have selected your access port, it is time to select your trunk port. When you select a trunk port and click on the Save Connection button, if your ports are not compatible a message box notifies you that they cannot be connected together.
  2. In this case, an adapter would need to be used. You can select an adapter on either the access port side, trunk port side or both.
  3. Within the Manage Connections column, the adapter field is directly below the assigned port box. Click on the adapter dropdown arrow to display a list of the available adapters and their port and media types.  This information is helpful to determine what adapter should be used for this particular connection.
  4. Directly below the adapter field, is the serial number textbox. It is a good idea to enter a serial number into the field for accurate tracking.
  5. When completed, click on the Save Connection button.

Adding a Connection

Often times your network connections may not be in the same building so you will need to connect with a cable and pair.  In order for a connection to occur between two network devices in two buildings, the same cable must be assigned to a terminal in both buildings.

When you select the building in either the Access or Trunk Port panes, the available connection groups will display in the Manage Connection column. To view the paths associated with the connection click on the appropriate cell.

When the path list displays, there are a few things to note.  First, if a path is already connected the small icon to the right of the cell will be blue, if the path is available for use the small icon will be green.  If the path is connected, the connection information displays in the lower left-hand corner of the cell.

To use a connection and path, click on the appropriate connection name to display the paths.  Within the list, click on the path to assign.  The assigned path will display directly below the connection name above the path list.

To remove a path, click on the red ‘X’ in right-hand side of the cell.

To remove the connection, click on the red ‘X’ in right-hand side of the cell.

Filters

In the lower portion of the Manage Connections window there are several checkboxes that you can use to filter the amount of information you see in the columns.  The first is the Sync Access Port Filters, this defaults to a checkmark to indicate that if you select a site and building in the Access Port column, the same site and building will display in the Trunk Port column.  After you have selected the building, CAIRS automatically removes the checkmark to allow you to select different network devices.

The next set of filters are for your Port Connections.  The following filters are available:

  • Connected – the default is to include a checkmark to include all ports that are connected. To remove connected ports from the list, remove the checkmark.
  • Available – the default is to display all available ports, when the checkbox is removed all available ports will be removed from the list and you are left with just the assigned ports.
  • Reserved – the default is to display only the ports that are unreserved and available to use. To view only the reserved ports, click on the box to insert a checkmark.  If any ports are reserved, they will appear within the column.
  • display the ports that you designated as reserved when you created the network device. To display the only the not reserved ports, remove the checkmark
  • Not Reserved – the default is to display the ports that are not reserved. To display the only the reserved ports, remove the checkmark
  • Working – the default is to display all the working ports. To remove working ports from the list, remove the checkmark
  • Bad – the list defaults to display only the ports that are working, to view the bad ports, click on the box to insert a checkmark.
  • Locked/Unlocked – these selections are still in programming, it will be available in a later release

The next filters are for the Jack Connections.  The two filters available are In Use and Not in Use. The default is to include all jacks whether in use or not is use, to remove either selection remove the checkmark.

The final set of filters are for the Connection Paths.  The two filters available are In Use and Not in Use. The default is to include all jacks whether in use or not is use, to remove either selection remove the checkmark.

Assigning Network Devices

Within the Connectivity pane of any configured item within CAIRS, you can assign them to the network.  This allows you to see an actual diagram of the connections between buildings, terminals, ports and jacks.

To view the network diagram to show how the device is connected to the network, click on the Network tab in the lower portion of the Facilities pane.  There maybe 2 or more columns of information depending on the amount of connections you have for the configured item (Standard Sets, Cisco Sets, Avaya Sets, NEC Sets, Configured Sets, or Circuits).

To assign connectivity with a network device

  1. There are two sections within the Facilities pane. The top portion allows you to assign a few basic items within Facilities, and the lower half allows you to assign the complete facilities package.
  2. Within the top section, complete the following fields (required fields are marked with an asterisk (*):
    • Assigned Site – click the drop-down arrow to access a list, from the list select the assigned site.
    • Assigned Building * – click the drop-down arrow to access a list, and then select the building name.
    • Network Device Identifier – click the dropdown arrow to access a list, from the list select the network device to associate to the configured item. If a network device and port are selected, the Network tab will show a diagram of how this configured item is connected to the data network.
    • Device Port Number – click the dropdown arrow to access a list, from the list select the port number the configured item is assigned to on the network device.
    • Alternate Location – type in any alternate location information relating to the configured item. This field can appear in the 911 interface
    • Directory Building Name – this field auto-populates with the Directory Building Name that appears on the Building Record. The Directory Building name is defined as the common name for the building, for example, the assigned building name is 100 and the directory building name is Post Office. This field is read only.
    • Floor – type the floor number
    • Room – type the room number
    • Jack – type the jack number
    • Connectivity Misc. 1-3 – use these fields for typing in any miscellaneous connection information
    • Dedicated Plant – click the arrow to access a drop-down list, from the list select the type of dedication, it automatically defaults to Not Dedicated. You can change the selection to Dedicated with Port or Dedicated without Port. When you choose to dedicate, anytime you move or delete the device, the facilities remain in place and are unavailable to use in other situations.
    • Latitude/Longitude/Elevation – if you happen to know your GPS coordinates you can type them into the appropriate fields. However, a simply way to enter in the coordinates is to click on the ‘Add GPS Location’ button in the Location ribbon group.  This will populate the fields with the appropriate information.  If used this information, will transfer in the 911 interface and display the terminal that is nearest the location of the phone.

These coordinates work in connection with the Nearest Building tab (if you do not see the tab, you will need to change the system setting ‘Show Nearest Building Button in Facilities’ to True).  The buildings with the nearest coordinates will appear in the tab.

    • Connection Sequence – if you are using the 911 interface you can determine the sort order or sequence of which building information will be sent to your 911 system. This defaults to 0, if you have more than one location enter in the sequence number.
    • Include in 911 – click on the dropdown arrow access a menu from the menu select one of the following:
      • Default
      • Always
      • Never
  1. Within the lower section, when you click the first line (marked with an asterisk) the site and building name populate with the information you entered in the upper section. If the building only has 1 terminal the name of the terminal will also auto-populate.
  2. If there is more than one terminal, click the drop-down arrow to access a list, and then select the terminal name associated with the building.
  3. If you do not see, the Connection Name line, click the plus sign (+) next to the site name. The following fields open to allow you to complete adding the facilities, complete the following fields (required fields are marked with an asterisk (*):
    • Connection Name – click the drop-down arrow to access a list, and then select the configured item’s connection.
    • Path Number – this field auto-populates with the next available path in the terminal. To change this selection, click the drop-down arrow to access a list and then select the configured item’s path number.
    • Path Usage – click the drop-down arrow to access a list, then, select the path usage type. This is a list that is pre-defined within Facilities and indicates how the path is being used, for example, data, voice, transmit, etc.
    • Out Binding Post or Out Frame Location – these fields auto-populate with number(s) corresponding to the path number. This information is defined within Facilities; each terminal is designed with either a Binding Post or Frame Location. This field is a Read Only field.
    • In Row, Block, Pin – these fields auto-populate within number(s) corresponding to the path number. This information is defined within Facilities; each terminal is designed with either a Binding Post or Frame Location. This is a Read Only field.
  1. Within the Actions ribbon group, click on the Save button within the Actions ribbon group.
  2. To view the connectivity, click on the Network Tab in the lower portion of the
    Facilities pane. The pane will show a graphical display of how the configured item is connected to the network device.