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4.3.11. Circuit Management
In IRM Circuit objects are used to define end-to-end service paths across the network infrastructure. By implementing Circuit Management, IRM allows an organization to quickly identify active ports, used media and bandwidth, as well as visualize the route.
IRM supports two type of Circuit objects:
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physical (i.e., physical path) - used to identify paths through specific equipment, ports and media
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virtual (i.e., logical path) - generally used to define and manage WAN circuits, or virtual circuits where there is some knowledge of the path but not exact detailed knowledge. It is important to note that a virtual Circuit can still include physical elements (physical path steps as described below), and therefore it can actually be a hybrid virtual/physical construction.
The Circuit Properties dialog is the central place in the application for managing Circuit instances, similar to the editors for other Typed Object instances (e.g., Equipment, Cables). In addition to the common tabs (i.e., General, Type, Attachments), the dialog contains the following "special" tabs - the Path Steps tab, the basics of which are covered in this and the Routing Circuits topic and the Test Results tab, which is covered in an earlier subtopic related to general Cable management (click on the link to open that topic).
Since the main purpose of Circuits is defining Path Steps as sequences of different Equipment, Cable and Circuit objects, this topic will serve as an introduction into main parts of the Path Steps tab and put them in context of using Circuit objects in IRM. Another Circuit-related feature in the application is Path Tracing, which enables tracing physically connected sequences of Equipment and Cables, which is another way of creating Circuits. Click on the links for more information about the features.
The Path Steps tab is used to manage the configured connectivity path for the selected ports. A Path Step represents a single point-to-point link in a Circuit. Like a Circuit itself, a Path Step can either be physical, where it indicates a specific Port (or even specific connection points in a Port), or virtual, where it indicates a device, Cable, Location, Space, or Area that the Circuit goes through without consideration of the exact details.
IRM supports the following types of Path Steps:
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Physical Path Steps, which are part of Path Trace
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Virtual Path Steps, which indicate an Equipment object, Cable, Location, Space, or Area that the Circuit goes through without consideration of the exact details
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Bearer Path Steps, which represent another Circuit that this Circuit borrows bandwidth from
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Branching Path Steps, which reference more than one Port and allow the Circuit to continue over those Ports. The IRM Circuit model is geared towards linear Circuits, but a Branching Path Step allows the user to model a Circuit that branches over a limited part of its path, usually for purposes of diversity.
The following screenshot image is an example of a Path Steps tab, while the text below explains its main features:
 Actions This set of action buttons is related to the section explained in the previous point, that is, depending on the selection, Clipboard content and the current configuration of the Path Steps, these buttons are disabled or enabled. The following topic explain these conditions and what each button does in detail, so click on the link for more information.
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 Path Steps grid The grid lists all Path Steps defined for the selected Circuit, as well as their basic properties, such as
The action buttons are similar to the ones that can be found in other places in the application:
 - Locate action button highlights the selected Path Step in the Design World. - Refresh Path Trace button  - the Remove Path Trace action button removes the associated row entry and all row entries below. This action button is disabled for Path Steps that are a part of a sequence of Physical Path Trace, because only the entire physical trace can be removed, not just a part of it. Additionally, the Path Steps data grid enables the user to control the order of Circuit starting points through the ability to sort the data by the following columns:
The tree structure and the icons under the first column are explained more in one of the next topics - Routing Circuits.
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