Defining Port Arrangements

The Port Arrangements tab in the Equipment Type Properties dialog enables specifying the visual arrangement of Port objects for the Equipment Type being defined.

This functionality is available through the Port Arrangement Properties dialog, which can be accessed in two ways:

by clicking on the Add Port Arrangement button, which is always enabled
by clicking on the Edit Port Arrangement button, which is enabled only when a Port Arrangement is selected

Determining a Primary Port

When defining a Port Arrangement it is important to determine if the Ports in the Port Arrangement being defined are to be considered as Admin (administrative port), Term (terminal port) or Other (other port).

A Port Arrangement describes how how a set of similiar ports on a device are physically arranged and sets some important parameters for those ports. It allows the user to define, in a single operation, a set of ports that provide similiar functionality to each other and which are physically arranged in some regular/repeating fashion. This style of batch definition is particularly important for devices that support large numbers of ports that work the same way, such as 96-port patch panels.

A vital attribute for each Port Arrangement is the Port Side, which indicates the primary purpose of the port, as shown in the table below This parameter also plays a role in the Port Linking functionality, specifically in determining whether port linking is supported or not supported.

Port Side	Purpose of port	Examples	Supports Port LInking?
Admin	Allow the user to quickly change cable connections, for cabling that provides the primary business purpose of the equipment.	A fiber patch panel has LC connectors on the front that facilitate quick addition and removal of fiber cables and which thereby provide the primary business purpose of the patch panel. A copper switch has several RJ-45 connectors that all work in the same way, again providing the primary business purpose of the device. A PSU or power strip has several ports that supply power to other devices.	yes
Term	Provide a termination point for cables that are not frequently disconnected and reconnected, but which are involved in the primary business purpose of the equipment.	Bare-wire (IDC) connections on the back side of copper patch panels Special connector for long-haul plant cables	yes
Other	Any ports on the equipment that do not qualify as either Admin or Term. These are typically special control, upload, debug, power and other special purpose ports that do not directly provide the business functionality of the equipment.	USB, RS-232, or other serial ports for debug and/or maintenance of the equipment itself. USB ports for connecting keyboards etc. Power input ports Video output ports (unless the primary business purpose of the device is to drive multiple displays)	no

Defining a Port Arrangement

The following screenshot image shows an example of the Front Port Arrangement defined for a sample patch panel.

Note: All panels between the three sections of the dialog (left, top-right and bottom-right) are resizable. This is enabled by the dividers between each section, allowing the user to alter the layout to meet their needs. For example, in cases where the related Equipment Type has a relatively tall aspect ratio, that is, larger height then width, the drawing panel in the top-right of the Port Arrangement Properties can be easily adjusted so the needed details in the background image are more visible, making it easier for the user to get the Port positions aligned more precisely.

The following screenshot images and text explain the steps for specifying a new Port Arrangement for a newly created Equipment Type.

Partial write mode -- IMPORTANT

The Port Arrangement Properties dialog mostly operates in either read-only or read-write modes. However, there are situations where a partial write mode is necessary. Specifically, the Port Arrangement editor uses a partial write mode in the case where a Type is being referenced by equipment instance objects. Once instances of the Type exist, it is not safe to change attributes that the instances depend on. Just imagine what would happen if a Type was made with some ports, then instances were created and the ports connected with cables, and then the ports were removed from the Type. The ports in the instances would lose their definitions, which is critical information, and would therefore no longer work properly in IRM. As a general rule, the fields which can be changed in partial write mode are those that only affect visualization, while fields that affect the actual structure or non-visual nature of the object must remain read-only, to protect data integrity.

Specify the Jack Type

To set up the Port Arrangement, start by selecting the Jack Type, also known as the Jack Definition. Within IRM, this definition provides detailed information about specific Port types, like the RJ-45 gigabit Ethernet port. Different Equipment Types commonly use these Jack Definitions.

By pressing the down-arrow button, a dropdown menu appears showcasing all available Jack Definitions. Additionally, there's a Quick Search box for swift and easy searching of the desired Jack Definition. In this instance, we've chosen the RJ45 Female Jack Type.

If the appropriate Jack Definition doesn't exist in the list, you can add a new one via the pencil button displayed on the right side of the Jack Type field.

which opens the Jack Definition Manager dialog. This dialog enables adding, editing and removing Jack Definitions and is explained in more detail under the parent topic about Defining Ports and Connections.

Specify the Port name prefix and Index

The next step is to specify the Port prefix, which is usually a text string and the accompanying Port Index, which defines the starting number that will be added to the specified Port prefix name for each new Port instance.

For this example, we have specified the Port prefix as Port and the starting Port Index as 1.

which will result in Ports named "port 1", "port 2", etc. until port <n>, where <n> is the quantity of Ports being defined.

Specify if the Ports are Admin and their quantity.

The Quantity field is a read only field and is populated by the application once the rest of the parameters are defined.

The Port Side enables you to specify if the port is Administrative port, Terminal port or Other port.

Specify the Port Location and Power Flow

Port Location:

Front: Port is located on the front side of the device.

Rear: Port is located on the back side of the device.

Power Flow:

None (non-power Ports): These ports don't involve power transmission and may be used for other functions like data transfer.

Power Flow In: Ports designed to receive electrical power from an external source.

Power Flow Out: Ports that supply electrical power to other devices or components.

The top-right section of the dialog appropriately displays the Front side Image of the Equipment Type.

Specify the Port Locators

This is used to set the starting position of the initial Port Locators, which are specified as X and Y coordinates of this Port Arrangement

Specify the number of Port Rows, the number of Port Groups Per Row and the number of Ports per Group

Number of Total Port Rows, number of Port Groups Per Row, number of Ports Per Group, all specified as numeric values.

Total Ports per Group:

Imagine a number of ports situated one next to another in rows with just horizontal contact among them.

Port Groups per Row:

This describes how many of these clusters or groupings there are along one horizontal line.

Total Port Rows:

How many horizontal lines comprise a complete set-up.

The total number of Ports generated by the arrangement is the product of these 3 parameters

Ports per Group x Port Groups per Row x Total Port Rows

Specify the Port, Group and Row Offset

This section enables specifying Offsets in inches between each Port (measured from the left edge of one Port to the left edge of the next Port), the extra space between each Port Group and the offset from one row to the next (measured from the top edge of one row to the top edge of the next row).

View the final list of Ports

The data grid displays all the Port properties specified in the left section of the dialog. As can be seen in the screenshot image, all properties defined for the Ports specified for the Front Port Arrangement are displayed in this grid.

In addition, the Front Image section that displays the visual arrangement of all Ports on the Front side of the Equipment Type being specified:

Note: In the rare cases of tightly-packed ports, the port icons are drawn as small as needed to make them fit. In the Web Client at least, any difficulty with legibility can be overcome simply by zooming in.