4.3.11.3. Routing Circuits

This operation adds a new Path Step sequence to the Circuit.

 

 

For convenience in this example, the Path Trace for the newly created Circuit instance Test Circuit 1 will consist of the existing objects in one of the Areas, displayed in the screenshot image below (in red):

 

A Circuit's Path starts at a Port of some Equipment and continues along a sequence of Cable/Plug, Port, Cable/Plug, etc. For this example, one of the existing (connected) Equipment objects from an existing Area will be selected to start the Path Trace (shown in red above). The first step is to copy that Equipment to the Clipboard, by clicking on the Copy to Clipboard button on the bottom of the Equipment Properties dialog:

 

Copying the item to the clipboard causes the Clipboard content text box in the Circuit Properties - Path Steps dialog to be updated automatically, and will also cause the Start Path Trace... button to be enabled.

 

Clicking on the Start Path Trace... button opens the Start Path Trace dialog, which is initially empty, displaying only the Paste from Clipboard button (Equipment Name) and the empty Ports & Circuits Grid, as displayed below:

 

Clicking on the Paste from Clipboard button (Equipment Name) causes the grid to be populated with the list of Ports from the pasted equipment:

 

This displays the Equipment Name as a hyperlink for quick access to its Properties dialog, as well as the Ports & Circuits Grid, which lists all Ports for the selected (pasted) Equipment. In addition to Equipment Name, the grid also lists

 

Selecting one of the rows tells IRM which Port the Path Trace should be started from and also enables the Start button at the bottom of the sub-dialog. Clicking that button executes the Path Trace, closes the sub-dialog and brings focus back to the Circuit Properties - Path Trace dialog, which displays an updated Path Steps grid with the results of the trace:

 

The Path Steps grid displays the following information:

 

In addition, the Actions column contains two buttons - Locate and Remove. Note that the Remove button removes the currently selected row entry, as well as any associated path steps if a physical trace is selected.  The button is disabled for Path Steps that are a part of a Physical Path Trace sequence, as such a sequence is either all included or not included at all.  That is, the Circuit cannot contain only a part of a Physical Path Trace.

 

In case a Bearer Circuit is assigned to the selected Port, a single row would be populated in the resulting Path Steps grid, but since this is not the case in this example, the Path Steps grid is populated with the selected Port, as well as all other objects connected to it via Cables and internal equipment links.

 

Note how the complete connection Path from the selected Switch Equipment is traced:

 

This operation extends an existing Path Step sequence beyond an active Equipment -- recall that an active Equipment stops a Path Trace, so this is how to tell IRM that the Circuit continues from some other Port on that Equipment object.

 

 

 

Clicking on this button opens the Extend Path Trace dialog, displayed in the screenshot image below:

 

which displays the Ports & Circuits Grid for the last active Equipment from the selected Path Trace sequence, which in this example is a NetGear switch. Note that this dialog is almost the same as the Start Path Trace dialog, with the exception that the Paste from Clipboard (Equipment Name) button is disabled, because the Equipment involved has already been selected in the parent dialog.

 

Some restrictions apply to what is displayed in the Ports & Circuits Grid:

 

Once an appropriate row is selected, the Continue button is enabled, and clicking on it closes this sub-dialog and brings focus back to the Path Trace tab in the Circuit Properties dialog, listing the added Path Steps in the main Path Steps Grid:

 

If the selected Port in the Extend Path Trace dialog already has another Circuit assigned and that Circuit is specified as a Bearer Circuit, then only a Bearer Path Step gets added to the Circuit. A bearer Circuit is a kind of "parent" or "super" Circuit that this Circuit can borrow Path Steps and bandwidth (in the form of channels) from. When a Circuit uses a Bearer Path Step, that single Path Step represents all of the Path Steps in the bearer Circuit; the bearer's path Steps are not copied into the referencing Circuit. Likewise, the list of Path Steps shown in the UI does not include an expansion of the bearer's path Steps.

 

To view the bearer circuit path steps, click on the bearer Circuit's name, which will open a new Circuit Properties dialog on the bearer Circuit and activate its Path Steps tab. If a Port has a Circuit assigned and it's channelized, the Available Bandwidth column should display the number of empty channels, and if it's not channelized it should display the value of the available bandwidth.

 

The Channel Selection popup dialog enables selecting a certain number of channels from the selected bearer Circuit to assign to the selected Path Step

 

It displays the following fields - a numeric stepper and a drop-down menu:

 

Once a starting channel is selected, the OK button on the bottom is enabled. Clicking on the button closes the Start Path Trace sub-dialog and brings focus back to the main Circuit Properties dialog. The Path Steps grid is populated with a single row entry that represent the Path Trace sequence from the selected starting point that has a Bearer Circuit assigned.

 

This operation adds one or more starting points to the Circuit.  These starting points are depicted as the top-level nodes in the Path Steps tree.

 

 

 

In case the selected Port is connected to something, a path trace is automatically performed and a physical Path Step sequence is added under the starting point node.

 

This operation adds a Virtual Path Step to a Path Step sequence.

 

 Conditions for enabling the button:

 

 

 

Another Circuit object can be added as a Virtual Path Step, but this only works for Circuits that don't start with a physical Path Step, that is, the Circuit needs to start with a virtual Path Step, or have no Path Steps. Clicking on the Add Virtual Path Step button adds the object from the clipboard to the Circuit under the selected row entry. 

In this example, a Space object is selected in the clipboard and the last (continuation) path step of the first path step sequence is selected

 

which enables the Add Virtual Path Step button. Clicking on it adds the Space object at the specified position in the Path Steps sequence; it's selected in the screenshot image below:

 

This operation adds a Virtual Path Step to the beginning of a Path Step sequence.

 

 

 

This feature works the same as the Add Virtual Path Step button, described under the previous point, except that the Virtual Path Step is added at the beginning of the selected Path Step sequence. If this button was clicked instead of the Add Virtual Path Step button, for the same use case as described in the previous point, the outcome Path Steps grid would be populated as displayed in the screenshot image below, with Space D now being the initial Path Step:

 

This operation adds a Bearer Path Step to a Path Step sequence.  The procedure for the operation is very similar to adding a Virtual Path Step as described in Point 4 above.

 

 

 

A Bearer Circuit is a kind of "parent" or "super" Circuit that this Circuit can borrow Path Steps and bandwidth in the form of channels from. If a Circuit uses a Bearer Path Step, that single Path Step represents all of the Path Steps in the bearer Circuit; the bearer's path Steps are not copied into the referencing Circuit. Likewise, the list of Path Steps shown in the dialog does not include an expansion of the bearer's Path Steps, but the list can be seen easily enough by clicking on the bearer Circuit's name, which will open a new Circuit Properties dialog for the bearer Circuit and activate it's Path Steps tab.

 

The Bearer Circuit Channels Used is the list of the bearer Circuit's channels that this Circuit uses. Bearer circuit channels are assigned by selecting the first channel in the sub-dialog. The application automatically assigns the next available n channels from the bearer circuit such that the sum of the channel bandwidths is equal or larger than the bandwidth required for this Circuit, as specified in this Circuit's Circuit Type.

 

For example, if the bearer circuit has 10 200kbps channels with channels 5 and 6 already allocated, and a circuit with 1 mbps bandwidth required to channel 3 is assigned, then the result will be bearer Circuit Channels Used = 3, 4, 7, 8, 9.

 

 

This operation adds a Bearer Path Step to the beginning of a Path Step sequence.  The procedure for the operation is very similar to adding a Virtual Path Step as described in Point 5 above.

 

 

 

This feature works the same as the one described under Point 6, except that the Bearer Path Step is added at the beginning of the selected Path Step sequence.

 

 

Note: The Path Trace dialog can be opened for an Equipment object by clicking on the Path Trace button on the bottom of the Ports and Connections tab in the Equipment Properties dialog. This button is enabled if an existing Port is selected and clicking on it opens the Path Trace dialog, which is explained in more detail in the following sub-topic - Path Tracing.

 

This operation adds a Branching Path Step to a Path Step sequence.

 

 

 

A Branching Path Step can only be followed by a Virtual Path Step or the end of the Circuit.

 

This operation adds a Branching Path Step to the beginning of a Path Step sequence.

 

 

 

This operation is a convenient way to append a Branching Path Step to a Path Step sequence that could not otherwise be added to in a single operation; an extra Virtual Path Step is first added and then the Branching Path Step is added.