The following explains the controls on the Cabinet dialog:
- Patchports for panel X group box. This
large group of controls shows the attributes and patchports for the
panel selected in the Panels list box. As
the selection in the Panels list box changes,
the label of this group box changes to display the panel ID and description.
The text fields indicating panel size and the sequencing attribute
are also updated. Of course , the patchport viewing area is updated,
too, to show the patchports for the selected panel, but the horizontal
scrolling position remains constant, as long as the new panel being
displayed has enough columns . The patchport viewing area shows
patchports for the selected panel and may be scrolled vertically
or horizontally to show all the patchports. The patchport label is
shown in bold near the center of the patchport . Connection information
for the back of the patchport is shown above the label, while connection
information for the front is shown below. A couple of
visual cues indicate what view is being shown:
- An F is shown in the bottom right
corner of every patchport if the front view is shown. This is changed
to a B in the top left when the back
is shown.
- To indicate the connections that are affected by Disconnect,
connections extending from the "viewing" side are written in black,
and connections extending from the other side are shown in gray.
- Panels group box. This box shows
the labels of all of the panels in the cabinet. The Add and Attributes... buttons lead to dialogs that have
an editable combo box for the panel 's patchport naming format.
Changing the naming format in this dialog and clicking OK will update
the patchport viewing area to reflect the new patchport names.
This box is also used to add or remove panels and move up or down
the Panels to change the order.
- Patchport detail box. The check
boxes here control the level of detail shown in the patchport viewing
area. Connection information for the patchport 's immediate neighbor
is always displayed for the side being shown.
- The Show Back/Show Front check box changes
depending on the particular view. If it is checked, then the viewing
area shows (in gray) connection information for the side not currently
being viewed.
- The Show Entire Link check box determines
how much of the connection is displayed. If this is not checked, then
only the neighbor immediately connected to the back or front of the
patchport is shown. Checking this option causes the patchport to expand
so it shows not only the immediate neighbor(s), but also all the other
interfaces in the complete fiber link. This option affects only the
side being viewed if the Show Back/Show Front option
is turned off.
- The Show Cables check box expands the patchport
further, to accommodate the labels of cables involved in the fiber
link. The names of the cables (or - - - for
anonymous cables, or Trunk for anonymous trunks)
are shown between the interfaces they serve.
- Connect button. This is disabled
if the "viewing" side of one or more of the selected patchports is
already connected. Clicking it invokes the Select
Connection Target(s) dialog. The interface(s) that are selected
from the subdialog are connected directly to the patchports selected
in this dialog. Interfaces that are already involved in complete fiber
links will be valid connection targets for patchports. Connecting
to such interfaces will insert the patchport and its trailing patchports
into the fiber link (HCM asks you to confirm this type of connection).
This allows infrastructure connections to be established after a load.
- Disconnect button. This is
disabled if none of the selected patchports are connected on the "viewing"
side. Clicking this button will attempt to disconnect all the selected
patchports that are connected on the viewing side. Disconnect works
as follows:
- If one or more of the patchports is connected "permanently" on
the viewing side, then HCM will ask the user to confirm the disconnect
action. In this case, these connections will be marked as mutable
before proceeding.
- For each of the patchports:
- If the patchport is involved in a "logically complete" connection,
then HCM will remove this patchport from the chain together with
any others that are permanently connected to it without breaking the
logical link . If all of the connections extending from the other
side of the patchport are permanent, then the disconnect action will
be refused . If the disconnect action succeeds, HCM will issue
a message to indicate that the patchport chain(s) were removed
without breaking the logical connection.
- If the patchport is not involved in a "logically complete" connection,
then the patchport will simply be disconnected from its partner.
Note: HCM has deliberately been designed
so that "logically complete" connections cannot be created or broken
via the Cabinet dialog. The primary purpose
of Connect... and Disconnect on
the Cabinet dialog is to make (or in rare cases,
break) infrastructure connections. Otherwise, use the Switch or Controller dialog to establish or break connections.
- Attributes... button Clicking
this button will invoke the Patchport Attributes dialog
panel.
- Fiber Link... button This
is disabled if none of the selected patchports is involved in a complete
fiber link. Clicking this button will invoke the Edit
Fiber Link dialog (a number of times in succession if necessary).
See Editing fiber links for information about connecting patchports.
- Locate button This is disabled if none of the selected patchports
is involved in a complete fiber link. Clicking it will close the
dialog and highlight all the selected patchports that are permitted
to appear in the dialog. This option is only available for patchports
that are part of the configuration diagram.