Create Circuits from Connection Manager

In Connection Manager, you can right-click any connection and create one or many circuits. The connection you right-click becomes the header for the upcoming circuits.

Much like the Bulk Circuit tool, creating circuits from Connection Manager allows you to create many circuits and increment their wavelengths. With that in mind, there are a few things to consider prior to using this tool for the first time.

Incrementing Wavelengths

When using the tool, you have a decision point on whether or not to increment the wavelengths of the circuits. The out-of-the-box behavior is to manually input the wavelength and increment amount, and no additional configuration is needed for this functionality. Or, you can choose the wavelengths from a pre-defined domain. For this functionality, there is additional configuration.

See the topic Configure the Bulk Circuit Tool to use Lambda Domain.

Plan Ahead for the Naming Convention

In Fiber Manager , all circuits must have unique names, and the application prevents a new circuit from being created with a name already in use. Thus, the Create Circuits from Connection Manager tool provides numeric incrementing naming functions that you include in the Name field itself. These increment upward at a scale you provide. For example, perhaps the first circuit should start at the number 10, and subsequent circuits should increment upward by 5s. This results in a series such as Circuit 10, Circuit 15, Circuit 20, Circuit 25, etc. Plan ahead for this naming convention, as the tool requires these inputs before it generates the circuits.

Here is how to use the tool:

Start Editing by opening a session or design.
Click the Connection Manager button on the Fiber Manager toolbar.
Use the Connection Manager cursor to hover over a fiber feature until it highlights, then click it. The Connection Manager dialog opens.
Use the map and the right and left drop-down menus to locate the connection that requires a circuit.
Right-click the connection and choose Create Circuits.
In the Create Circuits from Connection Manager dialog, confirm you have the correct fiber feature acting as the circuit header.

TIP: You cannot change a header in the Create Circuits from Connection Manager dialog. If you accidentally right-clicked an incorrect port or fiber, close the dialog. Then, locate your desired fiber feature in Connection Manager, and start the process again.
Set the number of circuits you require per header. The default is 1 circuit per header. The following steps use 3 circuits per header in order to discuss incrementing both the names and wavelengths for the circuits.
Decide if you want all upcoming circuits to be marked as Available or Unavailable. This attribute is seen throughout Fiber Manager , in particular when viewing fibers in Connection Manager and in fiber reports. Typically, circuits are marked as Unavailable to indicate to all users that particular fibers and ports are already allocated to a designated circuit.
Determine the values by which the circuit names should increment. The purpose of the increments is to ensure each circuit receives a unique name. You have two increments you can use, either by themselves or in conjunction with each other. The two increments are %i% and %h%, and you type them into the Name field. When you generate the circuits, both the %i% and %h% are replaced with the numeric values you provide.
- For example, a Name could be “Evans Substation %i% - Channel %h%.”
  
  Then, you determine at what number %i% and %h% should start and what interval they should use to increment upward.
- You do not have to incorporate both placeholders, but at least one is required in the Name field. Two placeholders are provided to give you more flexibility.
1. For example, let’s say you are servicing 3 circuits at a substation, with the substation port supporting 3 different wavelengths: 1470 nm, 1490 nm, and 1510 nm.
  - You want all circuit names to start with the words “Evans Substation.”
  - You want the circuits to start at “100” and increment upward by the value of “10,” so that you have Evans Substation 100, Evans Substation 110, and Evans Substation 120.
  - You also want to track a channel designator, starting at “5” and incrementing upward by the value of “5,” so that you have Channel 5, Channel 10, and Channel 15.
  - In sum, the circuit names would appear like the following example:
    - Evans Substation 100 – Channel 5
    - Evans Substation 110 – Channel 10
    - Evans Substation 120 – Channel 15
2. To achieve the example above, the Start Value %i% is 100. This is the start value of the circuit identifier.
3. The Increment %i% is 10. This is the value that the circuit identifier increments upward.
4. The Start value %h% is 5. This is the start value of the channel identifier.
5. The Increment %h% is 5. This is the value that the channel identifier increments upward.
  
  TIP: Increment by a unit larger than 1. The example above uses 5 and 10 as the increments. This allows for greater flexibility in the future, in case additional circuits are created along the same fiber paths.
6. Type the Name to incorporate the increment placeholders. After typing the Name, press Enter or click out of the field so that the Name title turns blue (this indicates the field has been updated and is not currently active). Using the example above, the Name is “Evans Substation %i% - Channel %h%”
  
  IMPORTANT: The increments %i% and %h% are placeholders that you literally type into the name. Depending on the number of circuits you are creating, you can use one or both of the placeholders in any order.

Decide if you need to track and increment the wavelengths. The placeholders %i% and %h% are just for the circuit names, and they do not influence the actual wavelength of service. There are two ways to increment the wavelengths: manually or using a domain of pre-defined values. To increment manually is the out-of-the-box behavior, and no additional configuration is required. To increment using a domain, additional configuration is required.

See the topic Configure the Bulk Circuit Tool to use Lambda Domain.

To increment the wavelengths manually:

Type the Start wavelength. The following example uses 1470.
Click out of the Start wavelength field (or press Tab to move out of that field). This makes the Increment wavelength field active.
Type the Increment wavelength value. The following example uses 20.

To increment the wavelengths using a domain:

By Start wavelength, click the up and down arrows to choose the desired wavelength. The field toggles through the pre-defined domain of possible values. If you type a value in the field, the application ignores it and re-displays whatever value was there previously. In other words, always use the up and down arrows to choose your starting wavelength.

The increment refers to the number of records in the domain it should move in order to grab the next wavelength value and assign it. It does not refer to the actual wavelength value.

For example, let’s say your list of wavelengths from the domain looks like the following:

Record Number	Coded Value	Description
1	850	850 nm
2	1310	1310 nm
3	1470	1470 nm
4	1490	1490 nm
5	1510	1510 nm

With an increment of 1, the application would move 1 record forward per circuit. So, if you started at 1470 with an increment of 1, the next circuit would get 1490, and the subsequent circuit would get 1510. In other words, it would move through the table 1 record at a time.

Conversely, let’s say you use an increment of 2. That means the application would move 2 records forward per circuit. So, if you started at 1470 with an increment of 2, the next circuit would skip 1490 and instead use the value 1510. And, if you requested more circuits beyond that, it would loop back to the beginning of the table, skip 850 and instead assign 1310 to the subsequent circuit.

IMPORTANT: Stepping back, what this really means is you need to have an understanding of the list of values and which ones you want to assign. Typically in a new installation, you use an increment of 1 so that the application moves one wavelength at a time while creating the circuits. If making paired circuits, you might create 2 circuits per header, and the interval allows you to choose which 2 wavelengths to use. However, if you request more circuits than the number of wavelengths available, it will loop back to the beginning of the table and continue to assign values. In other words, if you requested 8 circuits using the table above (which only has 5 wavelengths), the wavelengths would be assigned as such: 850, 1310, 1470, 1490, 1510, 850, 1310, 1470.

Decide if you need to create transmit and receive (Tx/Rx) pairs. If so, check the box next to Create Tx/Rx Pairs. Then, decide if you need to increment the wavelength within the pairs.
1. If you check this box, you double the number of circuits that are created. The application automatically appends the circuit names with the suffix “_Tx” or the suffix “_Rx.” Using the example above, it would create:
  - Evans Substation 100 – Channel 5_Tx
  - Evans Substation 100 – Channel 5_Rx
  - Evans Substation 110 – Channel 10_Tx
  - Evans Substation 110 – Channel 10_Rx
  - Evans Substation 120 – Channel 15_Tx
  - Evans Substation 120 – Channel 15_Rx
2. If you do not check Increment wavelength within pairs, the _Tx and the _Rx circuits are on the same wavelength. For example, on the first channel, both would be 1470 nm.
3. If you check Increment wavelength within pairs, the _Tx would be on the Start wavelength value (1470 nm) and the _Rx would be incremented by the increment value (1490 nm).
  
  IMPORTANT: The application creates the transmit (Tx) circuit first and the receive (Rx) circuit second.
Type high-level attributes for the circuits in the attribute list.
1. The Name field is required.
  
  IMPORTANT: Ensure the Name field title appears blue. This indicates you have typed a name and then clicked out of the field or pressed Enter out of the field. If the Name title is still the normal font color of black, the field is technically still active and you receive an error when you click Run.
2. Other required fields are determined by your company’s configurations and appear in yellow with red titles.
Double-check all entries.

IMPORTANT: There is no undo for creating circuits via Connection Manager, even if you are currently in a session or design. These edits are saved immediately to the default version of the geodatabase.
Click Run to create the bulk circuits. The dialog provides progress information in the lower, left-hand corner.
To verify the circuits, there are a few ways you can view them:
1. Use Connection Manager to view the fiber facility, such as a patch location or device, where you created the circuits. Hover over the connection to see the circuits listed in the lower, left-hand corner of the dialog.
2. Open Circuit Manager. All the new circuits display in the list of existing circuits:
3. Fiber Manager reports can also include circuit information, if they are configured to do so at your company. Run a report along a circuit path to view the circuit names.