What is a Ports/Pins/Lens?

A port, pins, or lens (PPL) is a physical area one would plug into a piece of equipment in order to connect another device. The most common use of a Ports/Pins/Lens is a switch. A home router is a simple switch and the individual holes on the back where an ethernet cable can be plugged in are called ports. The Ports/Pins/Lens (PPL) grid is located in a few separate places in the application.

Ports/Pins/Lens Grid

Users can navigate to the 'Ports/Pins/Lens grid' by following this path: Main > Cable > Ports/Pins/Lens. A grid displaying all PPL present in the system, the equipment each PPL originates from, and the equipment (if any) to which each PPL is connected. The PPL grid will allow the User to review any of the Ports, Pins, or Lens (PPL) associated with a given Cabling Equipment record. Since Ports/Pins/Lens (PPL) must be associated with an Equipment record they cannot be added from this grid and must be added to the Equipment record on the Ports/Pins/Lens tab instead. For more information please see the Ports/Pins/Lens grid page.

Ports/Pins/Lens Equipment Grid

Users can navigate to the 'Ports/Pins/Lens Equipment grid' by following this path: Main > Inventory > Equipment > Ports/Pins/Lens. If a piece of Equipment has an Equipment Catalog that has the Cabling Equipment flag checked, then it will also have a tab labelled Ports/Pins/Lens. For more information please see the Inventory - Ports/Pins/Lens page.

Ports/Pins/Lens Form

Users can navigate to the 'Ports/Pins/Lens Form' by following this path: Main > Inventory > Equipment > Ports/Pins/Lens > Add or Edit. The PPL form allows for adding and editing of individual PPLs. For more information please see the Ports/Pins/Lens form page.

What do Ports/Pins/Lens statuses mean?

There are a number of Status' that can be set on a given Port/Pin/Lens or Pair/Strand record. The following is a list of the existing System Use status' and what they mean in PCR-360.

Replacing a Full Path:

When the RECREATE_EXISTING_PATH flag on the Import is set to True, then If a Cable Path already exists on the indicated Service or Location, then the process will UPDATE all existing Paths with the Path value in the Import File. This makes setting this flag an important part when trying to Remove/Disconnect/Retire an older Cable Path with a new one. It is important that the Path records ( 'Path', 'Path Legs', 'Locations', 'Equipment' (from and to, each leg), 'Services', 'Ports/Pins/Lens' (from and to, each leg) and 'Vlans') already exists, otherwise the Import will attempt to create the new records, but could generate errors based on the Imported values.

How to Replace a Cable Path

1. Create the Import File for what to update.
2. Set the RECREATE_EXISTING_PATH flag in the file.
3. Run the Import to replace the old path with the new.

Alternate Method: using the Cable Path Import

1. Create any new Cables/Ports/Pins/Lens/Pairs/Strands for the new Cable Path using their associated Imports.
2. Run the Imports to create the new Cabling records for the new Path.
3. Create the the Import File for the Cable Path.
4. Set the RECREATE_EXISTING_PATH flag in the file.
5. Run the Cable Path Import to update the old Path.

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