Cabling & connections¶

Danbyte records the physical connections between ports - patch cables, breakouts, trunks, and links that run through patch panels - and can trace any connection from one end to the other.

Terminable ports: interfaces, front/rear (patch-panel) ports, console + console-server ports, power ports/outlets/feeds, and aux ports - so USB console links or video runs are first-class cables.

Connect two ports¶

1. Open DCIM → Cables and click Add cable (or start from a port's detail page).
2. Build each end - A side then B side - the same way:
3. choose what the end lands on: a device, or a circuit (see Cabling a circuit below),
4. pick the port type (interface, front/rear port, console, console server, power port, or power outlet),
5. pick the device with the searchable device picker (use its advanced search to filter by site, role, tag, …),
6. tick the port(s) on that device. Selected ports appear as chips; switch the device or type and keep ticking to add ports from several devices on the same end (breakout).
7. Optionally set the cable's type, status, length, color, and a description.
8. Save.

A port can be cabled only once - Danbyte rejects connecting a port that's already in use, so every connection stays unambiguous.

Port reservations¶

Sometimes you know a port will be needed before you know where its cable will land - a colleague claims "I'll need one on this switch" with the far end still undecided. A port reservation holds exactly one uncabled port, no far end required, complementing the Planned-cable flow (which needs both ends picked).

• Reserve from any port row's bookmark action (interfaces, front/rear ports, console, power) or from the interface page's Reserve port button, with an optional note. The row tints amber, shows a Reserved badge with the note and reserver on hover, and the faceplate outlines the port amber.
• A reserved port counts as reserved in port utilization, exactly like a planned cable.
• The hold releases automatically the moment any cable terminates on the port - including a Planned one, which then carries the reserved state itself. Releasing by hand: the same bookmark action, or the list page.
• DCIM → Connections → Port reservations lists every hold in the tenant: port, kind, site, who reserved it, note, and age (/api/port-reservations/) - with kind/site/reserved-by facets, search, a pencil to edit the note, and select + release-many for bulk cleanup. Reservations are RBAC-controlled (Port reservations object type) and audited.

Cable type¶

Pick the medium from the Type dropdown, organised into sub-categories - copper twisted pair (CAT3–CAT8, MRJ21), twinax/DAC, coaxial (RG-6…RG-213, LMR-100…400), fiber multimode (OM1–OM5), fiber single-mode (OS1/OS2), AOC, power, and USB. Start typing (e.g. om4, os2, dac, rg-6) to filter. Full taxonomy: Interface & cable types.

Cable status & color¶

A cable's detail page draws its end-to-end path under the A/B boxes - every device and panel the run passes through as linked chips, with the pass-through ports shown front ⇄ rear and each cable segment labelled (the current cable highlighted). Breakout fan-outs fall back to the Trace tab.

The port cells in a chip are click targets: an interface opens its own page, while a front / rear / console / power port opens its device's Components → Hardware sub-tab (?tab=components&sub=hardware), where those ports live.

Connection shapes¶

You're not limited to one-to-one patches:

One end may span devices. A breakout's four legs commonly land in four different servers, so the ports on a single end don't have to share a device. The cable form gives each end a tab per device for exactly this.

One end is one kind of port. Several interfaces on an end is a breakout; an interface and a power port on the same end is a typo, and is rejected - no cable is half network and half power. A circuit end follows the same rule: it is the whole end, never mixed with device ports.

Cabling a circuit¶

The provider hands off at a demarc, and that handoff lands on a real port on a real switch. A circuit termination is therefore a cable endpoint like any other: on either side of the cable form, switch the end from Device to Circuit, pick the circuit, and choose the side (A or Z) that lands here. Each side shows the site or provider network it terminates on, and a side already carrying a cable is greyed out - a circuit end takes one cable, exactly like a port.

Once connected, the trace runs from the interface across the panels and out to the circuit, and stops there: the far side of the circuit is the provider's, not yours, so the path is complete at the demarc.

The circuit end still carries its own cross-connect ID and patch-panel info - those describe the facility's paperwork. The cable is what records which of your ports it actually reaches.

Patch panels¶

A patch panel is just a device with front ports and rear ports. Each front jack maps to a rear strand. When a cable lands on a front port, the connection passes through to the rear and continues on whatever's cabled there - so a link can cross several panels and Danbyte still follows it.

Manage a panel's front/rear ports from its device page, alongside its interfaces. Each port takes a description - the room the trunk runs to, the label on the sticker - shown as a column in the front/rear port tables and editable in bulk.

Tracing a connection¶

Every interface, cable, and panel port has a Trace tab. It walks the connection end to end - hopping across each cable and through each patch panel - and draws the whole path as a single chain, so you can see the real far end of a link even when it runs through three panels to get there. A run that stops before it reaches a far port is marked Incomplete; a port with no cable says Not cabled. See the topology page for how a trace walks through panels and PDUs.

Under the chain, the trace map draws the same run as the topology Diagram does: each device a card in its role's color, in the order the run reaches them, a patch panel a dashed card between the two ends with a nub on each front and rear port the run uses (and no other), the port names and addresses on their own cable, and the traced cables thick in the accent color. It turns Left to right or Top to bottom, and Export saves it as PNG, SVG, PDF or draw.io (Trace maps). The trace dialogs on the cable list and a device's ports show the chain, and the map when a run cannot be drawn as one chain (a breakout, a loop).

Topology¶

The Topology page (sidebar, under Maps) draws an interactive device-to- device map of your cabling. Filter it by site to focus on one location, or by device to pull in just that device's neighbours. Drag nodes around, use the minimap to navigate, and use Arrange ▸ Reset layout to tidy it up. Cable colors carry through to the links. On very large networks, filter by site first - the map will prompt you.

Ports carry an optional Label - the printed, real-world name (X1-P1) next to a template-generic Name (Port 1). Keep the name matching the device type so photo markers keep resolving, and put reality in the label: it shows beside the name in port tables and in the photo-port hovers.

Connecting from a port¶

You don't have to start from the Cables page: any uncabled interface offers a Connect cable button - on the interfaces table (row action) and in the interface detail header. It opens the cable form with that port already on the A side; pick the B side and save. A cabled row offers the reverse: a Disconnect cable action (unplug icon, cable-delete rights) that removes the run after a confirm naming both ends.

The same affordance follows every other cable-able port, permissions allowing (you need cable-add rights; the server enforces them regardless):

• Power tab - uncabled power ports and power outlets carry the same ghosted connect button as interface rows, landing on the cable form with the inlet or outlet pre-seeded as side A.
• Photo faceplate - on a device whose type has photo ports, a free power / console / console-server / aux / front / rear marker is a button: click it and the cable maker opens right there, titled from that port, with it already on the A side. Cabled markers keep their hover card.
• 3D room - clicking a free port marker on a device's face offers the same connect flow (pick the far end in 3D, or open the cable maker) - see floor plans.

However you arrive, the pre-seeded port shows as a named chip (device:port) on the form, never a raw id - a power feed chip reads panel:feed, since feeds terminate on power panels rather than devices.