Structured cabling

Organisation cabling overview

Open Cabling at the organisation level to see recorded cables, links between racks, racks with cables and ends whose ports do not resolve. Active design-review findings lead straight to the affected cable path. Search the rack list to inspect one rack's ports and connections. These counts describe the recorded plan; they do not confirm installed cabling or tested links.

Design networks in Topology

Open Topology or press 4. Create a named diagram such as “Mgmt fabric”, then search the inventory tree and drag devices from their racks onto the canvas. Each device also has an Add action, which finds clear space without moving your existing layout. Use Select devices to add chosen devices or a whole rack in one step. A device can appear in several named topologies, with a different arrangement in each. Use the topology name dropdown to switch, create, rename or remove a diagram. Undo and Redo remain in the top navigation.

Click a device’s connection handle and choose a free port in the popup beside it. Then click the destination device and choose its port to create the cable. Search by port name or connector; free ports are listed first, then cables you can import, then connected ports, which stay visible but cannot be reused. Use first free port, or Enter in the search, picks the first free match. A new cable takes its media from the ports (for example Cat6A for copper, or OM4 or OS2 fibre from the optic); change it with Edit cable, which offers the same media suggestions and colour swatches as Cabling. Devices without data ports, such as PDUs, have no connection handle. Occupied source ports offer Import cable when their connection is not drawn on this topology, including cables shown in another topology. Import reuses that connection and adds the other device if needed. Ports already drawn here show On this topology. Device Details lists Physical connections, with Import cable directly beside connections missing from the diagram, and Import all to add every missing connection and its devices in one step. The same action is in the device’s right-click menu. Clear the selection to use Existing cables for a batch: select connections between devices already on the diagram, then choose Add selected cables. Hidden endpoint layers require an explicit choice to show them.

Use Layers to create your own names, activate the layer for new items, hide parts of the network, lock them against accidental movement, and change their stacking order. The eye hides a layer only in your own view, so anyone, including viewers, can use it without changing the diagram for others. Editors can also hide a layer for everyone from its More menu; that is a shared, undoable change. Newly created layers become active. Select a device or cable to move it to another layer. Solo temporarily shows one layer and the endpoint devices its cables need. Choose Exit Solo above the canvas to leave Solo; saved visibility and locks are unchanged. Adding or importing items leaves Solo so the result stays visible, while keeping your chosen active layer. The layer’s More menu holds locking, ordering, rename and remove actions. Removing a layer moves its items to a layer you choose; a hidden destination must be explicitly shown first.

Drag devices to arrange them. The Snap menu controls the grid, device alignment guides, equal-spacing guides and cable lanes. Hold Alt while dragging to bypass snapping temporarily, or Shift to lock movement to one axis. Snap settings are remembered in this browser for every tab and project. The grid follows pan and zoom. Shift, Command or Control click to select multiple devices, or Shift-drag a selection box. With the canvas focused, Command+A or Control+A selects the editable visible devices. Drag the group or use Arrange to align, evenly space, create a row or column, pack a compact grid, or arrange by connection depth. Each group edit has one Undo step. Connect selected… cables the selection in a full mesh, or each device in group A to each in group B (split by role, such as leaves to spines), with one or more parallel links per pair. Choose a port type and cable media, or leave them for the ports to decide; each cable takes the next free compatible port on both devices. The preview lists every port pair and warns where ports run out, and the cables are drawn on the active layer as one undoable change. Select a cable to drag its segment handles at right angles, or use Add cable bend to create an orthogonal dogleg. Nearby parallel segments snap into separate cable lanes. Arrow keys move a focused device, connector, segment or bend; Shift moves it further. Delete or Backspace removes a focused bend or the selected diagram item. Remove from topology keeps real devices and cables intact. Disconnect cable explicitly removes the real connection in every view.

Canvas navigation works like Physical view: drag the background to pan, scroll to zoom around the pointer, or pinch on a touch screen. With the canvas focused, press + or − to zoom and F or 0 to fit the diagram. Inventory Show brings a device into view. Use the edge controls above the canvas to hide or restore the Inventory and Inspector panels when you need more drawing space. Each topology remembers its camera, active layer, panel layout and selection in this browser tab when you switch modes. Selecting a source port starts a draft that remains active while you pan, zoom or fit; use Escape or Cancel to stop connecting. Use the Minimap to navigate a large diagram, or select a device and choose Focus connections to frame it with its visible neighbours and dim unrelated items. Fit connections returns to that group after panning. These viewing controls do not change shared layer visibility.

Each cable ends in a small connector circle. Drag it around the device edge to separate overlapping cables; it stays attached when the device moves. Select the cable first if its connectors overlap others. Port names run along each end of the cable, while its name remains in Details. Selecting a cable also shows a readable endpoint summary when zoomed out. Connector positions are saved with the topology and support Undo without changing the connected ports.

Automatic cable routes avoid device cards and separate busy paths using right-angle turns. Routes update when a device is dropped; moving a connector keeps its chosen attachment point. Adding or dragging bends makes a Custom route. Use Restore automatic routing for one cable, or Tidy cables to review custom routes for selected devices or the active layer and restore them together in one undoable change.

Hover to trace a cable. Clicking where cables overlap opens a chooser with the device and port at each end. Small gaps distinguish crossings from junctions. Zoomed-out diagrams can bundle parallel cables between the same devices into counted paths; choose a bundle to inspect an individual cable, or turn off Bundle cables. Select a device and use List connections, or press C with its device button focused, to browse its drawn connections without tabbing through every connector. Press Shift+C on a focused device to choose a source port. Alt+arrow moves keyboard focus to a device in that direction and brings it into view; plain arrow keys still move the device. F6 jumps to canvas tools, and Shift+F6 opens and focuses the inspector.

Right-click a device or cable for editing, layer placement and removal actions. With the item focused, press Shift+F10 to open the same menu. Device edits update its inventory name, role and notes; cable edits update its label, media and colour. Delete device from inventory asks for confirmation before removing the real device and its data and power connections. The Details panel offers the same edit and deletion actions without right-clicking. Show and unlock a layer before editing its items.

Layout and cable changes save with the project and support Undo and Redo. Moving a diagram device does not change its rack placement, and reshaping a cable does not change its physical route or estimated length. On narrow screens, switch between Inventory, Canvas, and Inspector.

Use Export topology in the toolbar to download the current topology as an SVG for documents and vector editors, or as a PNG image at twice screen resolution. The export contains the layers visible in your view (or the soloed layer), drawn in the light palette for printing with no selection or editing handles, and a title block with the project, topology, layers, revision and date. A cable the canvas says needs more space to route is drawn as a dashed straight line with a warning marker, and the export menu, the title block and the build pack say how many cables could not be routed. It is created in your browser and nothing is uploaded.

Device wiring

Open Cabling, then select a device in the left-hand rack. Device wiring groups its template, module and custom ports, with front/rear labels and explicit Connected or Free status. Search ports, optics, cables and destinations, or filter by status. Connected rows show the direct termination and any onward endpoint the trace can resolve. Open rack returns to the device's physical rack context.

The elevation shows every rack unit, including empty space, with front/rear controls and a separate list of 0U equipment. Selecting equipment inspects its wiring without moving it. The current device and selected cable ends are highlighted. In a multi-rack scope, use the Rack picker to change racks. Device list offers larger selection targets, including equipment on both faces and 0U devices. On smaller screens, Show rack opens a separate rack dialog; choose a device or use Close rack to return. Returning from a cable path brings the selected equipment back into view.

Ports, modules & fitted optics

Ports start from the device template. Add custom port adds an extra termination; Add module adds a named group of ports, not a separate inventory device. Use Edit port / optic to rename a port or record its fitted transceiver. These changes apply to this device only, not its shared template. Connecting or customising saves a device-local port snapshot; later template edits do not silently alter that snapshot. Renaming a port keeps its cable connections.

Only changed fields are saved. If the same field changed elsewhere while the editor was open, cancel and review the latest value before retrying. A port that belongs to an internal mapping cannot be removed independently, even if it has no external cable.

Existing free-text or missing-port connections remain under Unmapped cable ends. For a device with no modelled ports, add a custom port or module before making a new connection. Connector labels are useful references, not a guarantee of speed or optical compatibility.

Connect, repatch & disconnect

• Connect on a free port opens a preview. Choose the destination device and free port, review both ends, then select Connect ports. Nothing changes until you confirm. Device-drag and Measure connection actions open the same preview.
• Connect range (beside Connect cable, and in the wiring workbench) cables a run of ports at once: choose the first source port and either the same port on a numbered sequence of devices (WEB-01 … WEB-20, NIC1) or consecutive ports on one device. A sequence takes the nearest device for each number (same rack, then row, then data centre) and stops at the first missing number; a run of ports stays on its first port's face, so a patch panel's front ports never carry on onto its rear. The preview lists every pair with its face and connector and speed warnings, names racks when the devices span several, skips ports already in use, and asks before creating pairs whose connectors cannot mate. The cables undo as one step.
• Select ports above the port list adds a tick box to each port; Shift-click ticks a run. Fit optic… and Set connector… then edit every ticked port together, as one undo step.
• Select a physical cable, then use Repatch end A or Repatch end B to preview moving one termination. The other end, cable label, media and colour are kept.
• Disconnect asks for confirmation and removes only the selected physical cable, not the devices, ports or other cables in its path. The change can be undone. View-only users can browse and trace connections without edit controls.

Complete path

Use Open complete path beside a cable, or double-click the cable, to follow its ordered physical hops, grouped by rack. Solid lines run from port to port, meeting labelled port chips across rack boundaries; dashed internal patch-panel mappings stay inside the device and are not cables. Select a segment in the diagram or expand Cable list to inspect or repatch just that cable. Fit path reduces spacing without shrinking the text; short paths stay compact and longer paths remain horizontally scrollable. The diagram represents modelled connections, not a live link test or a drawing of tray geometry.

A single click inspects a cable without leaving Device wiring. Use Back to device wiring to return from the complete path to the same source device and rack. When the source device is an endpoint, the schematic starts there on the left. An intermediate source stays marked within the complete path. End A and End B identify the selected physical cable's stored ends; they do not change when the diagram reverses.

When a path reaches an open panel port, use Continue from beside that terminal. The Continue cable path preview fixes the source to that exact port; choose a destination and select Connect ports to add a separate physical cable. The complete path stays open with the original source device and the new segment selected. Cancel leaves the path unchanged, and undo removes only the last added cable. If another editor connects the port or changes the original path, review the updated trace before retrying. Unmapped legacy ends and ambiguous breakout mappings must be resolved separately; they are not guessed.

The selected cable keeps its actions close to the diagram. Expand Cable details for both endpoints and a copyable ID. New cables receive the next project label automatically, while imported legacy cables without a label appear as Unlabelled cable; the cable schedule, label sheet, cable table export and build pack all name such a cable by its two ends. Inserting a rack template or stamping a pod gives each copied cable whose label is already in use the next label in that label's sequence, so no two cables print the same label.

Edit cable, beside the cable's name, changes its label, media and colour in one form without moving either endpoint. Save or cancel the draft; saved changes can be undone. Reset colourclears a custom colour. Conflicting edits to the same field require review before saving.

Missing ports, occupied-port conflicts, loops and ambiguous MPO breakouts stop the trace with an explanation; Railyard does not guess a breakout lane. Only resolved one-to-one passive mappings are followed. Length unavailable means no safe full estimate is available, not zero length. Any estimated subtotal for known segments is labelled separately. Paths show a short status: Complete when both ends reach a device, Open end when the path stops at a free panel port you can still patch, and Trace incomplete when something needs checking. Complete · ports unverified means a legacy device-level route was found, but one or more exact port identities are still unresolved. A panel pass-through is the panel's internal mapping from a front port to its rear port; it is not a cable. Every status describes the plan you have recorded, not a live network test.

The cable table

Everything you have wired is also available in the filterable cable table, with cable labels and explanations for incomplete or unverified traces. Open it with Open cable table on the Cabling overview (or by selecting its cable counts), Cable table in Device wiring, or the command palette. Opened from a rack or scope, it shows that scope as a chip you can clear; anything you type filters within it. Drag or focus its top edge and use the arrow keys to resize it. Labels are included in its CSV download. Select a run or press Enter to reveal it in the cabling workspace. The same data exports as a cable schedule and a label sheet; see export.