Importance of Fiber Strand Management
Design and planning are often the critical first stages of overall network deployment. Having the visualization and capability to perform fiber strand management enables improved performance and network optimization while also reducing costs to ensure the appropriate amount of inventory is purchased that is ultimately needed. As part of Network Inventory Washington release a new feature functionality has been added.
When managing network infrastructure, fiber strand management becomes imperative. Below are some key benefits to the importance of fiber strand management.
- Proper Asset Lifecycle Management: Monitoring the life cycle of individual strands not only enhances investment tracking but also facilitates enhanced planning and management of inventory.
- Simplified Deployments: Effective management of fiber strands offers the clarity needed to strategize new deployments, enhance outdated or current infrastructure, and guarantee smooth integrations with existing network systems.
- Infrastructure Planning and Optimization: Optimization is key in managing a network. Thus knowing the fiber strand utilization in terms of quantity and types is critical in not only planning current deployments but in forecasting network requirements for future projects.
- Eliminate Cost Overruns: The expense of fiber is significant, underscoring the necessity for meticulous inventory management to prevent expensive overstocking. This, in turn, aids in minimizing overall capital expenditures (CAPEX). The ability to discern the utilization of fiber strands is crucial for optimizing resource allocation effectively.
ServiceNow Fiber Strand Management
A new data model introducing new configuration item classes have been implemented to support Fiber Strand Management. The new Strand (cmdb_ci_strand) and Cable (cmdb_ci_cable) that related to the Connection Model (cmdb_ci_connection_model) all of which roll up to the Hardware existing class. The Strand and cable models can be used by different industries but for telecommunications these classes are further exteneded to the optical fiber strand (cmdb_ci_optical_fiber_strand).
Cable and Strand model extensions have also been created that extend from the enterprise model. The cable model will have the characteristics of optical or eleitrical. Whereas the strand model with have single mode, multi mode, POF, and twisted Pair characteristics that can be selected.
Connection Medium: Represents the connection between two mediums. Characteristics include the A and Z termination and connector along with the legth with the unit length specification.
Strand:
Cable:
Optical Fiber Strand:
Cable Model:
Strand Model: Enables the capability to maintain the information that are contained in the details of a strand model record.
Routing of Fiber Strands to Establish a Physical Connection
Within ServiceNow Network Inventory, a singular or multiple fiber strands can be defined as a physical entity composed of one or more fiber strands. This entity serves to characterize a shared representation deployed to depict the connection between two instances.
The right hand side of the below diagram depicts the connectivity example between two sites with a cable named FL-01 which consists of four strands. An example table population is also provided below to demonstrate the connectivity between two sites with the corresponding entries within the CMDB tables.
ServiceNow Implementation of Managing Cable Strand and Fiber
- Navigate to the Network Inventory Workspace
- With the Washington release, additional inventory models have been created for strand and Cable. The below depicts the out of the box Optical Fiber Cable model and there is also an Optical Fiber Strand model available.
- From the List Menu, under Inventory Models> Cable Models has been added
- From the List Menu, under Inventory > Inventory > Cables and Strands have been added
- Below is the cable form that can be found by clicking on the above Cable FL-01
- All the characteristics are visible along with the Configuration depicting the A and Z end termination
- Click on the related lists labeled Strands below
- The below depicts the individual strands with respect to the cable FL-01
- The status of each and every strand with the related list seen below.
- The Strand will provide additional information. Below the number of strands per cable are indicated in the naming convention.
- Clicking on the strand FL-01/Strand 1 displays all the characteristics for that particular strand.
- If you scroll there is also a strand number column is available and on the right hand side click on used by physical connection.
- Within the physical connection, click on the Physical Connection Element tab there is the cable and strand information
- Click on New to Create a new physical connection
- The following form can be completed
- Cable: there is a drop down menu with the available strands
- Strand: A drop down menu is availale listing all the strands available for selection. Additional business rules can be added to ensure that a Strand can only be used once for example.
- Sequence: 1
- Route: 1
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