How to use Cable Profiles in 4.5.0

[NSpikings-dB]

Is there any further documentation or guides on how to use the new Cable Profiles feature in 4.5.0 than in the release notes?

I can select a Cable Profile from the drop down when creating/editing a cable, but I'm not sure what to do with it after that. I had assumed that I would then need to assign the cores/positions to interfaces, but I've not spotted how to do that yet if that is the case.

I've also found that the cable trace stops working properly when I add a cable profile. This is what the track looks like before I add a Cable Profile:

And this is what it looks like after I add a Cable Profile:

I assume I'm missing something!

[michaelmcdonald]

I'm getting the feeling that this was something of a half-baked idea / implementation. The documentation for this feature is basically non-existent and doesn't even do a good job of describing what the different profiles are supposed to represent / how they are to be understood. I would recommend holding off on using cable profiles until they can actually produce documentation that describes their functionality and shows how to properly use them (if you notice even the demo Netbox install doesn't implement them anywhere).

[spamik]

There is some documentation now: https://netboxlabs.com/docs/netbox/models/dcim/cable/

But I still don't know how to use it. I have MTP/LC cassetes installed with breakout cables. That means I have device which I designed with 6 LC front ports and 1 MPO rear pout. I've created MPO port with 12 positions and mapped positions on front ports - this seems fine. Issue is that now I have breakout cable which is connected to MPO port on one side and has 6 LC ports on other side. Now I need to connect these 6 ports to different devices and I didn't find the way how. I can do it without specifying cable profile but then tracing is wrong as I see every of these 6 devices connected on every port on switch before the LC/MTP cassete.

[Kabelraucher]

Got 1:1 the same architecture and I am struggling, too. Did you find a solution yet?

[spamik]

Nope... I've redisgned it that I'm using now just 6 position (because in my case I always use two fibers per connection - I'm not using WDM modules anywhere). With 6 position 1C6P-6C1P breakout cable profile do almost what I want. But unfortunately almost. With this cable profile I can assign MPO port on one side and 6 interfaces on different devices on the other side. Issue is that there is no way how to tell on B side which interface is on which connector on the breakout cable. Positions are mapped automatically in some default other.

I've opened issue for this that it should be possible to map positions on breakout cable... but it was converted to discussion which probably means that nobody will read it again :-) I've obeyed this with creating breakout cable device. On this device I can create rear port and mapped front ports and it works OK.

[edaleand]

My two cents regarding breakout modeling.

When an interfaces on a switch is broken out to 10g-4x, it results in four new interfaces on the switch. Netbox should follow suit, and the four interfaces should be created in order to be able to add IP addresses etc.

In that case I find that a 4C4P Trunk Profile does the job quite well,. A terminations connect to all the broken out interfaces, B terminations can be connected to four separate 10G interfaces. Alternatively, B terminations connect to four separate rear ports on a LC/LC panel and the corresponding front ports connect to individual 10G interfaces using the single 1C1P profile.

This has worked quite well on my (admittedly limited) testing.

[jsenecal]

I also discovered this bug which may be what some of you are experiencing: #21653