# Introduction

# Welcome

This document is the user guide to the Phy-FiXX™ Advanced Physical Layer Management system. Phy-FiXX Software adds physical layer (L1) monitoring to third party applications that are used to monitor OSI layer 2 through layer 7.

The Phy-FiXX system continuously monitors, manages and verifies the status of the physical layer infrastructure and its attached devices. Phy-FiXX provides immediate notification of changes to the physical layer. The Phy-FiXX system manages and tracks the physical layer connectivity and physical layer assets of a data network. Phy-FiXX systems consist of the following features: physical layer asset inventory; asset managing and tracking; work order processing, automatically and/or manually verifying asset connectivity and displaying connectivity status to end user.

Specifically, Phy-FiXX performs the following functions:
Asset Management for the physical layer infrastructure and network-connected assets. Asset management provides the ability to track physical location, connectivity details, and asset attributes.

Infrastructure Management including: Move, add, change functions and the work orders to manage physical layer connectivity. The simple graphical user interface traces the physical layer path using building maps and asset trees.

Connectivity Verification - “Physical Layer” connectivity verification to the work area, linkage of network assets to building maps enabled by the Phy-FiXX Scanner.

This guide does not cover the installation of Phy-FiXX hardware or software. For installation instructions, please see the “Phy-FiXX Hardware and Software Installation Manual” and the “Phy-FiXX Scanner Installation Instructions”.

# Features

The Phy-FiXX system manages and tracks the layers of equipment and cabling according to the actual layout and connectivity of the physical build. Phy-FiXX includes integrated connectivity tracking and connectivity management of attached assets, including:

- Scalable enterprise support so a site can be as small as a telecom room or as large as the entire WAN with drill-down capabilities to traverse site connectivity
- Move, add and change functionality with a audit trail to ensure data accuracy and systematic process review
- Instantly locate devices or trace physical paths to expedite troubleshooting
- Drag & drop multi-dimensional rack elevations to scale so operators can trace how service routes through specific supporting racks and equipment

# Architecture

The Phy-FiXX system uses a web based rich internet application (RIA) interface. The Phy-FiXX Server works as a central database and application server. The client accesses Phy-FiXX with a web browser. This client accesses the application from anywhere on the network as allowed by a specific network managers routing rules.

The server requests connectivity data from the scanner. The server then processes that data. The server polls the scanner records this information in the database. The data processing includes integration with work orders and reporting of inconsistencies in “as designed” versus “actual” network configurations.