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Quickstart

This walkthrough takes you from an empty plugin to a fully modeled fiber cable with splice mappings. It assumes NetBox FMS is already installed (see Installation).

1. Create a Manufacturer

If your NetBox instance does not yet have a cable manufacturer defined, create one first:

  1. Navigate to Devices > Manufacturers.
  2. Click Add and enter the manufacturer name (e.g., "Corning").
  3. Save.

2. Define a Fiber Cable Type

A FiberCableType is the blueprint that describes how a cable is constructed.

  1. Navigate to FMS > Fiber Cable Types and click Add.
  2. Select the manufacturer created above.
  3. Enter a model name (e.g., "ALTOS 48F Loose Tube").
  4. Set the fiber type (e.g., SMF OS2) and total strand count (e.g., 48).
  5. Choose the construction style. For a loose tube cable, add BufferTubeTemplates -- for example, 4 tubes with 12 fibers each.
  6. Save the cable type.

3. Create Two Devices

Fiber cables connect between devices. If you do not already have devices in NetBox:

  1. Navigate to Devices > Devices and create two devices (e.g., "Panel-A" and "Panel-B").
  2. Ensure each device has a device type with front ports defined, so that fiber strands can terminate to them.

4. Create a Cable

  1. Navigate to Devices and select one of the devices.
  2. Under the device's interface or front port listing, click Connect to create a dcim.Cable between the two devices.
  3. Save the cable.

5. Create a Fiber Cable

This is where the plugin takes over.

  1. Navigate to FMS > Fiber Cables and click Add.
  2. Select the dcim.Cable created in the previous step.
  3. Select the FiberCableType defined earlier.
  4. Save.

On save, the plugin automatically instantiates the internal cable structure based on the type's templates:

  • BufferTubes are created matching each BufferTubeTemplate.
  • FiberStrands are created inside each tube, automatically assigned EIA-598 standard colors.

Navigate to the new FiberCable's detail page to inspect the generated tubes and strands.

6. Create a Splice Project and Plan

Splice projects organize the splicing work at a specific location (typically a fiber closure).

  1. Navigate to FMS > Splice Projects and click Add.
  2. Give the project a name and associate it with a closure device.
  3. Save, then navigate to FMS > Splice Plans and click Add.
  4. Associate the plan with the splice project created above.
  5. Save.

7. Add Splice Plan Entries

Splice plan entries define the fiber-to-fiber mappings inside a closure.

  1. Open the splice plan and add SplicePlanEntries.
  2. Each entry maps a fiber strand from one cable to a fiber strand on another cable.
  3. Repeat for each fiber pair that will be spliced at this location.

Once complete, the splice plan provides a full record of which fibers are connected through the closure.

Next Steps

For a deeper explanation of the type/instance pattern, cable construction models, and splice planning concepts, see the Concepts guide.