Visionael Glossary

This page defines a number of Visionael-specific terms. At the bottom is an explanation of the various Visionael Products and Visionael Product Components.

For a glossary of network and telecom terms see our Technical Glossary.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X

As-Built
The design that reflects the currently documented condition of your network. The 'As-Built' is a compilation of all historic designs that have been committed.

Blue Arrow
Blue Arrow=External Source: Currently identifies objects from the NetSuite acquisition.

Browser Window
The left side window interface of Studio that displays design information in a hierarchical manner.

Buss Range
Two numbers that define which ports are internally connected within a device.

Cabinet
Cabinets and racks represent physical enclosures for network and computer devices within your network. You can only add a cabinet or rack at the Room level. When cabinets are displayed in the graphic window within their parent object, they are represented with a generic symbol. When the Cabinet itself is displayed in the graphic window, the cabinet is displayed to scale.

Cable
A Cable is a connecting medium used to interface other pieces of network equipment within the Local-Area-Network (LAN) portion of your design and can be simple or complex in structure.

Card
A card is an interface module that is housed within a Device. A card must be placed in a device. Cards are always displayed according to the settings contained in the Library Manager module.

Circuits
A Circuit is a connecting medium used to interface other pieces of network equipment within the Wide-Area-Network (WAN) portion of your design. Studio allows you to create various types of Circuits, and select the appropriate bandwidth for each, based on the needs of your design.

Commit
The process of finalizing a design, in which the design's information is added to the 'As-Built' and becomes a permanent record.

Conflict Notification
Conflict Notification, indicated with a bright red burst in the browser window next to the object, informs users when a user in a different design modifies an object that exits in the 'As-Built'.

Demote Design
Allows you to demote a design back to a previous stage, should the design need to be revised.

Design
A working area within Visionael Studio that allows users to create new network objects, or modify existing objects, using the 'As-Built' as a template.

Device
Devices represent physical pieces of network equipment within your network, such as PC's, hubs, routers, and patch panels. Devices can be added at the room, or cabinet level. When Devices are displayed in the graphic window, within their parent object, they are represented with a generic symbol. When the Device itself is displayed in the graphic window, the Device is displayed to scale.

DIMs
Vendor-specific Device Intelligence Modules (DIMs) collect and verify network topology information and configuration information. This is transferred to the Visionael knowledge base for a complete physical and logical view of the network. This allows Visionael to immediately identify inconsistencies between design and implementation thereby enabling easy correction of out-of-process network changes.

Drawing
A graphic file used as a picture element in Studio. All drawings to be used within Drawing Manager must be in EMF format. Compare to Virtual Drawings.

Drawing Origins
The point on a drawing where the origin coordinates of 0,0 are located.

Drawing Scale
The relative scale of a drawing. Used by Studio to determine information such as cable lengths.

Effective Date
The date which the design is planned to be made a part of the 'As-Built'.

EMF File
A graphic file that has been saved in an industry-standard format known as Encapsulated Meta File.

Enable Design Status
The Enable Design Status command will display conflict and reservation status icons to the browser as well as change graphics window icon colors.

Event
An event in the Visionael API is defined as an action in Visionael that causes a return value to be passed to the NetNotify_OnNotify procedure.

Floor
A floor is an infrastructure item that denotes a physical floor on a building.

Global Query
A feature, which allows the user to be able to filter out the information, they do not wish to see.

GMPLS
Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS) enhances MPLS architecture by the complete separation of the control and data planes of various networking layers. GMPLS enables a seamless interconnection and convergence of new and legacy networks by allowing end-to-end provisioning, control and traffic engineering even when the start and the end nodes belong to heterogeneous networks.

GMPLS is based on the IP routing and addressing models. This assumes that IPv4 and/or IPv6 addresses are used to identify interfaces but also that traditional (distributed) IP routing protocols are reused. The common control plane promises to simplify network operation and management by automating end-to-end provisioning of connections, managing network resources, and providing the level of QoS that is expected in the new applications.

Graphics Window
The right side window interface of Studio that displays design information in a graphical manner.

Infrastructure Objects
Infrastructure objects are those elements of the network design that make up the physical or facility portions of your network (Maps, Locations, Floors, and Rooms).

Launch Network Sketcher
The Launch Network Sketcher option instructs Studio to launch Visio and open the logical view.

Location
Locations are used to denote infrastructure objects such as cities, sites, or other locations that are contained within a map. When viewed on a map, Locations are represented as icons. When the Location is selected, a user definable drawing can represent it. You may also use the Drawing Manager to import Location drawing files.

Logical View
A "schematic" representation of a design view. Can also be thought of as a "sketch" of a network design that is not actually a part of the Physical View or 'As-Built'.

Map
The top-level infrastructure item used by Studio. Maps represent major geographical areas, such as continents, countries or states. It is important to note that maps can contain other maps. Maps are represented by drawings that are imported using the Drawing Manager module.

Menu Area
The normal Windows-standard interface area containing program-specific pull-down menu functionality.

Navigation
The process of using the Studio interface to view various portions of your network design.

NetConstants
Constant variables used in the API. The constants are defined in the netconstants.bas file in the Visionael\Program directory.

NetDB
The Visionael Repository. The database repository has "NetDB" as a default name and the Repository is often referred to as such.

Network Objects
Network objects are considered the actual hardware and connecting media that make up your network.

Network Sketcher
The name given to the Visionael interface within Visio.

Object List View
Visionael lets you see your information in a list view instead of a graphical view.

Object Reservation
Object Reservation reserves the selected object for the design. A reserved object is displayed with a lock next to the browser object icon to notify other users that this object is reserved and any modification to this object could cause a conflict.

Open Design
Allows you to open other designs.

Open DB
This command will reopen the Library window that contains the information from the Visionael Repository Library.

Object Types
This command opens the interface to create additional subtypes for many categories within Visionael. The categories available are cabinet, cable, card, compute device, connector, customer circuits, floor, interface, leased circuits, local customer circuits, location, map, miscellaneous, network device, peripheral device, port, race, room, subscriber carrier system circuits, transmission system circuits, trunk circuits, and X connectors.

Physical View
The Studio View that represents the physical network, usually with a bitmap file used as a background.

Port Types
This will open the interface used to create new ports (connectors). Ports created here will display as gray boxes when used.

Privatize
The act of restricting other designs from being able to view your design details, regardless of effective dates.

Promote
The process of moving a design from one stage in the process to the next.

Promote Design
Allows you to promote the design the next stage in the process.

Publicize
The act of making a design's information available to other designs whose effective dates are later than that of your own design.

Publicize Design
Allows you to make the design's details available to other designs with effective dates later than that of your design.

Raceways
Generally cables are physically gathered and channeled into raceways. In Visionael Studio, horizontal raceways are displayed as straight, gray bands at the floor and room levels. Vertical raceways are displayed as an "x" inside a gray box at the floor and room levels. They facilitate laying cable in the graphics windows in the cable routing function. Raceways must be added at the room level.

Red Shield
Red Shield=Visionael Library: A Visionael original!

Robot
Robot=Automated Discovery Process: Sourced via the Exception Manager.

Room
A room is an infrastructure object that represents a room on a floor. Unlike Locations and Floors, rooms do not possess the ability to use drawing files. Room information is generated from geometric data in the Visionael Repository. For backdrop information, rooms use the information contained in their parent Floor drawing.

Segment
A number that groups card ports together, typically on a chassis based hub where cards are configured onto different network segments.

Show Design Changes
The Show Design Changes command shows all changes made in the present design and displays only conflicts that exist in the present design.

Show Virtual and Unknown Objects
This will display the virtual and unknown vendors, and their objects, in the window. Adding objects to these vendors is fine but deleting or modifying these objects is not recommended.

Signoff
Allows you to 'signoff' on a stage. Signoff is the first step in the promotion process.

Slot Types
This window works in the same manner as the Configure Port window. When creating slots remember to make them the same size as the cards that are placed in them.

Spec Notes
The Spec Notes tab displays any special information for the cabinet or device selected. This information is also stored in the Library Manager module.

Stencil Objects
Objects added to the logical view within the Visio interface. These objects are dragged from the NetSketch Stencil located on the left side of the Visio interface.

Studio
The main program module within the Visionael suite. Studio allows users to create designs to document their physical network.

Toolbar
The row of buttons in the upper portion of the Studio interface that allows access to many of Studio's features.

Virtual Drawings
Visionael products maximize speed and efficiency by employing two fundamentally different kinds of graphics: "real drawings" and "virtual drawings." Real drawings come from imported graphics files. Virtual drawings are simply snapshots of Visionael Repository information that are visually produced by toolkit routines using parametric data as variables.

Visionael Products:

Visionael Service Automation Suite
Visionael Service Automation Suite is a best-of-breed next-generation operational support system (OSS) inventory, provisioning and activation solution for IP services. Covering network discovery, inventory management, configuration management, and the automated provisioning of services, Visionael suite includes the follow modules: Network Resource Manager (NRM), Discovery Reconcilication Manager (DRM), Systems Orchestrator (SO), Automation Solutions (AS), and Workflow Automation Manager (WAM).

Visionael Network Resource Manager (NRM)
The core Visionael network inventory product is a scalable system for collaborative network design and documentation. All network and device information is stored in a central database, called the Visionael Repository.

Visionael Discovery Reconcilication Manager (DRM)
This powerful application delivers enhanced auto-discovery capabilities utilizing SoftProbe technology thus enabling standalone SNMP network discovery. The result, simple discovery of an "as-built" network, dramatically reduces network management costs by removing the need for manual network audits. Visionael DRM rapidly discovers detailed device information, including full physical configurations and associated graphic images, plus port-to-port topology.

Visionael Systems Orchestrator
Systems Orchestrator engine provides complete process automation, tying both BSS and OSS systems together; a highly scalable platform that provisions, activates and automates workflows down to the resource or device level across multi-vendor and multi-technology platforms. The Systems Orchestrator engine is included as a part of every Automation Solution.

Automation Solutions
Our IP-VPN and IP-Telephony automation solutions offer unprecedented automation of manual processes and repetitive tasks associated with the creation and provisioning of specific Next Gen services decreasing the reliance on expert engineers at every stage in the fulfillment process. Working in concert with Visionael NRM and the System Orchestrator engine, the Automation Solutions deliver the ability for service fulfillment and IT service management.

Workflow Automation Manager
Allows companies to project manage the delivery and rollout of new technologies and services. Workflows and integration points can be graphically constructed using this intuitive module for easy-to-see visual representations. It also logs every step in the process making it possible to follow the process in real-time, audit logs after the process has executed, or generate to-do lists for individuals and departments.

Discovery Management Server
As a new option within the Visionael Discovery and Reconciliation Management solution, the DMS quickly discovers, reconciles and reports on data in large-scale, highly distributed networks, creating a real-time repository for network information. For service providers, managed communications providers and global enterprises, the DMS acts as the single source of network truth, exposing the constantly evolving composition of the network.

Visionael Product Components:

Visionael Studio
The main program module within the Visionael product suite, Visionael Studio is the primary tool for entering, managing and documenting information about your physical and logical enterprise network. Both Studio and Review are graphical interfaces to the Visionael Repository.

Visionael Circuits
The Visionael Circuit interface is designed to address circuit documentation for companies whose business is telecommunications and for companies who lease telecom services. Visionael Circuits have two functions: 1) They identify the name and structure of the information delivered by the network equipment, and 2) they identify a connected set of devices, ports, cables, and other circuits that deliver specific information. The Circuit program is used to perform the circuit documentation functions. The Add Circuit command can be accessed from Studio as well as Circuit.

Visionael Designer
Objects identified through Visionael Discovery are saved in an nda file format. Visionael Designer is used to convert the file from an nda format to an nds format so it can be imported into the Visionael System using Visionael Import.

Visionael Import
Also sometimes referred to in a general sense as "Data Acquisition", Visionael Import refers to the process of bringing in additional information from default extension types of either csv (comma seperated variables), txt (tab delimited variables), pip (pipe delimited variables) or nds (Visionael's own file format). Beginning in Visionael Version 5.1, customers now have the ability to define their own import file extensions providing increased flexibility and reducing the time required to complete an import.

Visionael Repository
The database repository. Has the default name "NetDB" and is often referred to as such. Visionael Repository has an open database structure based upon industry-standard relational databases. Repository provides a shared resource for an entire enterprise and is the common denominator of the Visionael family: Repository, Library Manager, Studio, Review, and Report.

Technically speaking, Repository is an Oracle "user," working inside an Oracle "instance," tracking those tables that contain every map, location, floor, room, cabinet, device, card, port, cable, and circuit in your network.

Repository thrives in a client-server environment, residing in a diverse server architecture, while Studio clients all communicate with Repository by means of various protocols "behind the scenes," such as HTTP, CORBA, and SQL. However, a user working at a client station has the feeling that everything is taking place locally.
So, Visionael Repository provides the tools for a seamlessly integrated network documentation system.

Visionael Repository Manager
This module is used to create and convert database information in preparation for using the information with the Visionael System. The Repository is the heart of the Visionael System because other modules are used to add, change and utilize information held in the Repository.

Visionael Drawing Manager
Drawing Manager is the tool that gives you the ability to import your own graphic images and background pictures into your Studio Repository. With Drawing Manager, you can complete the visual link between your network infrastructure and network objects. All drawings used within Drawing Manager must be in EMF format.

Visionael Library Manager
For every cabinet, device, card, port, cable, and raceway a specification object exists in the Library. The Library Manager interface is used to create and modify specification information within the Visionael Repository. Studio also makes extensive use of virtual drawings. Virtual drawings are instances, or pointers to source occurrences, or specifications of devices.

Visionael License Manager
This module is used to activate and control licenses with the Visionael System. When first accessed from a client the user will be required to provide an authorization code issued by Visionael Technical Support. Plan to contact Visionael during normal business hours for license authorization information. A program is provided with your Visionael server software named TellMyId.exe. This program should be run before contacting Visionael Support so you can provide the machine identification number it produces when you call.

Visionael Report
Documenting your network is one of the chief functions of Visionael, and one way to view this documentation is through Report. The purpose of Report is to allow users to generate reports that contain a wide variety of information from Repository. Standard reports are organized into six area groups: Administrative, Change Analysis, Circuit, Design, Impact Analysis, and Library.