# Ports and links

Category: Documenting sites. Updated 2026-11-12.

A link records what a device connects to — over a cable run, a patch cord, fibre, a mesh hop, or a VPN — and the ports screen draws each device's faceplate so you can see, make, and trace those connections.

## See a device's ports

A switch, patch panel, or any device with numbered ports shows a **Ports** section on its page: the faceplate, how many ports are in use, and **Manage ports**.

- Tap a port to see its label, VLAN, PoE, and what it is connected to, with a button to open the device at the other end.
- Each port is coloured by its state, shown in the key: **Complete**, **Incomplete**, **Run landed**, or **Free**.
- On a desktop, resting the pointer on a port lights its whole connection chain.

## Link a device to another

1. On the device's page, press **Add link** in the **Links** heading.
2. In **Link to**, choose the device; each choice names the kind of link. Only devices the link rules allow are offered.
3. For a wired link, choose the **Cable drop** it travels over, if any, and the **Port on** each device. Only free ports are offered.
4. Add a **Label**, a **Status** (**Planned**, **Connected**, or **Decommissioning**), and **Notes** if useful.
5. Press **Link**.

A link over a cable run takes its cable and length from the run; a direct patch cord records its own.

## Link from the ports screen

Press **Manage ports**, then tap a free port on the faceplate: **Link port …** opens with that port chosen. You can also drag a port onto a port of a device in **Devices within reach** to patch the two directly; a link the rules refuse says why. With a mouse, right-click a port (or focus it and press `Shift+F10`) for **Connect…**, **Edit link…**, and **Disconnect**.

## Find a device's switch port

1. Open the device. Its **Links** list names the device at the other end of each link.
2. Press **Trace** on a link. The **Cable trace** sheet walks the path hop by hop — each device port, each patch panel port and its side, and the run travelled — to the far end. Every device in it opens its page.

On the ports screen, tapping a port that is in use opens **Trace port …**.

## Edit or remove a link

- **Edit** opens **Edit link**: change the label, status, and notes — and, for a direct patch cord, its cable and test result — then press **Save link**.
- **Unlink** removes one link after a confirm; **Clear all** removes every link on the device.

## Edit ports in bulk

1. On the ports screen press **Edit ports**, beside the count of ports in use in the toolbar above the faceplate. **All**, **Free**, and **In use** narrow the table, and **Filter ports** searches by label, VLAN, or device.
2. Change a port's label, VLAN, connector, speed, duplex, PoE mode, or enabled flag in its row.
3. For a range, Shift-click two ports on the faceplate (or set **First port** and **Last port**), tick **Set label**, **Set VLAN**, **Set speed**, **Set duplex**, or **Set PoE mode**, and press **Apply to ports …**.
4. Press **Save ports**, or **Discard changes**. **Done editing** closes the table.

The VLAN box offers the property's VLAN table, but a tag the table does not hold is still saved.

## Patch panels

A patch panel port has two sides: the **A side** faces the devices and the uplink, and the **B side** is where a cable run lands, one run per port. A modular panel's cassettes are edited on its ports screen. The panel's page also shows a **Patch schedule** — each position's state, rear run, front patch, cable, and test — narrowed with **All**, **Tested**, or **Untested**.

## Group ports and hang devices off a port

- **Link groups** records link aggregation and port mirrors: press **Add group**.
- **Hangs off a port** records a device plugged into another device's port, such as a phone off a switch port: press **Hang off a port**. The trace and the topology map follow it.

Related: [Cable runs and testing](https://cablefolio.com/help/cable-runs-and-testing/) and [Topology](https://cablefolio.com/help/topology/).

## More help

- [Next: Cable runs and testing](https://cablefolio.com/help/cable-runs-and-testing/)
- [Contact support](https://cablefolio.com/support/)