Site Circuit Down Checklist

This article describes what you need to do when one of the Primary or Backup circuits for the site is down

colin jones avatar
Written by colin jones
Updated over a week ago

You have reached this page if your site has received a case from essensys stating there is an issue with a circuit.

Please follow the below steps for checking your site circuit. These checks will need to be done in the comms room:

  1. Identify the carrier equipment that needs to be checked. This would have been provided via the case

  2. Check the carrier equipment is powered on - There should be lights flashing or still if this is on

  3. Check to see if there are any warning or critical lights on the carrier device - These are usually indicated with a red light. If there are, please make a note of what the light is indicating and take a photo of this and provide it to essensys via the case

  4. If there are no warning lights and the device is powered on, check the patching from the carrier device to the primary or backup switchport on the essensys switch. The details of these will be provided on the case. You should see a light on the switchport which indicates activity on the port

  5. Please report all findings back to essensys via the case that has been opened


FAQ:

More information on Site Circuits can be found here:

What is a Primary or Backup Circuit?

A Primary or Backup Circuit is a carrier circuit that provides the internet to your building. In most circumstances, sites have two circuits, a Primary Circuit, and a Backup Circuit.

A Backup Circuit is in place in case the Primary Circuit goes down, continuing to provide internet access to the building.

How is the Primary and Backup Circuit connected?

To explain this, we will use a typical site set up.

NOTE: Your site is likely to be set up differently from the set up below. The information in regards to the ports and circuits at your site will be in the case.

Each site typically has a Primary and Backup circuit. The Primary circuit is constantly in use and it is the route end-users take to reach the internet. The Backup is there in case the Primary Circuit goes down. The Backup circuit will automatically take over if the Primary Circuit goes down.

To take an example of how this is connected in the comms room, please see below:

From the above, the Primary port is SW01, Slot 1, Port 48. This is connected to the circuit equipment as seen via the red line.

The Backup port is SW01, Slot 2, Port 48. This is connected to the circuit equipment as seen via the orange line.

NOTE: The circuit equipment is likely to differ from the example above, however, the concept remains the same.

Dependent on which circuit is down, this is what you will need to check for step 4 above.

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