Introduction

Technology Services is dedicated to providing Campus IT Professionals with the resources they need to support their customers.  This includes our dedication to Needs Based deployment of building network equipment.  In order to facilitate efficient use of this equipment, Iris has the functionality to run a "port utilization" report.  This is a report of the utilization of switchports over a customizable number of days. 

For example, if an IT Pro has visited a CER to patch a jack and they discover that there are no free ports on the appropriate switch, they can utilize Iris to view the port utilization over the last 365 days (or whichever timeframe works best for them).  The report will show switchports that have or haven't seen traffic in the last number of days specified.  Those switchports that haven't seen traffic can be repurposed for use or "released" to indicate they are available.

Running a Port Utilization Report

To see which switchports have seen traffic in X number of days.

Example: What ports on sw-dcl3 have seen traffic in the last 365 days:

1. In Iris: Navigate to the switch upon which you would like to run the report (e.g. sw-dcl3).
2. Click on the Port Overview tab. (All the interfaces that are not "Free" will be displayed)
3. Using the checkboxes on the left side of the screen, select which ports upon which you would like to run the utilization report; leave the check boxes empty to run the report on all of the displayed switchports.
4. Click on the Port Utilization button next to "Additional Data".
5. Enter the number of days (e.g. 365) previous across which the report should run click OK.
6. After the report has completed, a new column titled 365d Utilization will appear with either a yes or no value.  (yes means that the switchport has seen utilization sometime in the previous number of days specified and no means that the port has not seen utilization in that period)
7. The option to Export the data to a CSV for further viewing and data manipulation is available via the Export CSV button.

What should I do if there are still not enough switchports available?

If the report does not indicate that there are enough switchports available for your needs, either re-run the report with a shorter date range, or contact the Technology Services Help Desk to open a ticket with Networking.

Phone: (217) 244-7000 or (800) 531-2531
Email Support: consult@illinois.edu
Walk-in: Room 1211 Digital Computer Lab