Cisco Crosswork Planning Design 7.2.x User Guide

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Cisco Crosswork Planning Design 7.2.x User Guide

Circuits and interfaces

Updated: August 14, 2026

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Outlines the relationship between circuits and interfaces, including logical and physical mappings, circuit connections, interface properties, and traffic measurement.

In Cisco Crosswork Planning, an interface is either an individual logical interface or a LAG logical interface. If there is a one-to-one mapping between a logical and physical interface, then the interface contains both Layer 3 properties (for example, Metric) and physical properties (for example, Capacity). If there is a one-to-many mapping between logical and physical interfaces, then the interface is the logical LAG and the ports are included in the plan file as the physical ports in the LAG. For more information on ports and port circuits, refer to Ports, port circuits, and LAGs.

Each circuit connects a pair of interfaces on two different nodes. Therefore, an interface always has an associated circuit. Both the Edit Interface and Edit Circuit windows let you simultaneously edit properties for the pair of interfaces and the circuit.

Interfaces have both measured and simulated traffic. The traffic that appears in the Circuits table is the higher of the traffic in the two interfaces.

Circuit and interface configuration fields

These fields are commonly used when configuring a circuit or an interface.

  • Capacity: Specifies the total traffic this circuit can carry. The drop-down displays the most widely used capacities.

  • SRLGs: Assigns the circuit to an SRLG by selecting from the list or creating a new one. For more information, refer to Create SRLGs for circuits only.

  • Parallel group name: Enter the name to include this circuit in a new or existing parallel group.

  • Interface A and B: Identifies the two interfaces connected by the circuit.

To create circuits, refer to Create objects, where Object is Circuit. As a result of creating a circuit, two interfaces are also created.

Merge circuits

This topic describes how to merge circuits between the same endpoints to provide a simplified network design.

You can simplify the plan by merging circuits that have the same source and destination endpoints (nodes). This capability is useful in long-term capacity planning, where multiple parallel circuits can be ignored and only the site-to-site connections are of interest.

Complete these steps to merge circuits.

Before you begin

  • Identify the plan file containing the circuits to be merged.

  • Assess the implications of merging circuits. This operation changes the plan itself, not just the visual representation.

Procedure

1.

Open the plan file (refer to Open plan files). It opens in the Network Design page.
2.

From the toolbar, choose Actions > Initializers > Merge circuits.
3.

Select the circuits that have the same source and destination endpoints.
4.

Review the listed effects of circuit merge.

  • Sets base circuit capacity to the sum of capacities.

  • Sets base circuit metric to minimum of metrics.

  • Sets base traffic measurements to the sum of measurements.

  • Deletes other circuits.
5.

If these effects are acceptable, click Submit.
The selected circuits are merged and the plan file is updated.