Adding a Router

Once your appliance is set up and services are running, you can add routers to start controlling them through Birch.

Prerequisites

• Appliance associated with an organization and services deployed
• Signed in to the Birch web interface
• Router powered on and connected to the same network as the appliance
• Router’s IP address and control port known

Adding a router

1. Navigate to Devices — Click the Devices icon in the sidebar.

2. Select your appliance — Click on the appliance where the router is physically connected. This expands to show any existing routers.

3. Click “Add Router” — This opens the router creation form.

4. Fill in the router details:

   • Name — A descriptive name for this router (e.g., “Main Router”, “Studio A Matrix”)
   • Driver — Select the protocol driver that matches your router. See Supported Protocols for the list.
   • IP Address — The router’s network address
   • Port — The control port (defaults vary by protocol)

5. Save — The router is created and Birch immediately attempts to connect.

After adding

Once the router is added:

• Connection status — The router’s overview page shows whether the connection was successful.
• Port discovery — Most protocols automatically discover the router’s sources and destinations and pull their names.
• Routing panel — The router’s sources and destinations appear in the routing panel, ready for use.

Note

Ultrix routers require an additional onboarding step before they’re ready for use. See Ultrix Onboarding. If you prefer to skip onboarding, Ultrix routers can also be connected using the GVG Native protocol instead, though this will not provide access to Ultrix-specific features like AUX ports and variant sources.

Troubleshooting

Router shows as disconnected

• Verify the router is powered on and reachable from the appliance’s network.
• Check that the IP address and port are correct.
• Confirm the correct protocol driver is selected for your router.
• See Router Communication for more diagnostics.

Sources and destinations don’t appear

• Some protocols take a few seconds to enumerate ports after initial connection.
• Verify the protocol driver is correct for your router model.