Network Topology Management

Introduction

Network Topology is now treated as a new category of Topologies paving the way for additional functionality in the future. Network Topology view provides the ability to select a seed node and retrieve topologies to a selected depth.

Network Topologies provide the following enhancements:

• Device discovery and default view rendering.
• Ability to rearrange the view manually (for example, Leaf-Spine, Clos).
• Save the rearranged view.
• Retrieve a saved view with an ability to refresh the view for real-time updates.
• Share such views with other users in the same Client Scope.

Prerequisite

This feature is available on Gateway 14.0.3 and above.

Access Network Topology

To access the topology of a network:

1. Navigate Infrastructure > Topology Maps.

2. Select Network from the drop-down list.
   Note: By default, HostName/IP Address is selected in the drop-down list.

3. Select the resource and check the topology layout. The topology explorer is displayed with the base resource you selected and its neighbors including the connections based on the depth level.
   Note: The supported depth levels are 1,2,3,4, and 5. By default, the depth level is selected as 3.

   

Topology Explorer UI

You can view resources in the topology explorer UI. Use the map to explore existing configurations and for troubleshooting.

Select any node or connection to display the attributes of that entity.

The following sections describe the available functions for viewing the topology map.

Depth

Depth refers to the level of topology you want to view. When you have a large number of resources across multiple levels, displaying all resources is impractical. Select the level of topology you want to view for a more comprehensible view. When you first view the topology, all base resources at the hierarchical top-level, Depth 1, are displayed. You can specify view levels up to Depth 5.

Topology Layout

Layout refers to resource arrangement with two viewing options available:

• The default view provides a radial or hub-and-spoke view of connected resources. This option is preferred for vertices and edges that may not express a direct parent-child hierarchy or strict dependency relationship.
• The hierarchical view presents a top-down or parent-child view of resources. This option is best for a strict dependency structure, such as a switch and connected hosts or a router and connected endpoints.

Layers

You can sort a network topology map into layers, which allows you to show and hide the map by layers.

To show/hide the layers:

1. Navigate Infrastructure > Topology Maps.

2. Select Network from the drop-down list.

3. Select the resource, and check the topology layout. The topology explorer is displayed with the base resource you selected and its neighbors including the connections.

4. Select a layer from the Layers drop-down list. The selected layer is now the active layer.
   Note: The available layers are L1, L2 and L3.

   

Refresh page

The page is refreshed based on the selected frequency:

• 5 Mins
• 10 Mins
• 15 Mins
• 30 Mins
• 60 Mins
  Note: By default 10 min is selected.

Zoom

You can zoom in and out of the topology map to change the scope of the visualization. When a map is viewed at a low zoom resolution, icons are displayed with a reduced size, the edges are thinner and the label names appear hidden.

Labels are displayed when the reduced size of the node is clicked. When a map is viewed at a high zoom resolution, icons are displayed in a larger size, the edges are thicker and label names are displayed. At the default zoom level, icons are displayed at normal resolution, the edges are thicker, and label names are displayed.

Navigate Topology Explorer

The vertical and horizontal navigation arrows scroll the topology explorer vertically.

Rearrange Views

You can modify the appearance of any network topology view by rearranging the existing view. Some of the enhancements you can make include the following:

• Change the placement of nodes in a view.
• You can drag the lines and change the appearance of the network topology map for a better view.

View Nodes and Link information

This section of the document explains how to view the details related to the network topology map such as nodes information, source, and target information.

To view the details:

1. Navigate Infrastructure > Topology Maps.
2. Select Network from the drop-down list.
3. Select the resource. The topology explorer is displayed with the base resource you selected and its neighbors including the connections, based on the Depth level.
4. Click on a node to view the information such as Make, OS details and other details as shown below:

Following is the information with description:

5. Click anywhere on a link (on a line) to view the Source and Target interface details.

Following is the information with description:

Source

Availability of source is based on the infrastructure. Source has the following availability states:

• Up
• Down
• Undefined
• Unknown

Link

Link has its own source interface and target interface. Availability status for links will be shown based on the source interface. Link has the below availability states:

Notes:

• All links generated from the source node (target links) are represented with dotted lines, when the source is down.
• The default color for links is Blue.

Save view

You can now save your network topology map changes as a saved view so that you can quickly return to it later in an easy-to-navigate UI.The Saved Views make it easier for you to switch between different views and you can access them from the Menu in the upper left corner of the Topology Explorer page.

To save a view:

1. Navigate Infrastructure > Topology Maps.
2. Select Network from the drop-down list.
3. Select the resource. The topology explorer is displayed with the base resource you selected and its neighbors including the connections.
4. Make changes to the map and click Save.

5. Provide a name for the view and click Save. The view is now saved.

Reload Saved View

To access a saved view:

1. Navigate Infrastructure > Topology Maps.
2. Select Saved Views from the drop-down list.
3. From the Select View, select a saved view from the list. The details of the selected view are displayed.
4. You can make changes to the existing saved views and save for your reference.

Update Map

After you create a map and save it for further use, there may be some changes in the network causing your map data to be out of date. The Update Map feature helps you to update the saved map to the latest changes.

To update a map:

1. Navigate Infrastructure > Topology Maps.
2. Select Saved Views from the drop-down list.
3. From the Select View, select a saved view from the list. The details of the selected view are displayed.
4. Click Update Map.

If there are any changes to the existing data, the map gets updated to the latest changes.

Share Views

You can share the saved views to the roles that have view or manage permissions. A partner can share a dashboard with another partner and client users that have particular roles assigned to them.

Set Permissions

You need to enable the View or Manage permission for the partners and the client users from: Setup > Permission Sets.

See Permission Sets to learn about enabling permissions.

Create a role

Create a role with partner or client scope from Setup > Roles.

See Create a role to learn about creating roles.

Assign Roles

You need to assign the roles to users.

See Users to learn about assigning roles to a user.

To share a view:

1. Navigate Infrastructure > Topology Maps.

2. Select Saved Views from the drop-down list.

3. Select Manage Views from the Select View drop-down list. The View topology page is displayed.

   

4. From the list, select a view you want to share and click the three dots adjacent to the view.

You can perform the below actions from the three dots menu:

5. Click Share. The Share View page is displayed.

   

6. Select a role or roles that have been assigned to partner users:

• If you select a partner role, only partner users that have been assigned the role can view the network topology view.
• If you select a client role, only client users under that role can view the network topology view.

7. Click Share.
   The view is shared with the selected users and the status of the saved view is changed to Shared as shown below: