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Understanding the Build Mode Tasks Pane

The Tasks pane in Build mode contains all the tasks you can do in Build mode. Click a specific task to begin that task.

The tasks listed in the Tasks pane depend on the scope you select in the View pane—that is, what view (Logical, Location, Device, Virtual, or Custom Group) you have selected and what object you have selected. Not all tasks are available in all scopes. As you change your selections in the View pane, the contents of the Tasks pane also change.

Build mode tasks are divided into the following categories in the Tasks pane.

Network Director enables you to perform the following tasks for devices in your physical network:

  • Device Discovery—Before your devices can be managed by Network Director, you must use device discovery to discover them. As Network Director discovers devices, it adds them to your network view in the View pane. Table 1 describes the device discovery tasks.

  • Device Management—After devices have been discovered, you can perform administrative tasks on them, such as viewing a list of the device’s physical components, connecting to a device using SSH, rebooting a device, or assigning a switch to its logical role in the network. Table 2 describes the device management tasks.

  • Wired—You can create configuration profiles and quick templates for the different wired devices—EX Series Ethernet Switches, EX Series Switches, QFX Series switches and MX Series routers.

  • Location Management—You can build your Location view of the network by creating sites, buildings, floors, closets, and outdoor areas and assigning devices to these locations. Table 3 describes the location management tasks.

  • Connectivity—For switches in your network that are connected to your virtual network, you can view the connectivity between a given switch and the corresponding virtual switch and between the virtual switch and the virtual machine. Table 4 describes the connectivity tasks.

  • Profile and Configuration Management—Network Director provides a set of configuration profiles that you can create to provision multiple devices in your network. Table 5 describes the profile and configuration management tasks.

  • Key Tasks—Network Director enables you to group the tasks that you perform frequently and create a list of key tasks. You can add any task from the Tasks pane to the Key Tasks list by selecting a task and clicking the plus (+) sign that appears adjacent to the task. For some modes, you can see that Network Director has predefined some key tasks for you. You can modify this set of tasks to suit your requirements. This feature is available in Task pane irrespective of your current mode, scope, or view.

For more information about Build mode features, see Understanding Build Mode in Network Director.

Table 1 through Table 5 describe the tasks that you can perform in the physical network category, including the scope in the View pane that you must select to access the task.

Table 1: Device Discovery Tasks

Task

Description

Scope

Discover Devices

Discovers supported switches in the network and brings them under Network Director management.

Any

View Discovery Status

Displays the status of device discovery jobs.

Any

Table 2: Device Management Tasks

Task

Description

Scope

Assign Device to Logical Category

Assigns switches to one of the following logical categories within the switching network: Core, Aggregation, Access.

View: Logical

Object: Switching Network, Core, Aggregation, Access, Unassigned, or an individual switch

Change Location of Device

Changes where a device is located in Location view.

View: All

Object: Individual switch

Create MC-LAG

Configures multichassis link aggregation groups (MC-LAG).

View: All

Object: All

Create ESI-LAG

Configures Ethernet Segment Identifier link aggregation groups (ESI-LAG) in a campus environment.

View: All

Object: All

Delete Devices

Deletes a switch as a managed device from Network Director. If you select a scope that contains more than one switch, you can choose which devices are deleted.

View: All

Object: All

Launch Web View

Launches the Web-based management interface for the selected device in a separate window: the J-Web interface for EX Series switches .

View: All

Object: Individual switch

Manage LAG

Creates and manages Link Aggregation Groups (LAGs).

View: All

Object: Individual switch

Manage Port Groups

Enables you to create and manage port groups. Port groups enable you to configure a group of ports with a single configuration.

View: Logical

Object: Switching Network, Core, Aggregation, Access, Unassigned, an individual switch (both EX Series and QFX Series)

Reboot Devices

Reboots devices. If you select a scope that contains more than one switch, you can choose which devices get deleted.

View: All

Object: All

Show Current Configuration

Shows the running configuration on a switch.

View: All

Object: Individual switch

SSH to Device

Launches an SSH connection to the selected device.

View: All

Object: Individual switch

Validate Pending Configuration

Validates configuration changes that have not yet been deployed on devices.

View: All

Object: All

View Assigned Profiles

Displays the profiles assigned to the selected device.

View: All

Object: Individual switch

View Inventory

Displays information about all the devices in the currently selected object and all its child objects.

View: All

Object: All

View License Information

View the licenses installed on the device and their status.

View: All

Object: Individual switch

View Physical Inventory

Displays information about the selected device’s hardware components.

View: All

Object: Individual switch

Table 3: Location Management Tasks

Task

Description

Scope

Add Building

Creates a new building in the selected site.

Note:

Use this task only to create the building. Floors and closets in the building must be created separately.

View: Location

Object: A site

Add Closet

Creates a new closet in the selected floor.

View: Location

Object: A floor

Add Floor

Creates a new floor in the selected building.

Note:

Use this task only to create the floor. Closets in the building must be created separately.

View: Location

Object: A building

Add Outdoor Area

Creates a new outdoor area in the selected site.

View: Location

Object: A site

Add Site

Creates a new site in Location view.

Note:

Use this task only to create the site object. Buildings, floors, closets, and outdoor areas in the site must be created separately.

View: Location

Object: My Network only

Delete Building/Edit Building

Deletes or modifies the selected building.

View: Location

Object: A building

Delete Closet/Edit Closet

Deletes or modifies the selected closet.

View: Location

Object: A closet

Delete Floor/Edit Floor

Deletes or modifies the selected floor.

View: Location

Object: A floor

Delete Outdoor Area/Edit Outdoor Area

Deletes or modifies the selected outdoor area.

View: Location

Object: An outdoor area

Delete Site/Edit Site

Deletes or modifies the selected site.

View: Location

Object: A site

Assign Devices to Building

Assigns switches to a building.

View: Location

Object: A building

Assign Devices to Closet

Assigns switches to a closet.

View: Location

Object: A closet

Assign Devices to Floor

Assigns switches to a floor.

View: Location

Object: A floor

Setup Locations

Opens the page by using which you can create an entire site—that is, define buildings, floors, closets, outdoor areas and to assign devices to these locations.

Note:

Use this task only to create a site. Do not use it to modify an existing site.

View: Location

Object: My Network and any location node within an existing site.

Table 4: Connectivity Tasks

Task

Description

Scope

View Virtual Network Connectivity

Pictorially displays the network connectivity between the selected switch and the virtual switch and between the virtual switch and the virtual machine.

If the selected switch is not connected to a virtual network, Network Director displays the standalone switch.

View: Logical, Location, Device

Object: Individual switch

View Virtual Machines

Displays the virtual machines that are connected to the selected switch.

View: Logical, Location, Device

Object: Individual switch

Table 5: Profile and Configuration Management Tasks

Task

Description

Device Family

Scope

Manage Quick Templates

Enables you to create and manage quick templates. Quick templates enable you to define your network configuration in the form of templates that you can apply to multiple devices in your network.

EX Series

QFX Series

MX Series

All

View Deployed Templates

Enables you to view the list of quick templates that are deployed.

EX Series

QFX Series

MX Series

All

Access

Creates and manages Access profiles. Use Access profiles to configure authentication methods (RADIUS, LDAP, and local), accounting methods (RADIUS and LDAP), and authentication/accounting servers.

EX Series

QFX Series

Any

Authentication

Creates and manages Authentication profiles. Use Authentication profiles to specify authentication method and authentication parameters for authenticating clients and users who connect to an access port on a switch.

EX Series

QFX Series

Any

CoS

Creates and manages CoS profiles. Use CoS profiles to configure class-of-service (CoS) attributes to be applied to interfaces or to user traffic.

EX Series

QFX Series

Any

Device Common Settings

Creates and manages Device Common Settings profiles. Use Device Common Settings profiles to configure basic system settings, such as users, time and time servers, SNMP, system logging, and so on.

EX Series

QFX Series

Any

Fabric

Creates and manages Fabric profiles. Use Fabric profiles to configure gateway FC fabrics on QFX Series devices that act as a FCoE-FC gateway.

QFX Series

Any

Filter

Creates and manages Filter profiles. Use Filter profiles to define Layer 2 and Layer 3 firewall filters (ACLs).

EX Series

QFX Series

Any

LDAP

Creates and manages LDAP profiles. Use LDAP profiles to specify details about your LDAP authentication and accounting server. LDAP profiles can then be linked to an access profile.

EX Series

Any

Port

Creates and manages Port profiles for EX Series switches. Use Port profiles to configure interface settings, such as PoE settings, protocol family, port mode, physical link settings, firewall filters, and port security settings for interfaces.

EX Series

QFX Series

Any

Radius

Creates and manages Radius profiles. Use Radius profiles to specify details about your RADIUS authentication and accounting server. Radius profiles can then be linked to an access profile.

EX Series

Any

VLANs

Creates and manages VLAN profiles. Use VLAN profiles to define VLANs, including the firewall filters to be applied to the VLANs and other settings.

EX Series

QFX Series

Any