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Interactive Map Features Overview

A topology map is interactive, which means you can use the features within the map to customize the map and the network information table. The map uses a geographic coordinate reference system that enables the following features:

  • Constrained zooming: The controller checks the coordinates so that the view is constrained to the coordinates on the earth.

  • World wrapping/map wrapping: Scrolling the map in one direction is like spinning a globe. For example, this feature enables the representation of links across an ocean.

Right-click Functions

You can right-click a node, node group, link, or blank space on the topology map to access context-specific menus.

Table 1 describes the options that are displayed when you right-click any blank space on the topology map.

Table 1: Right-Click Options for Blank Space on the Topology Page

Option

Description

Grouping

You can view, group, or ungroup the nodes in a node group.

Nodes & Groups

Displays the nodes and node groups in the topology. You can select a particular node group to be displayed on the topology map.

Auto Grouping

Enables you to specify the criteria that are used to automatically group nodes. For more information, see Automatically Group Nodes.

Group Selected Nodes

Groups the selected nodes. For more information, see Group Nodes.

Ungroup Selected Nodes

Ungroups the nodes from the selected group. For more information, see Ungroup Nodes.

Ungroup All

Ungroups the nodes in all groups.
Group Selected Nodes/Links into Topology Group Groups the nodes or links that are selected on the topology map into a topology group based on the slice ID that you specify.
Clear Topology Group from the Selected Nodes/Links Removes the slice IDs from the nodes and links that are present within the selected topology group.

Select All Nodes

Selects all the nodes on the topology map. This option is a shortcut to using the Shift-left-click option to create a selection box around all nodes or individually shift-clicking on all nodes.

Show All Nodes and Links

Restores the topology map so that it includes all the nodes and links in the network, as opposed to a filtered subset.

Save to Default Map Layout

Saves the current layout as the default. Setting this option does not change the name of the default in the Manage Layouts page.

Layout

Manage Map View

Save, load, or edit the current topology map. For more information, see Manage Map Layouts.

Distribute All Nodes

Select multiple nodes on the topology map and redistribute them to improve visual clarity or for personal preference. Distributes all the nodes in the map, pushing elements away from each other and minimizing overlap.

Distribute Selected nodes

Forces the selected elements away from each other and minimizes overlap.

Circle selected nodes

Arranges the selected nodes in a roughly circular pattern, with the nodes and links separated adequately.

Straighten selected nodes

Aligns the selected nodes in a linear pattern.

Reset by Coordinates

Resets the map to display the nodes based on their configured coordinates (latitude and longitude).

Note:

You can reset the distribution of the nodes on the topology map according to geographical coordinates if you have set the latitude and longitude values of the nodes. It can be useful to have the country map backdrop displayed when you use this distribution model.

Set Coordinates from Map

Reconfigures the node coordinates based on the current location of the nodes on the map.

Import from

Import a layout from a CSV or GeoJSON file. For more information, see https://geojson.org/.

Export to

Export a layout to a CSV or GeoJSON file.

Node Label

Select one of the following options to label the nodes on the topology map:

  • Name

  • Hostname

  • Hostname, SID

  • Hostname, Slices

  • IP Address

  • IPv6 Address

  • IP, SID

  • ISIS System ID

  • OS Version

  • OSPF ref BW

  • SID

  • Type

  • Slices

  • Hide Label—Hides all the labels for the network elements on the topology map

Link Label

Select one of the following options to label the links on the topology map:

  • Name

  • Node Name A::Z

  • Interface A::Z

  • IP A::Z

  • IP, SID A::Z

  • IPv6, SRv6 SID Function A::Z

  • TE Metric A::Z

  • Bandwidth A::Z

  • Delay A::Z

  • Interface Util A::Z

  • ISIS1 Metric A::Z

  • ISIS2 Metric A::Z

  • Measured Delay A::Z

  • OSPF Metric A::Z

  • Packet Loss Metric A::Z

  • RSVP Bandwidth A::Z

  • RSVP Util A::Z

  • RSVP Live Util A::Z

  • Shape BW A::Z

  • SID A::Z

  • Slices

  • SRLG

  • TE Admin Group A::Z

  • SRv6 SID Function A::Z

  • Hide Label

Favorites

Add Selected Nodes to Favorites

Select nodes on the topology map and designate them as favorites.

Remove Selected Nodes from Favorites

Removes the nodes that you select on the topology map from the Favorites tab.

Clear Favorites

Clears all the existing favorite nodes.

Highlight Favorites

Highlights only the favorite nodes on the topology map.

Show only Favorites

Displays only the favorite nodes on the topology map.

Hide Favorites

Hides all the favorite nodes on the topology map.

Subview

Filters the network elements on the topology map based on Node Type, Autonomous System (AS) number, OSPF Area, ISIS Area, Layer, or Admin Group. For more information about these options, see Table 2.

Timeline

Lists activities and status checkpoints, with the most recent activity first.

You can use the search box at the top of the Timeline drawer to highlight specific events. You can use the up and down arrows to move to the next or previous event (search result). You can click the top arrow (at the bottom-right corner of the drawer) to move back to the topmost event in the timeline.

You can also refresh the timeline events by clicking the refresh button at the bottom-left corner of the page.

You can assess the stability of the MPLS network by tracking changes in the number of LSP Up and Down events over time. You can then analyze whether the occurrence of specific other events affects the number of LSP Up and Down events.

The following event types are included in the Timeline:

Event types related to nodes:

  • PCEP session goes Down

  • PCEP session goes Up

  • PCEP session becomes ACTIVE

Event types related to links:

  • Link goes Up

  • Link goes Down

Event types related to LSPs:

  • Change in the number of LSPs that are Up

  • Change in the number of LSPs that are Down

  • Change in the number of LSPs that are being provisioned

Even types related to Controller:

  • Path optimization start and end times

  • Maintenance events start and end times

Pause/Resume Network Event Processing

Click to pause or resume the processing of network events. When paused, the network information table and topology map are not refreshed in response to network events until you select Resume Network Event Processing. Network events continue to be processed in the background, but they are not refreshed in the UI.

This option is beneficial in large networks where the processing of network events results in frequent UI updates.

Reload Network

Reloads the network, and updates the displayed topology map.
Table 2: Subview Options

Options

Description

Node Type

Select the node types from the list.

AS

Assign a color to represent each AS number that is configured on the topology map.

From the AS pane, you can select or clear AS numbers by selecting or clearing the corresponding check boxes. Only nodes corresponding to the selected AS numbers are displayed in the topology map.

ISIS Area

Assign a color to represent each IS-IS area identifier that is configured on the topology map. The area identifier is the first three bytes of the ISO network entity title (NET) address.

From the ISIS area pane, you can select or clear ISIS area identifiers by selecting or clearing the corresponding check boxes. Only nodes corresponding to the selected area identifiers are displayed in the topology map.

OSPF Area

Assign a color to represent each OSPF area that is configured on the topology map. NONE shows the color assigned to routers that have no OSPF area configured.

From the OSPF Areas pane, select or clear OSPF areas by selecting or clearing the corresponding check boxes. Only nodes corresponding to the selected OSPF areas are displayed in the topology map.

Layer

Include or exclude individual layer information in the topology map.

From the Layers list, select the layers (IP, Transport, or both) that you want to display. If you are not using the Multilayer feature, the Layers list contains only IP.

Admin Group

Provides bit-level link coloring options so that you can easily differentiate the different links that are displayed in the topology map.

The Admin Group includes manually assigned bit-level attributes that describe the color of the links (up to 32 names or values from bit 0 to bit 32). You can filter by three conditions (all, any, or not). Links with the same color conceptually belong to the same class. You can use this option to implement a variety of policy-based label-switched path (LSP) setups. For more information, see Assign Names to Admin Group Bits.

Table 3 describes the right-click options for a node or node group that you select on the topology map.

Table 3: Right-Click Options for Nodes or Node Groups

Option

Description

Filter in Node Table

Filters the nodes that are displayed in the network information table to display the selected nodes or node groups only.

Tunnels On or Thru Node

Opens a new tab in the network information table to show only those tunnels that meet the On or Thru Node criteria.

Tunnels Starting at Node

Opens a new tab in the network information table to show only those tunnels that meet the Starting at Node criteria.

Tunnels Ending at Node

Opens a new tab in the network information table to show only those tunnels that meet the Ending at Node criteria.
Note:

For the description of other right-click options, see Table 1.

Table 4 describes the right-click options for a link on the topology map.

Table 4: Right-Click Options for Links

Option

Function

Filter in Link Table

Filters the tunnels that are displayed in the network information table to display only the selected link.

Tunnels On or Thru Link

Opens a new tab in the network information table to show only those tunnels that meet the On or Thru Link criteria.
Note:

For the description of other right-click options, see Table 1.

Topology Settings Pane

You can access the Topology Settings pane by clicking the Settings icon in the Topology menu bar that is located at the upper right corner of the Topology Page.

Table 5 describes the tabs on the Topology Settings pane.

Table 5: Topology Settings Options

Tab

Description

Nodes

You can perform the following tasks:

  • Change the labels of all the nodes on the topology map by selecting an option from the Label list.

  • After you select a label, click the toggle button to view:

    • Background shadow of node labels

    • Pseudo node label

    • Only favorite node labels

    • Isolated nodes

    • Overload bit marker

Links

You can perform the following tasks:

  • Change the labels of all the links on the topology map by selecting an option from the Label list.

  • Click the toggle button to:

    • Show or hide the link down markers

    • Draw down links as a dashed line

    • Draw a link line width in proportion to the interface speed

    • Draw parallel links as a curve: Toggle the button to draw parallel links between two nodes as a curve, so that the parallel links do not overlap and appear separately (as curves) on the topology map. If the parallel links between two nodes are drawn as straight lines, they would overlap on the topology map (as a bundle).

      • Show utilization max instead of Average within bundle: Toggle this button to display the maximum utilization value (in red) instead of the average utilization value for parallel links. For example, if there are two parallel links between two nodes and one link has 10% utilization and the other has 20% utilization, and you want to draw the link as a straight line between the nodes, you can choose which utilization value should be displayed: 15% (average) or 20% (maximum) value.

      • Show Count of the bundle: Toggle the button to display (in green) how many links are present between the two nodes.

    • Wrap links as great arcs: Distinguishes links that would have to wrap around the world map.

      An example is shown in Figure 1.

      Figure 1: Wrap Links as Great Arcs: ExampleWrap Links as Great Arcs: Example

    • Hide Partially Visible links: Hides any link whose end nodes are outside the visible area. This is useful for focusing on a subset of a large network.

Note:

The topology map does not display more than a certain number of node or link labels, even if the topology settings call for labels to be displayed. This constraint improves performance when redrawing a large number of graphic elements.

Tunnels

You can perform the following tasks:

  • Click the toggle button to draw a path as a curve, which might improve network visualization.

    Figure 2 shows both curved and straight lines for the same path.

    Figure 2: Curved and Straight Line Path DepictionCurved and Straight Line Path Depiction

  • Click the toggle button to draw a path through layers if the network includes transport layers.

General

You can perform the following tasks:

  • Click the toggle button to:

    • Enable animation while calculating the topology layout.

    • Show or hide maintenance marker: Displays a red "M" over any link that is part of an active maintenance event.

    • Show or hide zoom slider: A vertical slider is displayed on the topology menu bar on the top right corner of the topology window.

    • Enable or disable to zoom to selected node: With this option enabled, when you click the node entry in the network information table (the Node tab), the topology automatically centers the view on that selected node.

  • Select a Label Size: Select one of the following values as the font size for the node and link labels:

    • 8

    • 10

    • 12

    • 14

    • 16

    • 18

    • 20

  • Apply Opacity effects: Move this slider to select the percent opacity for topology map elements that are not highlighted. Figure 3 shows 100% and 20% opacity for comparison.

    Figure 3: Opacity Effects: ExampleOpacity Effects: Example

Map

You can perform the following tasks:

  • Select a Light or Dark theme for the topology map.

    Figure 4 shows an example of the light and dark map styles.

    Figure 4: Light and Dark Map Styles: ExampleLight and Dark Map Styles: Example

  • Show Graticules: Displays graticules (a grid of lines that is parallel to the meridians of longitude and the parallels of latitude) and labeling of major populated places (both shown in Figure 4).

  • Show World Map: You can select the type of map (based on color or labeling) to be displayed on the Topology page. Based on your selection, the topology map is updated immediately. You can select one of the following options:

    • PathFinder—Displays the topology on the greyscale world map.

    • PathFinder No Labels—Displays the topology on the world map without highlighting the city or country names.

    • Thunderforest Atlas—Displays the topology map on a colored world map with city and country names highlighted.

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