Auto-Tunnel Creation

If you choose No when prompted with "Generate auto tunnels from atconfig file?" in the previous step, then the tool will not create any auto-tunnels. You may still generate the auto-tunnels at a later time by switching to Design mode and then choosing one of the three options under the Auto Tunnel Design menu (Design > TE Tunnels > Auto Tunnel Design) as shown in the following figure. Selecting Auto Mesh or Backup will cause the tool to generate mesh group auto-tunnels or backup auto-tunnels, respectively.

To generate both mesh group and backup auto-tunnels, choose the All option.

Figure 1: Auto Tunnel Design Menu Software menu interface with Auto Tunnel Design menu item and submenu options: Auto Mesh, Backup, All.

If you choose Yes when prompted with "Generate auto tunnels from atconfig file?" in the previous step and your network configuration files have auto-tunnels configured, then the tool proceeds to create auto-tunnels using the information stored in the atconfig file. If backup auto-tunnels are configured in the network, then FRR design is performed in the background to provide FRR node or FRR link protection for the primary tunnel. To view the auto-tunnels created by the tool, bring up the Tunnels window (Network > Elements >Tunnels) as shown in the following figure:

Figure 2: Auto-Tunnels Tagged With “AT” in the Type fField Screenshot of a network tool interface showing details of network tunnels including ID, NodeA and NodeZ IDs, bandwidth, and routing details.

Screenshot of a network tool interface showing details of network tunnels including ID, NodeA and NodeZ IDs, bandwidth, and routing details.

The figure has the Type column expanded to show that auto-tunnels have been tagged with an "AT" flag. In this example, routers LR2 & RR2 have mesh group & backup auto-tunnels configured, as indicated by the corresponding "AT" flag.

If you wish to filter for only auto-tunnels, you may use the advanced filter. Set "Type=AT" for the Enter query box and choose Match Substring as the Search Preference, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 3: Filtering for Auto-Tunnels Advanced Filter GUI for Tunnels with query input, filterable keys, relational and logical operators, and search preferences.

Advanced Filter GUI for Tunnels with query input, filterable keys, relational and logical operators, and search preferences.

The resulting filtered tunnels window is shown in the following figure:

Figure 4: Tunnels Window Showing Only Auto-Tunnels Network management interface displaying tunnel details; includes tunnel ID, nodes, bandwidth, type, and routing info.

Network management interface displaying tunnel details; includes tunnel ID, nodes, bandwidth, type, and routing info.

If auto-tunnels have been generated by the tool, and you exit without first saving, then you will be prompted with the following popup message window.

Figure 5: Click Yes to Save Auto-Tunnels Dialog box titled Save Environment asks if changes to Tunnel and FRR tunnels should be saved with Yes and No buttons.

Dialog box titled Save Environment asks if changes to Tunnel and FRR tunnels should be saved with Yes and No buttons.

Clicking on Yes will cause the auto-tunnels to be saved and placed into an autotunnel.runcode file. An example is shown in the following figure

Figure 6: Auto-Tunnels Saved Configuration file for network tunnels named autotunnel.auto in directory u5/mswetha/Auto-Tunnels/spec0624. Contains tunnel names, parameters, IP addresses, flags, software version 5.4.1, and dates. Includes toolbar icons for file management and editing.

Configuration file for network tunnels named autotunnel.auto in directory u5/mswetha/Auto-Tunnels/spec0624. Contains tunnel names, parameters, IP addresses, flags, software version 5.4.1, and dates. Includes toolbar icons for file management and editing.