Topology Maps
Create a schema of your network topology and track live statuses using Site24x7's Topology Maps. These are custom network maps with which you can logically and hierarchically arrange your network devices and interfaces over a predefined or custom background to picture how your network works and what it looks like. You can catch a quick glimpse of your entire network from a single console where you can quickly take corrective measures when needed.
Here is a video to demonstrate network mapping with Site24x7:
Contents
Use case
Consider a global organization named Zylker that has offices located in multiple regions. Due to the scattered nature of the organization, more than 1,000 network devices must be monitored continuously to provide uninterrupted service to its customers and employees. To avoid the inconvenience of scrolling through a list of devices, network administrators can add the devices to a network map. This makes it easier to identify which devices are in trouble at a glance and understand which device may be affected next.
Monitor groups in topology maps
A cluster of monitors can be organized into groups and displayed on a map, which allows you to keep track of devices based on specific categories according to your organizational policies. For example, if you have a group of monitors based on a particular location and the status of the group indicates trouble, you can easily click on the monitor group to view a list of devices in that group and identify which device in which location requires attention.
The Topology Maps view
Here you can create and view network topology maps.
- Log in to your Site24x7 account.
- Navigate to Network > Topology Maps.
Figure 1. The Topology Maps view.
Figure 2. Marking an infrastructure map as a Network map.
Creating topology maps
- Navigate to Network > Topology Maps.
- Click Add Topology Map on the top-right of the screen to add a new map (Figure 1).
- This opens the Map Editor view. Site24x7 aggregates and shows all the configured network devices in your Site24x7 account on the left pane of the editor screen. You can also search for Monitors or Monitor Groups using the search bar and add them to the map as required (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Selecting Monitors or Monitor Groups. - You can change the background by clicking Change Background. There are multiple background templates to choose from, such as World Maps, Continental Maps, Country Maps, and Gridlines. There is an additional option to import a custom background image by clicking Upload your image (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Changing the background image. - Once you've set your background image, drag and drop the selected network device from the left pane onto the canvas. You can resize your monitor icon by selecting Large icons or Small icons from the drop-down list (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Adding devices to the map. - Once you've added multiple monitors to the canvas, you can create interlinks by drawing lines between the mini-circles attached to every monitor icon.
- Provide a suitable Link name. Select which among the two devices' interfaces should form the link, then select an interface from the drop-down list (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Editing links. - Once you've drawn your topology map over the background image, click Done Customizing. Your map is now created and will be listed. You can view the real-time status of devices and links, directly from the map, by hovering over (Figure 7) or clicking on (Figure 8) a device or a link.
It is possible to observe real-time updates without the need to manually refresh the page. For instance, if a device or link status changes from Trouble to Critical, the color changes from yellow to orange in real time (Figure 9).
Figure 7. Hovering over a device to reveal details.
Figure 8. Clicking on an interface link.
Figure 9. A device status changing from trouble to critical
Editing topology maps
- From the list of topology maps, click on the name of the map that needs to be edited.
- In the Map Editor view that opens, click Edit (Figure 6).
- Once you've finished applying edits, click Done Customizing.
Cloning topology maps
- Navigate to Network > Topology Maps.
- Click on the plus icon beside a map to clone it. Clicking on Yes (Figure 10) will generate an identical copy of the map that can be modified as needed.
Figure 10. Cloning a topology map.
Understanding the Topology Maps view
- Hover over a node to view basic configuration details for the device along with the number of interfaces that are Up, Down, or in Trouble (Figure 8).
- Click on a node to view a graph of the network device's real-time performance stats such as response time and packet loss.
Figure 11. Root cause analysis for a device from its topology map. - Hover over a link to view basic configuration details, operational state, and admin state of the interface.
- Click on a monitor group to navigate to its Summary page.
- Click on a link to view a graph of the interface's real-time performance stats like traffic, packets, errors, and discards (Figure 9).
- The status of nodes and links are displayed as green, red, yellow, or orange, which denote that they're Up, Down, in Trouble, or Critical respectively.
- The link between the two network devices will change color when a status change is detected.
Figure 5. Viewing the details of network devices and interfaces on a topology map.