ITNM 4.1.1 reducing icon footprint with the topoviz.properties file

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IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP 4.1.1 can have a device node icon that can cover more footprint than you may like.

 

This zoomed view of the network view gives lots of open space within the node icon, and shows a small portion of

the connectivity.

The properties file topoviz.properties has many parameters for control of various properties in the gui.

It's located in $NCHOME/precision/profiles/TIPProfile/etc/tnm.   Once changed it takes effect in a couple of minutes.

No stop or restart of TIP is required.   So you can quickly view how changes will look on your system.

 

The height of the 'node' is controlled by these options

 

# Node dimensions (not used in legacy mode).
topoviz.node.height=60
topoviz.node.width=100

 

This is NOT the size of the class icon (switch or router) inside the node.

Take a look when these are reduced by over 50%

 

 

For the above icons there is almost no visible change.   This is because the size of the 'entityname' keeps the boundary

pushed out.   For a smaller name you would see a reduction of the node/icon.

 

# Font settings
topoviz.node.font=Arial,Helvetica
topoviz.node.fontsize=10
topoviz.node.fontstyle=0

 

Now I'll cut the fontsize in half to 5.

 

 

Once the font is reduced, then the Node icon can reduce in size.   This definitely gives more 'link' to look at, but we

lose how well the name can be read.

 

Finally take a look at this option.  I put all options back at default in topoviz.properties.

 

# Legacy mode switch (3.8 style).
topoviz.node.style.legacy=false

 

Here I am changing 'false' to 'true'

 

 

But again there are other factors to take into account.

This is a legacy mode switch so you might find other customizations do not work as desired

Check the topoviz.properties file for the comment

(not used in legacy mode).

 

Since no restart of components is required, save the default topoviz.properties file and experiment with

the granularity of any changes you might make.