Connectivity data
Connectivity data defines how entities are connected in the network. It includes connections between different devices, and VLAN-related connections within the same device. Connectivity information is stored in the topologyLinks, networkPipe, and pipeComposition tables.
Bidirectional connections are only entered into the database
once, either from the A
end to the Z
end or from the Z
end
to the A
end. Therefore, SQL queries that extract connectivity
data must check for the connection in either direction.
Representation of connectivity at different layers of the topology
The NCIM database represents the connectivity of entities in different independent layers. Therefore representation of connectivity at layer 2 is represented independently of the connectivity at layer 3. Each connection is associated with a topology entity.
Representation of connectivity within sub-topologies
The NCIM database represents complex connectivity scenarios. For example, within the MPLS VPN realm, NCIM can model the layer 3 connection between a provider-edge (PE) router and multiple customer-edge (CE) routers. Connectivity between multiple devices that form a mini-topology is defined in the topologyLinks table.