About topology visualization
Network Manager provides two types of topology views for network visualization. It is also possible to explore the structure of network devices using the Structure Browser.
The topology visualization GUIs include single-widget views, such as the Network Hop View, Network Views, and Structure Browser. Default topology views also include multi-widget views, such as the Fault-Finding View and the Network Health View.
Network Hop View
The Network Hop View shows a selected device and all devices connected to it up to a configurable number of hops, or connections. You can use the Network Hop View to search the network for a specific device and display the network around that device. This view is useful for viewing the impacted area of an outage.
The Network Hop View provides Layer 1, Layer 2, and Layer 3 views, and converged topology views based on available layer 1 to layer 3 topology information. This GUI also presents a variety of other view types, including groupings such as IP subnets, protocols, such as OSPF, BGP, PIM adjacency information, and technologies such as RAN, LTE, and microwave technologies.
Network Views
Topology maps can be customized to show specific devices or to show specific device groupings such as subnets and VLANs.
Network administrators and operators can monitor distinct sections of the network by creating and visualizing partitioned network views using filters on any device or component attribute. For example, you can display network views based on location, technology, more complex filtered combinations of attributes.
The Network Views (in layouts other than the Tabular layout), as well as the Network Hop View, Path Views GUI, Fault-Finding View, and Device View are not accessible. For accessibility, use the Network Views or Network Health View in tabular layout.
For more information on tabular layout, see Visualizing devices in tabular layout.
In several locations in the GUI, including the Path View Administration GUI, Path Views GUI, Poll Policy Editor, Top Performers widget, Structure Browser, Network Views, Network Health View, Network Hop View, Device View, and Fault-Finding View, the toolbar can split onto multiple lines if the GUI is zoomed in. The toolbar can be configured to display on one or multiple lines by changing the following property in the Event Viewer: and then logging out and logging in again. This setting takes effect for the current user only.
If you use the browser zoom function to make the Network Health View or Network Views display larger, press the Zoom to fit or Fit in window button to ensure that the topology view resizes appropriately in the canvas.
Path Views
Path Views can display system paths such as MPLS TE paths and Virtual Circuits, as well as user-defined paths. You can trace IP paths on an ad hoc basis to view a snapshot of a network path at a specific moment. Once saved, you can monitor these paths regularly.
MIB Grapher
Graphing a MIB variable is useful for fault analysis and resolution of network problems. By graphing a MIB, operators and administrators can see a real-time graph of specific MIB variables for a network device. The MIB variable is polled at a user-defined interval and displayed in a graph over time. Optionally, you can display historical data for the MIB variable.