Creating distinct dynamic views

To create a network view that has custom categories and subcategories, create a distinct dynamic view.

About this task

For example, you can use the distinct dynamic view to categorize devices by location and within each location organize by the network administrator who is responsible for maintaining the devices. For example, you can use this option to categorize devices by location, and within each location, list the different device classes, such as Cisco 2600 devices or 3ComSuperStack devices.

To create an IP-filtered network view:

Procedure

  1. Click the Incident icon and select Network Availability > Network Views > Libraries.
  2. Click New View New button.
  3. Complete the General tab as follows:
    Name
    Type a name for the network view, dynamic view, or network view container.
    Important: It is best practice to use network view names containing Latin characters only. Network views names containing non-Latin characters (for example Cyrillic characters) are not supported as they cannot be imported and exported when migrating to a new version of Network Manager.
    Parent
    Select the node under which the view appears in the hierarchy in the Navigation Tree. To display the view on the top level, select NONE.
    Type
    Select Dynamic Views – Distinct.
    Layout
    Select Orthogonal, Circular, Symmetric, Hierarchical, or Tabular layout.
    Map Icon
    If you want a different icon than the default icon to represent the view, click Browse Browse button to browse for an icon.
    Tree Icon
    If you want a different icon than the default icon to represent the view, click Browse Browse button to browse for an icon.
    Background Image
    Click Browse Browse button to browse for an image to use as the background for the view.
    Background Style
    Specify whether the background image is to be centered or tiled.
    Line Status
    Specify how the lines that represent the links between devices should be rendered.
    You can choose not to display any status, or to display the system default. Alternatively, lines can be colored based on the associated Event Viewer event with the highest severity, and can appear with an additional severity icon.
  4. Click the Filter tab. From the Domain list, select your network domain.
  5. In the Fields list, select the topology database tables and fields that correspond to the categories and subcategories that you want to define. Make sure you define the categories and subcategories in the correct order.
    1. Click Add….
    2. From the Table list, select the required database table.
      The Field list is automatically populated based on your selection.
    3. Select the required field from the Field list.
    4. Repeat steps 5.a to 5.c.
    See Sample topology database fields for categories for more information on how to specify the fields.
    As you select fields, the Preview list is updated to show the relationships between the categories that you selected.
  6. From the End nodes list, specify whether you want end nodes, such as printers and workstations, to be displayed in the view.
  7. From the Connectivity list, select the required connectivity:
    Layer 1
    Displays all physical connections.
    Layer 2
    Displays all switched connections between devices in the topology. A layer 2 view typically shows switch and hub connections.
    Layer 3
    Shows routers and the connections between routers. Switches are not normally displayed.
    Note: If switches have active connections involving layer 3 interfaces, they are included in this layout.

    The connections between devices are displayed as follows:

    • Connections between two layer 3 interfaces are shown as normal.
    • Connections between a layer 3 and a layer 2 interface are shown as being between the layer 3 interface and the subnet to which the layer 2 interface belongs.
    • Connections between two layer 2 interfaces are not shown.
    IP subnets
    Shows all devices within a subnet connected to a subnet cloud. This layout helps to simplify the network map and also helps to make subnet membership clear. If you want to see all connections, select one of the following options:
    • Layer 1 for transmission layer connections.
    • Layer 2 for data link connections.
    • Layer 3 to show all routers and connections between them.
    OSPF
    Displays connections based on discovered OSPF information that includes router roles, area membership, and connectivity.
    V4.2 FixPack 3: Probe
    Displays the probe topology, linking probe sources to probe targets.
    Converged Topology
    Displays the lowest layer links between devices based on all layer 1, 2 and 3 topology data available.
    PIM
    Displays connections based on PIM adjacency information.
    IPMRoute
    Displays connections based on IP Multicast upstream and downstream routing information.
    Microwave
    Shows microwave connections only.
    Logical RAN
    Shows logical RAN connectivity. RAN entities are usually connected by L1 or L2 connections, but this logical connectivity allows an overview of the main RAN entities to be seen. Connections are usually implicit in the discovered data. For example, a base station controller is connected at some level to the base stations it manages. Logical RAN connectivity shows this relationship without any intermediate devices, such as multiplexers.
    No connections
    Does not present any of the discovered connections for the nodes shown in the view.
    LTE Control Plane
    Displays a topology view of the LTE control plane.
    LTE User Plane
    Displays a topology view of the LTE user plane.
    LTE S1-U
    Displays a topology view of LTE S1-U connectivity.
    LTE S5-U
    Displays a topology view of LTE S5-U connectivity.
    LTE S8
    Displays a topology view of LTE S8 connectivity.
    LTE S1-MME
    Displays a topology view of LTE S1-MME connectivity.
    LTE S10
    Displays a topology view of LTE S10 connectivity.
    LTE S11
    Displays a topology view of LTE S11 connectivity.
    LTE SGi
    Displays a topology view of LTE SGi connectivity.
    LTE Gx
    Displays a topology view of LTE Gx connectivity.
    LTE S3
    Displays a topology view of LTE S3 connectivity.
    LTE S4
    Displays a topology view of LTE S4 connectivity.
    LTE S6a
    Displays a topology view of LTE S6a connectivity.
    LTE S13
    Displays a topology view of LTE S13 connectivity.
    LTE X2
    Displays a topology view of LTE X2 connectivity.
    IMS Control Plane
    Displays a topology view of IMS Control Plane connectivity.
    IMX CX
    Displays a topology view of IMX CX connectivity.
  8. Click OK.
    The new view is added to the navigation tree in the Navigation Panel. If you added the view to a container, expand the container node to see the new view in the tree.

Sample topology database fields for categories

The following example helps you complete the fields in step 5.

To categorize devices by location, and within each location categorize by the responsible network administrator, define the following categories, in the following order:

  1. Location of the device: This data is held in the sysLocation field of the chassis database table.
  2. Contact person associated with the device: This data is held in the sysContact field of the chassis database table.

This order ensures that location is the main category and contact person is the subcategory.