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© 2004-2012 NetBrain Technologies Inc. All rights reserved
NetBrain In Action
Real World Use Cases:
Step 1 » Map Application Flows.Identify the source and destination of a slow application and enter them into the traffic path wizard.
Step 2 » Monitor From the Map.Click the “Monitor” button in the map’s floating menu, and launch performance and connectivity diagnosis.
Step 3 » Analyze the History.Click the “Compare” button to discover what’s changed in configuration and routing
for the relevant devices. Congested WAN links High CPU/Memory
utilization of routers Unstable routing Asymmetric flows Speed/duplex mismatch
Performance metrics for an application are visualized in real-time
Challenges:
Solutions:
Common Causes:
Lack of documentation and historic data for applications
Difficult to visualize network slowness
Use Dynamic Diagram to map out application flows
Diagnose from a map
Troubleshoot Slow Applications
Step 1 » Map L3 Connectivity.Enter the IP address of a server in the “Search” dialog, and click the “Map” button in the search results.
Step 2 » Map L2 Connectivity.Click the red “+” sign near the switch icon and extend the neighboring switches and routers in the same VLAN.
Step 3 » Launch Diagnostic Monitoring.Click the “Monitor” button in the map’s floating menu, and launch performance and connectivity diagnosis.
Broken cable Switch port in disabled
mode by spanning tree or error-disable
Server plugged into wrong port
Gateway Router not functioning
Misconfiguration Link down/flapping
A L2 Heat Map
No up-to-date documents about servers’ physical and logical connectivity
On-demand document automation
Challenges:
Solutions:
Common Causes:
Troubleshoot Network Connectivity
A L3 Heat Map
Step 1 » Map Out Core Network.Search the core devices by name and group them into a device group. Map the device group via the right-click menu.
Step 2 » Discover Flapping Routes.Benchmark the routing tables of all core devices. Then compare new routing tables against the baseline. Discover modified routes by smallest age.
Step 3 » Trace to the Source.Drag-and-drop the route entry to the Q-map, and trace to the source of instable routes hop-by-hop.
Link flapping Router CPU overload Routing peer reset Network worm attack
Route flapping is transient in nature – difficult to catch and pinpoint root cause
Use routing table analyzer
Drag-and-drop the entry to a Q-map
Challenges:
Solutions:
Common Causes:
Troubleshoot Route Flapping
Step 1 » Map a MPLS Cloud Network.Drag-and-drop an MPLS cloud into a map and extend key devices around the cloud.
Step 2 » Monitor From the Map.Click the “Monitor” button in the map’s floating menu, and launch performance and connectivity diagnosis.
Step 3 » Detect Packet Loss via IPSLA
For advanced performance diagnosis, right-click on hub routers and select the IPSLA menu.
QoS classification errors Physical errors at Demac Congested MPLS core Mismatch of CE-PE
configuration
No visibility into a service provider’s MPLS cloud
Map-driven IPSLA Toolkit
Challenges:
Solutions:
Common Causes:
Troubleshoot Packet Loss Across MPLS
Step 1 » Map Problem Area
Identify the source and destination of a slow application and enter them into the traffic path wizard.
Step 2 » Monitor to Identify Over-utilized Links.Click the “Monitor” button in the map’s floating menu, and launch performance and connectivity diagnosis.
Step 3 » Drill-Down the Top-Talkers
Right-click on the utilization label, and select “IP Accounting” to discover the top-talkers (assuming IP accounting is turned on in the router).
Unauthorized network use
Looping traffic caused by misconfiguration
Virus attack
Difficult to pinpoint congested links
Time-consuming to setup probes to track down bandwidth-hogging devices
Heat Map along with IP Accounting
Challenges:
Solutions:
Common Causes:
Troubleshoot Bandwidth Hogging
Step 1 » Map the Existing Network.Search devices to be modified and drag them into a map. Right-click on the map’s “Auto Link” menu to connect all devices.
Step 2 » Model the Future Network By Importing Configuration Files
Drag new or modified device configuration files into a map to model and visualize the future network design.
Step 3 » Document the Design
Click the “Document” button in the map’s floating menu and build an automated design document in Word format.
Analyze new network design with Design Reader
Highlight routing to visualize design
Very time-consuming to document the network before migration
No visual help to plan network migration
Model network migration based on configuration files
Drag and drop
Add a new network device
New
Document automation dialog Challenges:
Solutions:
Related Features:
Plan Network Migration
Step 1 » Map the Change Area.Search devices to be changed and drag them into a map. Extend all neighbors of the devices.
Step 2 » Benchmark Network Before and After Changes
Click the “Benchmark” button, and collect routing, configuration and L2 data before and after changes.
Step 3 » Verify the Impacts
Click the “Compare Config & Routing” button, and compute routing table and config changes for all devices.
The comparative analysis of routing, configuration and traffic path should be run after most network changes – because 3 out of 4 network outages are caused by seemingly benign changes
A small change may cause major impacts across the entire network, but it is difficult to check all changes manually
Automate impact verification after each network change
Detect routing changes after configuration modification
Challenges:
Solutions:
When to Use:
QA Network Changes to Prevent Outages
Step 1 » Discover a Data Center.Enter a seed router’s IP address in the discovery dialog and execute a data center discovery.
Step 2 » Map Device Groups by Automation
By combining dynamic search criteria, routers, switches and servers can be grouped in many ways to map a data center automatically.
Step 3 » Build Diagrams and Inventory Reports
Click the “Export to Visio” and “Asset Report” buttons in the menu bar, and create Visio diagrams and inventory reports.
Before and after a data center upgrade
Data center assessment
It takes weeks or months to discover and document a data center with tracing cables, show commands and Visio
Advanced discovery and document automation
Challenges:
Solutions:
When to Use:
Document a Data Center Network
Apply diagnostic monitoring to VoIP paths
Automate documentation for VoIP assessment
VoIP is very complex and depends on many advanced technologies to work properly
Automate the analysis of network design and performance
IPSLA Measurement
Map VoIP traffic path instantly
Challenges:
Solutions:
Related Features:
Assess a Network for VoIP Readiness
Step 1 » Map Key VoIP Traffic Flows.Enter IP addresses of IP-phones and voice gateways into the traffic path wizard, and map out L3 and L2 traffic flows for VoIP.
Step 2 » Measure Delay, Jitter and Packet Loss Along Paths
Launch IPSLA from the map to measure advanced performance metrics.
Step 3 » Analyze QoS Design
Launch “Design Reader” from the map to decode QoS and VoIP configuration.
Step 1 » Discover Each Network Independently
Build two workspaces – one for each network by importing configuration files or through discovery. Create two asset reports.
Step 2 » Analyze Overlap
Compare the asset reports to find overlapping subnets and overlapping routing protocols. Build maps to describe each conflict.
Step 3 » Merge Two Networks Virtually
Use one workspace as the base, open each Q-map created in step 2 and design migration steps one map at a time.
Analyze the new network design with Design Reader
Use Search to find the information needed
Two networks were built without knowledge of the other, and everything has to be reevaluated to avoid conflicts
Plan the network merge in a virtual environment
Compare the inventory data of two networks
Challenges:
Solutions:
Related Features:
Merge Two Independent Networks
Solutions:
To visualize a denial-of-service attack to the network and servers
To analyze suspicious traffic from a vague host
To isolate virus-infected end hosts
Network attacks can come from anywhere, and they are difficult to visualize
Use Dynamic Diagram to map out attacks and take defensive action in real-time
Map the attack from the outside
Challenges:
When to Use:
Defend Against Network Attack
Step 1 » Identify the Offending Hosts
Get the top-talkers from Netflow, IP accounting or intrusion-detection software.
Step 2 » Map Out the Attack
Use A/B path mapping or one-IP table to map out the attack flow, whether it is from the inside or outside.
Step 3 » Monitor the Traffic Flow
Launch the diagnostic monitoring on the map and visualize the attack pattern.
Map the attack from the inside
Solutions:
To prepare for CCIE To prepare for CCNP To prepare for CCNA
It takes a long time to become Cisco certified. People can forget things learned if not reinforced properly
Use NetBrain to document practice labs automatically and review past labs visually
Challenges:
When to Use:
Become Cisco Certified - CCIE/CCNP/CCNA
Step 1 » Use NetBrain for Practice Labs .Use NetBrain to automatically document practice labs step-by-step. It’s easier to learn new skills in a map-driven environment.
Step 2 » Review Essential Skills Through a Map
Along the journey towards certification, users can review details of past labs without re-building them.
Step 3 » Form a Visual Study Group
Form a study group to share practice labs through Q-maps so that everyone can save time. Visit network-diagram.com for examples.