NetBrain Technologies Inc.

Document the CCIE Lab

With NetBrain Personal Edition 4.1

1. Install and activate NetBrain Workstation ........................................................................................... 3

1.1 Setup NetBrain Workstation Personal Edition 4.1 ..................................................................... 3

1.2 Activate the license ................................................................................................................... 3

2. Work on Qmaps ................................................................................................................................. 4

2.1 Create Qmaps .......................................................................................................................... 4

2.2 Set up the live network access .................................................................................................. 8

3. Use Map for Network Analysis ........................................................................................................... 9

3.1 Navigate Qmap ....................................................................................................................... 10

3.2 Annotate Network Configuration in the Map ............................................................................. 11

3.3 Create New Map Page ............................................................................................................ 13

4. Use Qmap to Document the Lab ...................................................................................................... 14

4.1 Document CLI show command outputs ................................................................................... 14

4.2 Benchmark the Lab ................................................................................................................. 17

4.3 Add Map Notes ....................................................................................................................... 19

5. Configure, Document and Review Network Changes ....................................................................... 20

5.1 Configure the Lab ................................................................................................................... 21

5.2 Compare Configurations and Routings ................................................................................... 22

5.3 Compare Show Command Results ......................................................................................... 23

1. Install and activate NetBrain Workstation

1.1 Setup NetBrain Workstation Personal Edition 4.1

To install and set up NetBrain Workstation, you must have administrator access to the computer in

which you install the software.

Double click the Personal Edition 4.1 setup file. Follow the instructions in the NetBrain Workstation

Personal Edition 4.1 – Installshield Wizard window.

1.2 Activate the license

Before you can use NetBrain Workstation PE4.1, you must activate the license. There’s no expiration

time for PE 4.1, you can use it as long as you would like to.

1. Launch NetBrain Workstation PE 4.1. The Welcome to NetBrain window opens.

2. Fill in the Email address and Activation Key and click the Next button to start the activation

process.

Note:

If your PC is not connected to Internet directly, click the Internet Proxy link to set up the

Internet proxy.

The Email and Activation Key are included in the email sent to you from NetBrain after you

submit the download request from the NetBrain website. If you do not have the Activation

Key, please visit http://www.netbraintech.com/downloads/form-pe.php and fill in the form.

2. Work on Qmaps

NetBrain PE provides a visual environment to help you learn the network technology either for career

growth or for network certifications such as CCIE. To start with NetBrain, you need build the workspace,

a virtual environment to emulate the network such as your live or virtual CCIE lab. You can just import

the configuration files to create a Qmap. This section also shows ways to create Qmaps such as

discovering the live or virtual Dynamics lab.

2.1 Create Qmaps

Import configurations to create Qmaps

Before importing configurations, you need to retrieve the configuration files and save them as text files in

your PC.

1. Collect configuration files into a file

folder.

Note: if you do not have configuration

files ready, you can download a set of

sample files from here.

2. Drag and drop the folder into the

Workstation.

3. A map is automatically created for all

devices in the folder.

Tip: you may also copy and paste a device’s configurations to Workstation.

Import a Dynamips Virtual Lab

If you build a virtual network lab using tools such as dynamics/GNS3, you can load the lab to create a

map.

1. Enable reverse telnet to devices and configure the IP connections properly. Then save the

configurations of the network devices as a .net file.

2. Click the Discover Live Network button on the start page of NetBrain Workstation. In the pop-up

window click the Import .net File button to select the .net file that you created and click the OK

button. The Discover Live Network window will show the device info such as hostname, IP address

and port number.

Note: If the IP address may is 127.0.0.1 and the port is not defined in the .net file, you should

change the IP address and port number here.

1. Click the Map

Configuration Files

button.

2. Click the From

Clipboard… button.

3. Paste the configurations

here from the output of

show run command in CLI

command, for example.

4. Click the OK button.

3. Click the Login Credential button. In the Login Credential window, enter the Username/Password and

Enable Password.

Note: You can only enter one login credential. To make sure all devices can be accessed successfully, you

should configure the same login credentials for all devices.

4. Click the discover button to start discovering your virtual network. Only Cisco routers and switches are

supported here. The discovery results are displayed under the status column. If the system fails to

discover some devices, the status is labeled as “failed”, otherwise “succeed”. You can select a device and

view the log for the discovery details.

Discover the Live Network

If you have a live lab, you can import the IP list of the live devices to discover them. Or you can enter the

IP addresses in this window manually. As the shown in the picture below, remember to set the correct

telnet port for live access (in most cases, this should be the default number “23”).

2.2 Set up the live network access

Enter the credentials to access the live network so that you can work on your network from the

Workstation.

1. Right click on a device and

select the Device Settings

option.

2. Set the corresponding

credentials and access

method for this device.

3. To apply some or all items of

device settings to all the

devices within the current

map page, check the

corresponding checkboxes.

4. Click OK.

5. You may need to repeat step

1 and 2 for other devices

3. Use Map for Network Analysis

Once a data-driven Qmap is created, many types of network analyses can be automated from the map.

The frequently used functions can be launched from the context menu (also called the floating menu)

bar. The context menus change when different types of network objects are selected in the Qmap.

Context Menu Network Analysis

Qmap Floating Menu

Click the blank space in a Q-map to

bring up the context menu for a map.

Highlight routing protocol

Compare Configurations and

routings

Retrieve live data

View data attached to map

Add map note

Router Floating Menu

Click a router to bring up the context

menu for a device.

View configurations

View route table

Live access

View MAC table (only applicable to

switch)

3.1 Navigate Qmap

Apply Digital Zoom to a -Map

1. Scroll the mouse wheel forward to

zoom in the map and view the detail

data along the link.

Mouse over any Text in a Qmap

1. Mouse over a text along a

link to display the relevant

configuration snippet in the

Tip Window.

Tip: Click the button on the

Map ribbon menu to turn on/off Tip

Window.

3.2 Annotate Network Configuration in the Map

Annotate Configuration in a Q-map

1. Move the mouse over the labels and the tip window opens (click the Map > Show Tip button

in the ribbon if it does not open).

2. Click the button to save the tip window in the map.

Tip: You many need to apply zoom in order to see multicasting label such as PIM-DM or PIM-SM

shown up in the map.

Highlight routing protocols in L3 map

1. Click highlight in the context menu and select highlight routing protocol.

2. To clear the highlight, click highlight in the context menu and select Clear All.

3.3 Create New Map Page

You can create multiple map pages within a Qmap, this can be useful if a network task is involved in

more than one topology map, and all information will be saved in a single file. You can then easily send

the Qmap file to your colleagues for review.

In some cases, you may need to select several devices on the current map page and then work them on

another Qmap page. To copy/paste device configuration files from one map page to another, you can:

Copy/Paste Device Configuration Files between Map Pages

1. Select one or more devices on the current

Qmap page. Use Ctrl for multiple selections while

use Shift to select all devices.

2. Right click on one of these devices and select

the Copy Device(s) option.

3. Open a new Qmap page or switch to another

map page.

3. Open a new Qmap page or switch to another

map page.

4. Right click on the blank area of the current map

page and select Paste Device(s) Configuration

Files, the copied devices are added to current

map page successfully.

4. Use Qmap to Document the Lab

NetBrain Qmap is a knowledge map ideal for documenting the lab. You can highlight routing design and

annotate the configure snippets in the map as shown in section 3.2. The benchmarked results, including

the customized show command outputs, can also be added into the map as a hyperlink in the map note.

4.1 Document CLI show command outputs

You can telnet to a network device from NetBrain, issue CLI show commands and save the results as a

note or a link in the map note.

1. Select a device from the map and click CLI Telnet/SSH CLI. The system automatically brings up CLI

windows and logins to the device.

2. Issue the show command.

3. Select and right click the show command results. From the pull down menu select Document Show

Command Results.

4. Select or create a map DataFolder and Click the OK button in the Document Show Command

Results window.

5. In the Show Command Results Browser window click the Create Hyperlink button.

6. In the Create Hyperlink window enter the note and click the OK button.

7. Select both notes and the device (press Ctrl key and left click the mouse to select multiple objects in

the map), right click the mouse and select Manual Link menu. The note is associated to the device.

4.2 Benchmark the Lab

NetBrain allows you to retrieve built-in data such as configurations, route tables, ARP tables, MAC tables

and CDP tables. The system parses these types of data and provides a toolkit for you to work on and

analyze the data. You can also define and retrieve customized show commands.

To retrieve the system built-in data:

1. In the map floating menu select Benchmark -> Retrieve Live Data.

2. Select a Map DataFolder to store the data.

3. Click the Start button.

To define and execute the customized show commands,

1. In the map floating menu select Benchmark -> Execute Show Commands option.

2. Select a map Datafolder to store the result.

3. Click the Add… button to add the target devices where the show commands are executed.

4. Click the Add via Template… button to add show commands via templates. Or click the Add…

button to add an individual show command.

5. Click the Start button to execute these commands.

6. After the execution, you can click the View Outputs button to see the results.

4.3 Add Map Notes

The map note is a good place to describe the network design or best practice. In the map note you can

insert a link for the network data or external document.

1. Click the Map Note icon in the map bar to view all the map data folders attached to the

Qmap.

2. Click the blank of the map note then click the triangle icon ( ) on the right side of the Link icon ( ),

and then select the Show Command Data option.

3. Double-click the live data or the external document and the link of the selected data is inserted into

the cursor position of the map note.

5. Configure, Document and Review Network Changes

With NetBrain Workstation you can perform the following steps to document and review a learning

scenario:

1. Benchmark the lab including retrieving key show command results.

2. Make necessary network changes.

3. Benchmark the lab after changes including the retrieving key show command results.

4. Add a map note and benchmark the results as a link.

5. Compare the data before and after change.

5.1 Configure the Lab

1. Select a device from the map and click CLI Telnet/SSH CLI.

2. The system automatically brings up CLI windows and logs into the device.

3. Enter the configuration mode and change the configurations.

5.2 Compare Configurations and Routings

Compare the network data (configuration/route tables) and find out what has been changed.

1. From the context menu click

Compare > Compare Config &

Routing.

2. At the Compare Configuration

and Routing window opens,

select two DataFolders and

then click Compare.

3. At the batch compare route

table, double click an entry to

view the route changes for a

router.

4. Click Batch Compare Config to

view the batch configuration

comparison result and

Double-click an entry to check

the configuration change

details for a device.

5.3 Compare Show Command Results

You can also compare show command results before and after change.

1. In the context menu, click Compare and Compare Show Command.

2. Select a device.

3. Select two DataFolders.

4. Select a show command to compare.