NetBrain Technologies, Inc.

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NetBrain Consultant Edition (CE) Quick Start Guide

© 2004-2013. All rights reserved

Contents

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1. Introduction 1) Install NetBrain Workstation

Consultant Edition 2) Start Workspace Wizard 3) Tune Discovery Results 4) NetBrain User Interfaces 5) Common Workflow

2. Dynamic Documentation 1) Map around a device 2) View and Annotate Design Details 3) Create Visio Map Instantly 4) Find relevant maps instantly 5) Map L2 Connection for an IP 6) Map L2 Connections of a LAN

segment 7) Define and Map a Dynamic Device

Group 8) Auto Update Maps 9) One Click Word Document From

the Map 10) Create an Asset Report

3. Visual Network Analysis 1) Visualize L3 Design 2) Visualize L2 Design 3) Configuration Analysis 4) Routing Analysis 5) Batch Compare Configurations

and Routings 6) Login to a network device

4. Visual Troubleshooting 1) Map an Application Path 2) Map L2 Connections along a Path 3) Monitoring 4) Batch Compare Configurations and

Routings 5) IP Accounting 6) IP SLA 7) NetFlow Traffic Analysis

Contents

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5. Automation Procedure 1)Draw on-demand map 2)Automate the process of network troubleshooting 3)Check network device and interface health 4)Customize network inventory report 5)Verify network change 6. Network Change Management 1)Change Management workflow 2)Define network change task 3)Implement network change task 4)Verify network change results 5)Document

1.1 Setup NetBrain Workstation

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1.1 Install NetBrain Workstation Consultant Edition

a) Download the software to your computer

Download the NetBrain software here. Unzip the file.

a) Run the setup file and follow the setup wizard

For Windows 7/2008, we recommend that you right click on the setup file and select the “Run as Administrator” option..

c) Activate your license Launch NetBrain Workstation Consultant Edition. The Welcome to NetBrain window opens. For trial license (POC user): Click on the Activate Trial License button. Fill in your Email and Password in the Register for Trial License window. (The Password has been sent to you in the Proof of Concept email) For permanent license (Customer): Click on the Activate Permanent License button. Fill in your License ID, password, name, and email address in the Activate License window and then click on the Activate Online button. (The license ID and password have been sent to you in the order delivery email) Note: If your license server is NOT connected to the Internet, please email support@netbraintech.com and we will send you instructions on how to activate the license offline.

1.2 Start Workspace Wizard

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When you start NetBrain Workstation for the first time, the Workspace Wizard automatically starts up. For the first step,

1. Click the Telnet/SSH login tag. 2. Click the Add button. 3. Enter the corresponding values. 4. Repeat step 2 and 3 to add all possible

Telnet/SSH login credentials. 5. Click the other tabs in this window to add

Privilege Password, SNMP community, Network Server and Jumpbox.

6. Click the Next button to go to the next step of wizard.

Note: If Workstation can access your network directly, then you do NOT need set a Jumpbox. Otherwise you do need set a Jumpbox so that the Workstation can access the live network.

Wizard Step 1: Define Telnet/SSH/SNMP credentials and proxy

1.2 Start Workspace Wizard

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Wizard Step 2: Discover your network from a seed router

1. Click the Telnet and SNMP field and select how system accesses your live network from the drop down menu. If you are not sure, select Telnet/SSH and SNMP safely.

2. Enter the IP address of a seed router. 3. Click the Start Discovery button. 4. Select an entry to view the log. 5. View the discovery statistics and summary here.

Note: This discovery process includes two steps:

discover the network devices and retrieves the live data from your live network; build L3/L2 topology. Depending on your live network, the time for each step varies, from a few minutes to 20 minutes.

6. Click the Finish button to exit the Wizard.

Note: The discovery statistics are updated and displayed at .

If you fail to discover some devices in your network, first

make sure that you enter all possible live network settings at step 1 Define Telnet/SSH/SNMP Credentials and Proxies and then you can try different seed routers.

1.3 Tune Discovery Results

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a) Rediscover unknown IP 1. Go to the Workspace menu tab, click on the Manager icon. 2. Select Unknown IP at the left pane and then

Username/Password Mismatch. At the right pane, the system lists all IP addresses discovered as the neighbor IP address in the discovery process but was not accessible due to the fact that none of the defined username/password pairs worked.

3. Click the Rediscover button at the top right. Add the username/password pairs at the Live Network Settings window.

4. Close the Live Network Settings window and click the Start Discovery button in the Live Network Discovery window.

Note: Using a similar approach, you can also resolve unknown IPs due to Privilege Password Mismatch or others.

b) Rediscover devices that were discovered only by

SNMP

1. Go to the Workspace menu tab, click on the Manager icon. 2. Select Discovered by SNMP at the left pane. At the right

pane the system lists all devices discovered by SNMP but not accessible by Telnet/SSH.

3. Right click a device and select Live Access Log menu to view why the system could not telnet/SSH to the device. If the Telnet/SSH login credentials were missing, click Workspace menu tag from the menu bar and then the Settings icon for Live Network Settings to add the credentials.

4. Select one or multiple devices (press the Shift or Ctrl key to select multiple devices) and from the right click menu select Discover Selected Devices.

1.4 NetBrain User Interface

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1 Ribbon menu: e.g., enter any IP, hostname or string to search the workspace data and maps.

2 Search results pane: e.g., create a dynamic Q-map or open Visio maps.

3 Map area: e.g., extend neighbors to draw more devices.

4 Map floating menu: launch operations to analyze or troubleshoot a network here.

5 Operation pane: e.g., drag and drop an entry to a map and manage your maps in Map Center.

1.5 Common Workflow

1. Search Enter a keyword such as IP address, configuration keyword or model in the Search box and press the Enter key. Tip: check the Exact Match Only option or put double quotes around the keyword for exact matching.

2. Map the searched results

Mouse over a search result such as an end system. Select L2 Page and click on the map to create a dynamic Q-map.

3. Analyze from the map

Click on the blank space, a device or a path on the map and select the various operations from the map floating menu.

Instruction:

All-in-one Search Mapping Analyze From Map

Search NetBrain workspace, database and Visio maps on your PC using:

• IP address or device hostname • Text inside maps • Configuration keywords • Model, serial number, MAC, etc.

From the search results, • Create a dynamic Q-map (L3 and L2)

instantly • View the relevant Visio diagrams

Directly from the map, • Visualize the network design • Monitor • Analyze configurations and routing • Compare the historical data

2.1 Map around a Device

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Objective: • Map L3 connections around a device

Use Case: • Troubleshoot a problematic router • BGP neighbors are down

1. Search the device Enter the IP address or device name in the Search field and press the Enter key. Tip: check the Exact Match Only option or put the double quotation around the key word for the exact matching.

2. Map the searched result

Mouse over a device in the searched result . Click the View Larger Map link.

3. View the neighbors Click on the red plus sign to open the neighbor window.

4. Draw the neighbors Double click on all neighbors or one specific neighbor to draw the neighbor(s) in the map.

5. Draw the neighbor(s) of the neighbor(s)

Repeat steps 3 and 4 for more neighbors till all neighbor devices you are interested in are drawn in the map.

Instruction:

2.2 View and Annotate Design Details

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Objective: • Zoom in the map to view details • Browse and annotate the design

Use Case: • Create a design map for routing, multicasting, etc

1. Zoom in the map Scroll the wheel of mouse forward.

2. View the configurations of a network object

Mouse over a network object such as routing protocol, interface, or ACL.

3. Annotate a network design

Click on the Display in the Map button.

Instruction:

2.3 Create Visio Map Instantly

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Objective: • Export NetBrain Q-map to Visio format

Use Case: • Share a map with someone without access to a NetBrain Workstation • Generate static Visio maps for inventory or compliance reasons

1. Create a Visio map Click on the Export to Visio button in the map floating menu.

Instruction:

Note: There is a limitation on the trial license for this feature. You can

only export a map with 50 or fewer devices to Visio.

2.4 Find Relevant Maps Instantly

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Objective: • Manage thousands of maps in the map center • Find the Visio or dynamic maps by keywords instantly

Use Case: • Quickly pull out the Visio maps when you need

1. Search the maps via any text in the map, device name or IP address

Enter the text, hostname or IP address in the Search field. Check the Map option. Click the Search button.

2. Open the maps inside NetBrain

Double click a map (Visio or dynamic) to open it inside NetBrain.

3. Find the relevant maps for a dynamic Q-map

Click the search button in the map floating menu.

Instruction:

Note: when NetBrain Workstation starts, it automatically scan and index your local disk for Visio and Q-maps.

2.5 Map L2 Connection for an IP

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Objective: • Find the switch port connected to an IP address and map out the connection

Use Case: • Block the traffic from a virus affected server

1. Search the IP address Enter the IP address in the Search field and press the Enter key.

2. Create the L2 map from the searched results

Move over a device in the searched results pane. Click on L2 Page 1. Click the View Full Map link.

3. Draw other switch neighbors

Click on the red plus sign of the switch to extend its neighbors.

Instruction:

2.6 Map L2 Connections of a LAN Segment

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Objective: • Map the L2 connections for a site

Use Case: • Document a data center

1. Search the LAN segment

Enter the LAN segment subnet address (e.g., “192.168.1.0/24”) in the search field and press the Enter key.

2. Create L2 map from the searched results

In the searched result pane, mouse over a network segment. Click on L2 Page 1. Click the View Larger Map link.

3. Highlight the LAN segment

Click the blank space of the map and select Highlight >> Highlight LAN Segment from the map floating menu.

Instruction:

2.7 Define and Map a Dynamic Device Group

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Objective: • Define device groups dynamically so that their devices and maps can be automatically updated

Use Case: • Share and auto update the maps for network sites

1. Create a new device group

In the Workspace pane, right click on the Local node under Device Group and select the New Device Group option.

2. Select devices dynamically

Click on the Dynamic button in the Device Group Properties window.

3. Define the search criteria

Define search criteria according to the device type, hostname, IP address, etc.

4. Search the devices Click on the Search button.

5. Map the device group Right click on the device group and select the Topology Map option.

Instruction:

2.8 Auto Update Maps

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Objective: • Validate a map against the current network state • Auto update NetBrain maps and Visio maps

Use Case: • Automatically create and update maps for data centers

1. Validate the map against the current baseline

Open an old map. Click on the Map > Validate > Highlight Changes in the menu.

2. Regenerate the map Click on the Regenerate Map button to update the map.

3. Schedule Map Update Click on the Schedule button to setup a schedule to update the maps

Instruction:

2.9 One-Click Word Document From the Map

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Objective: • Create a Word document instantly from a map

Use Case: • Create inventory, design, or troubleshooting documents

1. Open the Network Documentation window

Click on the Word button in the map floating menu.

2. Select the data to export

Select a template and click on the Advanced button to select which data to export.

3. Select a target file Select a target file

4. Create the Word Document

Click on the Finish button

Instruction:

Note: There is a limitation on the trial license for this feature. You can only

create a Word Document for a map with 50 or fewer devices.

2.10 Create an Asset Report

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Objective: • Create a Asset report for some devices instantly

Use Case: • Create inventory report.

1. Open the Asset Report opens

lick the Asset Report button within the Export group

2. Select the data to export Select the devices by selecting a site, a device group or a device type/subtype.

3. Customize the asset report

Click the Create Asset Report button, Choose options to customize the asset report.

4. Create the Asset Report Click on the Start button

Instruction:

3.1 Visualize L3 Design

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Objective: • Visualize the network design such as routing, MPLS VRF, and multicasting • Analyze the configurations of a network design

Use Case: • Visualize the routing design for a core network • Determine if a network is QoS/VoIP ready

1. Highlight routing protocols Select Highlight > Routing Protocols from the map floating menu.

2. Open Design Reader pane From the menu under the Home tag click the Design Reader option.

3. View the configurations of two devices such as BGP neighbors

Select two devices in the map and their configurations will be displayed at the bottom.

4. Select a design filter such as “All BGP Configuration”

Select a design filter in the lower left pane.

Instruction:

3.2 Visualize L2 Design

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Objective: • Highlight the VLAN , the STP blocked ports, or voice VLAN • View L2 port configuration

Use Case: • Understand the L2 design

1. Highlight LAN segment Click on the Highlight > Highlight LAN Segment option from the map floating menu

2. View the port configuration

Mouse over the port and the configuration will be displayed in the tip window

3. Annotate the configuration in the map

Click on the Display in Current Map button

Instruction:

3.3 Configuration Analysis

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Objective: • View the current and historical configurations • Compare the current and historical configurations

Use Case: • Identify configuration changes before and after implementing a network design • Identify recent configuration changes during troubleshooting

1. View the configurations Select a device in the map and click on the Config > Config option in the map floating menu.

2. Select a source such as the current baseline or a historical benchmarked data

By default the configurations used to draw the map (usually the current baseline) will be displayed. Select another source here.

3. Search the configurations Click on the Search button.

4. Compare two configurations Click on the Compare button and select two sources.

Instruction:

3.4 Routing Analysis

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Objective: • View the route table and find the route to a destination quickly. • Find out how a route is propagated

Use Case: • Discover a flapping route • Find out how a route is propagated

1. View the route table Select a device and click on Route Table >> Route Table in context menu.

2. Sort the route entries Click on a parameter to sort route entries by this parameter. E.g., sort the routes by Age in ascending order to find the flapping route.

3. . Find the route for a destination

Enter the destination IP address or subnet into the Filter field of the Route Table pane, then press the Enter key.

4. Map the route in the map Create a new map and drag and drop a route entry to the Q-map.

5. Find how route is propagated Click Go To Next Hop button to discover how this subnet is routed in the next hop device. Continue this process till the destination is reached.

Instruction:

3.5 Batch Compare Configurations and Routings

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Objective: • Compare configurations and routings for all devices in the map

Use Case: • Find out any missing routes after implementing a network change • Find out when a routing loop was introduced

1. Compare configurations and routings for all devices in the map

From the map floating menu, click on Compare > Compare Config & Routing.

2. Select two data sources Select two DataFolders and click on the Compare button.

3. View the routing change statistics and the routing changes

Double click an entry in the Batch Compare Routing Tables pane to view the route changes for a router.

4. View the configuration changes Double click an entry in the Batch Compare Config pane to check the configuration change details for a device.

Instruction:

3.6 Login to a Network Device

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Objective: • Work on the old CLI window and the map side by side.

Use Case: • Disable a switch port connected to the a virus affected server • View the output of BGP routing table of a router and its topology map side by side

1. Search the device Enter the device hostname at the search field and press the Enter key

2. Create the Q-map around this device

Mouse over a device in the searched results and click View Larger Map link .

3. Login to the device Select a device in the map and click CLI >> Telnet/SSH from the map floating menu.

Instruction:

4.1 Map an Application Path

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Objective: • Discover and map the application path (L3 and L2) between two end points

Use Case: • Troubleshoot a slow application • Document critical applications

1. Enter the source and destination IP addresses

At the ribbon menu under the Home tab, enter IP addresses in Field A and B.

2. Select the path direction Click here to select the path direction.

3. Select the discovery option Click on the Expand icon. Select an option: Via Live Network (live path) or Via Cached Route Table in Data Folder (historical path).

4. Discover and map the path Click on the Find Path button.

5. View the configurations Click on any alarm info such as ACL to view detailed information.

Instruction:

4.2 Map L2 Connections along a Path

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Objective: • Map L2 connections along an L3 path

Use Case: • Troubleshoot a slow application • Document critical applications

1. View L2 path Click an L3 path curve and select View L2 Path from the map floating menu.

2. View port configuration along the path

Mouse over a switch port and view its configuration in the tip window.

Instruction:

4.3 Monitoring

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Objective: • Visualize the device/interface status and performance data on the map

Use Case: • Identify a down/unstable device or interface • Identify any interfaces with high bandwidth or devices with high CPU or memory usage

1. Turn on monitoring Click on the Monitor button from the map floating menu.

2. View the historical data Right click a data point and select the View Chart option.

3. Turn off monitoring Click on the Monitor button again.

Instruction:

Note: If the interface delay or bandwidth usage is not visible, you can zoom in the Q-map or drag the link longer to make it visible.

4.4 Batch Compare Configurations and Routings

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Objective: • Compare configurations and routings for all devices on the map

Use Case: • Identify any missing routes after implementing a network change • Identify when a routing loop was introduced

1. Compare configurations and routings for all devices on the map

From the map floating menu, click on Compare > Compare Config & Routing.

2. Select two data sources Select two DataFolders and click on the Compare button.

3. View the routing change statistics and the routing changes

Double click an entry in the Batch Compare Routing Tables pane to view route changes for a router.

4. View the configuration changes Double click an entry in the Batch Compare Config pane to check configuration change details for a device.

Instruction:

4.5 IP Accounting

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Objective: • Find the top talker via IP Accounting

Use Case: • Troubleshoot high bandwidth usage

1. Launch IP Accounting Right click on the bandwidth usage of an interface and select IP Accounting. Note: The interface must have IP Accounting configured.

2. Sort the IP accounting results

Click on a field such as Packets per Second to sort the results.

3. Create the path Right click an entry and select Create Path to map out the path for this entry.

Instruction:

4.6 IP SLA

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Objective: • View packet loss, jitter and latency between two devices across a LAN or WAN link.

Use Case: • Troubleshoot VoIP

1. Open IP SLA Manager Click on the IP SLA button in the ribbon menu under the Home tag.

2. Refresh the operations Click the Refresh button to refresh IP SLA operations.

3. Select an IP SLA operation Select an IP SLA operation.

4. Start the operation and view IP SLA result chart

Click on Start and then Show Chart buttons.

5. Map the operation and view results on the map

Create a new map. From the IP SLA Result pane, click on the Find Path button. Switch back to the IP SLA Result pane, then click on the Highlight In Map button.

6. Display the live IP SLA results on the map

Click on the Monitor button to turn on monitoring.

Instruction:

4.7 NetFlow Traffic Analysis

Objective: • Find the top talker using NetFlow

Use Case: • Troubleshoot high bandwidth usage

1. Launch NetFlow Right click on the bandwidth usage of an interface and select NetFlow. Note: The interface must have NetFlow configured.

2. Sort the NetFlow results

Click on a field to sort the results.

3. Create the path Right click an entry and select Create Path to map out the path for this entry.

Instruction:

5.1 Draw on-demand Map

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Objective: • Draw on-demand map for problem area or special technology

1. Open the procedure task window.

From the Procedure tab, click the Run Procedures button to open the procedure task window.

2. Select procedures you want to run.

Select the procedures you want to run. Note: Procedures with name starting with Map will create Qmap for specific technology.

3. Select devices to run the procedure task.

Click Select Seed Device… and select the devices that you want to run procedures with. Click Run Procedures to run the procedure task.

Instruction:

Map created by procedure: Map for All VTP Domain

5.2 Automate Network Troubleshooting

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Objective: • Automate the process of network troubleshooting

Instruction:

Sample map of : BGP Neighbor Not Coming UP

1. Open the procedure task window.

From the Procedure tab, click the Run Procedures button to open the procedure task window.

2. Select procedures you want to run.

Select the procedures you want to run.

3. Select devices to run the procedure task.

Click Select Seed Device… and select the devices that you want to run procedures with. Click Run Procedures to run the procedure task.

5.3 Check Network Device and Interface Health

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Objective: • Check network device and interface health

using procedure

1. Open the procedure task window.

From the Procedure tab, click the Run Procedures button to open the procedure task window.

2. Select procedures you want to run.

Select the procedures you want to run. Note: Choose Procedures under Device/Interface Level Check directories.

3. Select devices to run the procedure task.

Click Select Seed Device… and select the devices that you want to run procedures with. Click Run Procedures to run the procedure task .

Instruction:

Sample map of : Are interfaces MTU mismatched

5.4 Create Customized Network Inventory Report

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Objective: • Create customized network inventory report

1. Open the procedure task window.

From the Procedure tab, click the Run Procedures button to open the procedure task window.

2. Select procedures you want to run.

Select the procedures you want to run. Note: Choose procedures under Inventory directory to create customized fields.

3. Select devices to run the procedure task.

Click Select Seed Device… and select the devices that you want to run procedures with. Click Run Procedures to run the procedure task.

Instruction:

Sample map of : Add Interface Attribute – Media Type

5.5 Verify Network Change

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Objective: •Verify network change using procedure

1. Open the procedure task window.

From the Procedure tab, click the Run Procedures button to open the procedure task window.

2. Select procedures you want to run.

Select the procedures you want to run. Note: Select procedures related to changes

3. Select devices to run the procedure task.

Click Select Seed Device… and select the devices that you want to run procedures with. Click Run Procedures to run the procedure task.

4. Choose current data folder and historical data folder.

Click Options… and choose the live data folder and historical data folder (default is fine). Click Run Procedures to run the procedure task .

Instruction:

Sample map of : Is BGP Configuration Changed

6.1 Change Management Workflow

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1. Design Click Summary/Define Network Change/Benchmark Before/Benchmark After buttons to switch to corresponding view and define specific items.

2. Implement & Benchmark

Click Benchmark Before button to perform benchmark before network change. Click Execute button to switch to Execute view to push the predefined commands to specified network devices. Click Benchmark After button to perform benchmark after network change.

3. Verify Network Change

Click Compare button to compare benchmark before data with benchmark after data to analyze and verify network change results.

4. Document Click Document button to create a document for the network change automatically.

Instruction:

Design Implement & Benchmark

Verify Document

Define Network Change Task • Annotate network change Task • Define network change • Define benchmark show

commands

Implement Network Change • Perform benchmark before • Execute network change task • Perform benchmark after

Verify Network Change Results • Batch compare configuration

files, route tables and show commands

• Verify network change

Document • Document network change

automatically

6.2 Define Network Change Task

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Objective: • Annotate network change task • Define network change commands • Define benchmark show commands

1. Annotate network change task

Click Summary to switch to Summary view, annotate this change task.

2. Define network change commands

Click Define Network Change button to switch to network change view, define configlet and rollback config.

3. Define benchmark show commands

Click Benchmark Before or Benchmark After button to switch to corresponding view, define show commands which can reveal the difference.

Instruction:

6.3 Implement Network Change Task

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Objective: • Push predefined configlet to network devices. • Perform Benchmark both before and after the network change.

1. Perform benchmark before network change

Click Benchmark Before button to switch to Benchmark Before view, click Run CLI Commands button to issue the predefined show commands to retrieve data from the live network (Before change).

2. Execute change task

Click Execute button to switch to Execute view, click the button to push predefined configlet to network devices.

3. Define benchmark show commands

Click Benchmark After button to switch to Benchmark After view, click Run CLI Commands button to issue the predefined show commands to retrieve data from the live network (After change).

Instruction:

6.4 Verify Network Change Results

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Objective: • Identify configuration changes before and after implementing a network change Task • Compare the benchmark before data and benchmark after data to verify the network change Task.

1. Select Execute Time

Select the Execution Time from the drop down list.

2. Select data folders to compare

Select two Benchmark DataFolders to compare.

3. Compare the differences

Click Compare button to compare.

4. Review and verify the network change

Double click an entry to see the differences highlighted.

Instruction:

6.5 Document

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Objective: • Create a word document to document the network change task

1. Set export document options

Click Document button to open the Export Document window, select the options that you want to export to the document.

2. Select Benchmark DataFolders to compare

Select two Benchmark DataFolders to compare.

3. Export document

Click OK to export the network change task document.

Instruction: