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Viewing the Network Topology

Starting with Contrail Networking Release 1907, the Contrail Command UI provides visual representation of the network topology. All devices within a fabric are displayed in a single view.

Note:

Topology view is supported in Contrail Insights (formerly AppFormix) version 2.19.11 and later.

The Topology view supports basic manipulations such as dragging nodes, zooming in and out, fitting to view, in addition to having different layout visualizations. User-edited network layout is saved in the database so any change in network devices layout is preserved across sessions.

Topology view displays the following:

  • Network devices

  • Hosts

  • Compute instances in hosts

  • Edges connecting network devices and Contrail Networking vRouter hosts but not bare metal server (BMS) alone.

Three views are supported:

  • Horizontal

  • Vertical

  • Radial

The topology heatmap shows network and server resources used in real-time or historically. For example, data center operators can see the bytes per second or the link utilization inside the network, or the CPU resources being consumed by a specific server or virtual machine.

Select Infrastructure > Fabrics > <fabric name> > Topology View. From the Display drop-down list, select an option to filter data viewed. Mouse over the nodes and interfaces in the Topology View for more detail.

To change views, select an icon in the vertical tool bar in the Topology View panel. Following are example views. For descriptions of the Summary view options, see Table 1.

Figure 1: Horizontal View Network topology showing hierarchical diagram with Spine, Leaf, Host, and Instance nodes connected. Includes legend for icons, summary panel for filters and device details, and tools for zoom and pan.
Figure 2: Horizontal View with Heatmap Network management tool interface showing a topology view with nodes and connections, color-coded by traffic levels. Includes options to filter and configure the view by time range, networks, and traffic type. Navigation tools and summary details are provided.
Figure 3: Horizontal View with VMs Network topology view showing connections between spine switches, leaf switches, hosts, and instances with color-coded traffic flow and summary panel for filtering and analysis.
Figure 4: Vertical View Network topology visualization interface showing nodes categorized as Spine, Leaf, Host, and Instance with color-coded connections indicating traffic intensity. The right panel includes options for selecting time range, filtering traffic, and viewing device details. A color gradient scale represents traffic in Bytes per second.
Figure 5: Vertical View with VMs Network topology view showing nodes categorized as Spine, Leaf, Host, and Instance with color-coded connections indicating data rates. A summary panel on the right allows setting date and time for data, heatmap parameters, and selecting network devices.
Figure 6: Radial View Network topology view showing nodes categorized as Spine, Leaf, Host, and Instance connected by lines color-coded for traffic intensity from blue to orange/red. Right panel includes date and time selection, heatmap filters, and device details for traffic analysis. Legend explains node types.
Figure 7: Radial View with VMs Network topology view showing nodes categorized as spine, leaf, host, and instance connected by links with color-coded traffic intensity. Right panel displays date range, heatmap filters, and selected device details. Tools for zooming and panning are available.
Table 1: Summary Descriptions

Summary Options

Description

Date and time

Predefined Time

Select the period in the history for which data is to be displayed.

Time range

Use the calendar or type directly into the fields to select the desired start and end time. Additionally, you can select a time interval by dragging the mouse.

Heatmap parameters

Source Virtual Network

Filter data with this source virtual network.

Destination Virtual Network

Filter data with this destination virtual network.

Traffic type

Filter data by traffic type, such as All, Multicast, or Other.

Selected item

Network Device

Filter data passing through the network device.

Host/instance

Filter data with the host compute instance(s), such as Memory Usage or CPU Usage.

Source Interface

Filter the source interface on the selected network device.

Destination Interface

Filter the destination interface on the selected network device

Related Documentation

Change History Table

Feature support is determined by the platform and release you are using. Use Feature Explorer to determine if a feature is supported on your platform.

Release
Description
1907
Starting with Contrail Networking Release 1907, the Contrail Command UI provides visual representation of the network topology. All devices within a fabric are displayed in a single view.