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Creating Routing Instances

  1. If you have configuration files for your network, you can import the configuration files to create a network model using the File>Import Data menu as described in Router Data Extraction Overview. The interfaces will automatically be associated with the routing-instance or process IDs that they belong to.

    For Juniper routers, the interfaces listed under the [edit routing-instances routing-instance-name] block will be assigned that routing-instance-name. Similarly, for Cisco routers, the interfaces whose addresses are advertised under the network statements of the “router ospf <processID>” block will be assigned that processID.

    Note that if an interface is not enabled for OSPF, it will be assigned to a reserved category called “NOPROT” when the network is loaded. Similarly, if the interface is enabled for OSPF but has no process ID, it will be assigned to a reserved category called “NOID” when the network is loaded.

    To view the associations of routing instances to interfaces, select Network > Elements > Interfaces... When selecting an interface, the bottom pane’s Advanced tab will show the process ID/routing instance in the OSPF PID field. To view the routing instance as a column of the table, right-click on the header row and select Table Options... Then add OSPF PID from the Available Item(s) list to the Selected Item(s) list.

  2. OSPF process IDs (PID) or routing instance names can also be associated with interfaces via the Modify Interface window’s Advanced tab for what-if testing, as shown in Figure 1. To access this window, click the Modify action mode button to switch to Modify mode and then select Modify > Elements > Interfaces. Then select the interfaces you want to modify and click Modify. An OSPF process on a Cisco router is an integer number, while an OSPF process on a Juniper router is usually a name.

    Figure 1: Modify Interface WindowSoftware interface for configuring network interface settings, including fields for MAC Address, VPN, VRouter, and options for network protocols like OSPF and RIP.

  3. By default, multiprocess checking is turned off. To turn on multiprocess checking for routing instance analyses, select the Tools > Options > Design, Path Placement options pane and set Ignore Multiprocess in the lower right corner to “False”. Alternatively, you can add the parameter ignoremultiprocess=0 to the project’s dparam.runcode file. To turn on multiprocess checking by default for all new network projects, create or edit the file /u/wandl/db/misc/dparam.txt and add the line “ignoremultiprocess=0”.

  4. To visualize Routing Instances/OSPF PIDs on the map by associating them together with a color, you can specify a routeinstance file in the specification file as indicated in File Format on page 214 by adding the entry “routeinst= filename” to the specification file while the network is closed, substituting filename with the name of the route instance definition file . This file can also be indicated during a Configuration file Import (File>Import) by specifying the RouteInstance file on the Misc tab of the Import Network Wizard. Alternatively, you can make the association for the current network session by selecting Modify > Protocols > OSPF/ISIS Routing Instance from the main menu while in Modify mode.

    Figure 2: Routing Instance WindowNetwork management GUI with active Routing Instances tab. Table shows routing instance BLUE_10 with community 12345678. OSPF PIDs section lists 10,BLUE. Add, Modify, Delete buttons below.

  5. Click the Add button, and a new window will appear as shown in Figure 3.

    Figure 3: Add Routing Instance WindowDialog box titled Add Virtual Net with fields for configuring a virtual network; Routing Instance Name set to BLUE_10, unchecked Routing Instance Diversity checkbox, Routing Instance Community String as 12345678, OSPF PIDs section with entries 10 and BLUE, and buttons Add Row, Delete Row, OK, Cancel, and Help.

  6. Enter in the routing instance name. Then click Add Row for each OSPF process ID (for Cisco) or routing-instance-name (for Juniper) that should be mapped to this routing instance.

    Field

    Description

    Routing Instance Name

    The name used to identify the partitioned network.

    Routing Instance Diversity

    Not currently used

    Routing Instance Community String

    Community Strings are used for BGP next-hop checking to make sure that the BGP next hop is in the desired routing instance

    OSPF PIDs

    The OSPF process IDs and names belonging to this routing instance. The same OSPF PID cannot be used in more than one Routing Instance.

  7. Once the routing instance has been defined through the route instance file or through the Modify > Protocols > OSPF/ISIS Routing Instance menu, links can also be associated with a Routing Instance via the Modify Link window (accessed through Modify > Elements > Links), as shown in Figure 4. However, this setting will be overridden if the interfaces attached to the links are also associated with a Routing Instance in the Modify > Elements > Interfaces window. Interfaces on both ends of a link should belong to the same Routing Instance.

    Figure 4: Modify Link WindowModify 1 Link dialog in network management software with tabs for configuration options. Link name LINK1, trunk ET10G, vendor DEF, bandwidth 10Gdef, delay 7.014DEF, metric 1438, routing instance BLUE_10, geo distance 701 mi. Options to save or cancel changes.

  8. If you select Subviews > Routing Instances in the Topology Map, the links will be displayed using the color specified for the corresponding routing instance.

    Figure 5: Topology Map - Routing InstanceNetwork topology diagram with nodes as blue squares and links in various colors representing routing instances. Routing instances include BLUE_10 with blue lines, NONE_WHITE_30 with yellow lines, RED_20 with red lines, WHITE_30 with white lines, and NONE with black lines. Checkboxes allow toggling the visibility of these routes.

You can toggle the checkmark next to a routing instance to turn on or off the display of links whose interfaces are defined to be in that routing instance. Additionally, you can modify the color associated with a routing instance on the map by clicking the color box next to the routing instance name.