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Interactive Planner Map Features

The Paragon Planner map is interactive (similar to Topology page in Paragon Automation) which means you can use several features within the map to customize the map and the network information table. The topology map is the main work area for any network model you load into the system. Links are color-coded according to utilization. The map uses a geographic coordinate reference system.

Path analysis can be performed in the topology window. The path function displays detailed path information between any two nodes found in the network based on factors such as routing method used, reserved and actual bandwidth allocation, link distance, or over subscription.

For information about network information table, see Network Information Table Overview.

Right-click Functions

You can right-click a node, node group, link, or blank space on the topology map to access context-specific menus.

Table 1 describes the options that are displayed when you right-click any where on the topology map.

Table 1: Right-Click Options for Blank Space on the Topology Page

Option

Description

Grouping

You can view, group, or ungroup the nodes in a node group.

Nodes & Groups

Displays the nodes and node groups in the topology. You can select a particular node group to be displayed on the topology map.

Auto Grouping

Enables you to specify the criteria that are used to automatically group nodes. For more information, see Auto Grouping Nodes.

Group Selected Nodes

Groups the selected nodes. For more information, see Group Nodes.

Ungroup Selected Nodes

Ungroups the nodes from the selected group. For more information, see Ungroup Nodes.

Ungroup All

Ungroups the nodes in all groups.

Select All Nodes

Selects all the nodes on the topology map. This option is a shortcut to using the Shift+left-click option to create a selection box around all nodes or individually shift-clicking on all nodes.

Show All Nodes and Links

Restores the topology map so that it includes all the nodes and links in the network, as opposed to a filtered subset.

Save to Default Map Layout

Saves the current layout as the default. Selecting this option does not change the name of the default in the Manage Layouts page.

Layout

Manage Map View

Save, load, or edit the current topology map. For more information, see Manage Layouts.

Distribute All Nodes

Select multiple nodes on the topology map and redistribute them to improve visual clarity or for personal preference. Distributes all the nodes in the map, pushing elements away from each other and minimizing overlap.

Distribute Selected nodes

Forces the selected elements away from each other and minimizes overlap.

Circle selected nodes

Arranges the selected nodes in a roughly circular pattern, with the nodes and links separated adequately.

Straighten selected nodes

Aligns the selected nodes in a linear pattern.

Reset by Coordinates

Resets the map to display the nodes based on their configured coordinates (latitude and longitude).

Note:

You can reset the distribution of the nodes on the topology map according to geographical coordinates if you have set the latitude and longitude values of the nodes. It can be useful to have the country map backdrop displayed when you use this distribution model.

Import from

Import a layout from a CSV or GeoJSON file. For more information, see https://geojson.org/.

Export to

Export a layout to a CSV or GeoJSON file.

Node Label

Select one of the following options to label the nodes on the topology map:

  • Name

  • Hostname

  • IP address

  • IPv6 Address

  • IP, SID

  • ISIS System ID

  • OS version

  • OSPF ref BW

  • SID

  • Type

  • Hide Label—Hides all the labels for the network elements on the topology map

Link Label

Select one of the following options to label the links on the topology map:

  • Name

  • Node Name A::Z

  • Interface A::Z

  • IP A::Z

  • IP, SID A::Z

  • TE Metric A::Z

  • Bandwidth A::Z

  • Delay A::Z

  • Interface Util A::Z

  • ISIS1 Metric A::Z

  • ISIS2 Metric A::Z

  • Measured Delay A::Z

  • OSPF Metric A::Z

  • Packet Loss Metric A::Z

  • RSVP Bandwidth A::Z

  • RSVP Util A::Z

  • RSVP Live Util A::Z

  • Shape BW A::Z

  • SID A::Z

  • SRLG

  • TE Admin Group A::Z

  • Hide Label

Favorites

Add Selected Nodes to Favorites

Select nodes on the topology map and designate them as favorites.

Remove Selected Nodes from Favorites

Removes the nodes that you select on the topology map from the Favorites tab.

Clear Favorites

Clears all the existing favorite nodes.

Highlight Favorites

Highlights only the favorite nodes on the topology map.

Show only Favorites

Displays only the favorite nodes on the topology map.

Hide Favorites

Hides all the favorite nodes on the topology map.

Subview

Filters the network elements on the topology map based on Node Type, Autonomous System (AS) number, OSPF Area, ISIS Area, or Layer. For more information about these options, see Table 2.
Table 2: Subview Options

Options

Description

Node Type

Select the node types from the list.

AS

Assign a color to represent each AS number that is configured on the topology map.

From the AS pane, you can select or clear AS numbers by selecting or clearing the corresponding check boxes. Only nodes corresponding to the selected AS numbers are displayed in the topology map.

ISIS Area

Assign a color to represent each IS-IS area identifier that is configured on the topology map. The area identifier is the first three bytes of the ISO network entity title (NET) address.

From the ISIS area pane, you can select or clear ISIS area identifiers by selecting or clearing the corresponding check boxes. Only nodes corresponding to the selected area identifiers are displayed in the topology map.

OSPF Area

Assign a color to represent each OSPF area that is configured on the topology map. NONE shows the color assigned to routers that have no OSPF area configured.

From the OSPF Areas pane, select or clear OSPF areas by selecting or clearing the corresponding check boxes. Only nodes corresponding to the selected OSPF areas are displayed in the topology map.

Layer

Include or exclude individual layer information in the topology map.

From the Layers list, select the layers (IP, Transport, or both) that you want to display. If you are not using the Multilayer feature, the Layers list contains only IP.

Table 3 describes the right-click options for a node or selected node group on the topology map.

Table 3: Right-Click Options for Nodes or Node Groups

Option

Description

Filter in Node Table

Filters the nodes that are displayed in the network information table to display the selected nodes or node groups only.

Tunnels

Tunnels On or Thru Node

Opens a new tab in the network information table to show only those tunnels that meet the On or Thru Node criteria.

Tunnels Starting at Node

Opens a new tab in the network information table to show only those tunnels that start at the selected node.

Tunnels Ending at Node

Opens a new tab in the network information table to show only those tunnels that end at the selected node.
Tunnels Passing Through Node

Opens a new tab in the network information table to display only those tunnels that pass through the selected node.
Demands
Demands on Thru Node

Opens a new tab in the network information table to show only those demands that start at the selected node.

Demands Starting At Node

Opens a new tab in the network information table to show only those demands that end at the selected node.

Demands Ending At Node

Opens a new tab in the network information table to show only those demands that end at the selected node.
Demands Passing through Node

Opens a new tab in the network information table to display only those demands that pass through the selected node.
Note:

For the description of other right-click options, see Table 1.

Table 4 describes the right-click options for a link on the topology map.

Table 4: Right-Click Options for Links

Option

Function

Filter in Link Table

Filters the tunnels that are displayed in the network information table to display only the selected link.

Tunnels On or Thru Link

Opens a new tab in the network information table to show only those tunnels that meet the On or Thru Link criteria.
Note:

For the description of other right-click options, see Table 1.

Topology Settings

You can access the Topology Settings pane by clicking the Settings icon in the Topology menu bar located at the upper right corner of the Topology Page.

Table 5 describes the tabs on the Topology Settings pane.

Table 5: Topology Settings Options

Tab

Description

Nodes

You can perform the following tasks:

  • Change the labels of all the nodes on the topology map by selecting an option from the Label list.

  • After you select a label, click the toggle button to view:

    • Background shadow of node labels

    • Pseudo node label

    • Only favorite node labels

    • Isolated nodes

    • Overload bit marker

Links

You can perform the following tasks:

  • Change the labels of all the links on the topology map by selecting an option from the Label list.

  • Click the toggle button to:

    • Show or hide the link down markers

    • Represent down links as a dashed line

    • Represent a link line of width in proportion to the interface speed

    • Draw parallel links as a curve: Toggle the button to draw parallel links between two nodes as a curve, so that the parallel links do not overlap and appear separately (as curves) on the topology map. If the parallel links between two nodes are drawn as straight lines, they would overlap on the topology map (as a bundle).

      • Show utilization max instead of Average within bundle: Toggle this button to display the maximum utilization value (in red) instead of the average utilization value for parallel links. For example, if there are two parallel links between two nodes and one link has 10% utilization and the other has 20% utilization, and you want to draw the link as a straight line between the nodes, you can choose which utilization value should be displayed: 15% (average) or 20% (maximum) value.

    • Wrap links as Great Arcs: Distinguishes links that would have to wrap around the world map.

      Figure 1: Example: Wrap Links as Great Arcs Example: Wrap Links as Great Arcs

    • Hide Partially Visible links: Hides any link whose end nodes are outside the visible area. This is useful for focusing on a subset of a large network.

Note:

The topology map does not display more than a certain number of node or link labels, even if the topology settings call for labels to be displayed. This can be improved by reducing the number of elements displayed by panning or zooming which will re-enable the label display.

Tunnels

You can perform the following tasks:

  • Click the toggle button to draw a path as a curve, which might improve network visualization.

    Figure 2 shows both curved and straight lines for the same path.

    Figure 2: Example: Curved and Straight Line Path Depiction Example: Curved and Straight Line Path Depiction

  • Click the toggle button to draw a path through layers if the network includes transport layers.

General

You can perform the following tasks:

  • Click the toggle button to:

    • Enable animation while calculating the topology layout.

    • Show or hide zoom slider: A vertical slider is displayed on the topology menu bar on the top right corner of the topology window.

    • Enable or disable to zoom to selected node: With this option enabled, when you click the node entry in the network information table (the Node tab), the topology automatically centers the view on that selected node.

  • Select a Label Size: Select one of the following values as the font size for the node and link labels:

    • 8

    • 10

    • 12

    • 14

    • 16

    • 18

    • 20

  • Apply Opacity effects: Move this slider to select the percent opacity for unhighlighted topology map elements. Example below shows 100% and 20% opacity for comparison.

    Figure 3: Example: Opacity Effects Example: Opacity Effects

Map

You can perform the following tasks:

  • Select a Light or Dark theme for the topology map.

    Example below shows an example of the light and dark map styles.

    Figure 4: Example: Light and Dark Map Styles Example: Light and Dark Map Styles

  • Show Graticules: Displays graticules (a grid of lines that is parallel to the meridians of longitude and the parallels of latitude) and labeling of major populated places.

  • Show World Map: You can select the type of map (based on color or labeling) to be displayed on the Topology page. Based on your selection, the topology map is updated immediately. You can select one of the following options:

    • PathFinder—Displays the topology on the greyscale world map.

    • PathFinder No Labels—Displays the topology on the world map without highlighting the city or country names.

    • Thunderforest Atlas—Displays the topology map on a colored world map with city and country names highlighted.