Visualization for Network Topologies
Support for NetBox DCIM system includes:
- Visualization of network topologies exported by netreplica/nrx command-line tool
- Does not require installation of a plugin on a NexBox instance
- Filtering based on Device
role
,site
and/ortag
information to select devices for visualization - User-customizable topology data definitions via Jinja2 templates
To export a topology for visualization from NetBox run nrx
with the following parameters. See more in nrx
documentation.
nrx.py --config netbox.conf --input netbox --output graphite --site SITE --tag TAG
Once the data is exported, run Graphite using of the methods described here to see the topology via a browser.
Support for Containerlab network emulation software includes:
- Visualization of live topologies, including dynamic information about network nodes – for example, management IP addresses.
- WebSSH access to running Containerlab nodes from the topology visualization.
- Launching Graphite as part of Containerlab topology by including it as a node in the topology YAML file.
The easiest way to use Graphite with Containerlab is to add the following code to a topology YAML file under the nodes:
section. For a full topology example see examples/2host.yaml.
graphite:
kind: linux
image: netreplica/graphite
env:
HOST_CONNECTION: ${SSH_CONNECTION}
binds:
- __clabDir__/topology-data.json:/htdocs/default/default.json:ro
- __clabDir__/ansible-inventory.yml:/htdocs/lab/default/ansible-inventory.yml:ro
ports:
- 8080:80
exec:
- sh -c 'graphite_motd.sh 8080'
labels:
graph-hide: yes
Once added, deploy the topology with sudo -E containerlab deploy -t <topology.yaml>
. Note -E
parameter for sudo
– it is needed to pass SSH_CONNECTION
variable.
Look for Graphite visualization 🎨 http:https://<ip_address>:8080/graphite
Containerlab output. If you are running Containerlab on a VM via an SSH session, the <ip_address>
in the URL should be the one you are using to connect to the VM, so there is a good chance the link will just work. If not, you might need to replace <ip_address>
with proper address to connect to Graphite.
Follow step-by-step reference to learn how to use Graphite with ContainerLab.
To be able to visualize multiple Containerlab topologies, including those that are not currently running, you can launch Graphite as a standalone container. Follow the guide to learn how.
Copyright 2022-2023 Netreplica Team
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
http:https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
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