Use HeatMap to Probe Live Network – Step 2 of Map-Driven Network Troubleshooting

For a set of devices that are related to a potential network problem, how do you identify if there are any performance issues?

Typically, a network professional would issue “show-commands” in the questionable devices’ command line console, and look into pages of text files for hints. NetBrain enables instant collection, analysis and visualization of existing performance problems without sifting through lines of code.

The technology behind this simplification is a special version of SmartMap called a HeatMap. HeatMaps use diagnostic monitoring to view the status of all the devices in a map.  In HeatMap mode, all devices are “monitored” by SNMP polling or show-command polling. The results are either directly displayed in the map, or used to color code the map. For example, the following HeatMap shows CPU, memory utilization, link utilization, and link delay. The color of devices and links correspond to their live status: Green means up; Red means down; Yellow means unstable.

Not only L3 maps can be polled, L2 devices can be polled as well.

L2 HeatMap Examples

HeatMaps enable network troubleshooters to combine data collection and data analysis in one step to quickly identify performance hotspots.  Besides performance troubleshooting, there are many other creative ways to use HeatMaps, such as:

• Monitoring important applications visually
• Monitoring key WAN links visually
• Monitoring service providers’ MPLS clouds to ensure SLA parameters are met