Map Problemtic Area

The problem diagnosis always starts with a map, the primary user interface for the follow-up automation. Each task may require a unique map to provide the foundation for visibility and automation. Each Map is typically created on-demand through one of several methods:

• Search and Map

The Search bar in NetBrain acts like a Google search for any data within your network. Simply entering any keyword for the problematic area into the bar will run a search across your domain for matching any data element. For example:

• Enter a Hostname or IP address of the device related to the problem. 
• Search “Area 0” to discover all area border routers.
• Searching for an identified SDN Application will return all overlay and underlay dependencies.

Once the search bar identifies a device, you can create a map of it and its immediate neighbors. Refer to the Search and Map for details.

• Map An Application Path

If your problem is related to the application or a path, you can enter two endpoints to map the application path in real time. NetBrain path feature emulates the real packet forwarding process and provides end-to-end visibility across any network path. In addition to looking up route tables to find the next hop, it can also investigate PBR, NAT, ACL, firewall policy, and other traffic control technologies to ensure the correctness of a path.

After mapping the live path, you can compare it with the historical or reference path to see the difference. For details, refer to the Path-Based Troubleshooting Flow.

• Open a Site, Device Group, and Context Map

If the problem area is related to a site or a device group, you can open the site or device group map. Refer the Site Map and the Device Group Map for details.

The site and device group maps are shared maps. You can create your personal copy, so your work does not mess up the master copy. Refer to the Personal Map for the details.

Another useful map is the context map. You can search for a device in the Network Tree and open its context map. Refer to Work on the Network Tree for the details.  

• Map an Incident or Ticket

An effective map is essential when a network problem or change occurs. NetBrain can autonomously create a Dynamic Map of the problem area at the time of the Incident via API integration with existing tools, which is referred to as triggered automation, where any incident, ticket, or alarm can trigger an API call into NetBrain. Its input parameters are used to trigger map creation.

Triggered Dynamic Maps enrich each ticket with a contextual map and collected diagnostics, significantly reducing the time spent troubleshooting and improving organizational MTTR.

Typical events which may trigger a map creation include:

• Network Alarms (e.g., from SolarWinds)
• Incident Tickets (e.g., from ServiceNow)
• Security Event (e.g., from Splunk)
• Device Changes