How do I use the Topological Map? User guide and best practices

If you are using the Map dashlet in Geographical Mode, please see this article.

To add a Map a dashlet to a custom dashboard

To set map preferences

Features of the topological map

To change a map's overlay

To highlight a specific View, service or network path on a map

To highlight specific objects on a map

To specify which links to display on a map

To view details of links between managed objects

To customize inline and hover-over tooltip labels on a map (to display attributes on the map)

To change the layout of objects on a map

To change the background image of a map

To navigate around a map

To add a text box

To select multiple objects on the map

To drill down into a subView

To drill down into a device or object

To add a custom device to a map

To save changes to a map

To export a map to Visio

To switch between topological mode and geographical mode

The topological map in Entuity provides a visual representation of the network connectivity in the selected View. If you amend a map by adding a device, for example, then you will also amend the View.

Topological maps display the following information:

• subViews and devices in the View.
• connections between subViews and devices, and between devices.
• device and connection status. These statuses are automatically updated by Entuity.
• technology used when disccovering these connections.

Note, from Entuity v21.0 upwards, you can enable Multi Server Topology through Topological Group Management. If the remote servers that are grouped together in Topological Groups have devices that are linked to one another, these devices and links will automatically appear on the Topological Map for a View containing any of those devices.

To add a Map dashlet to a custom dashboard:

Please see this article for help and information on the initial process of adding or editing a Map dashlet.

To set map preferences:

You can specify universal map preferences via the Preferences form.

Features of the topological map:

What is shown on the map

The map is populated by icons representing the subViews within the View, as well as devices within the View. These are represented by icons. The type of icon displayed depends on the object they represent and the Map user preference you have set.

Icon	Name
	BladeCenter
	cloud
	DeviceEx
	firewall
	generic device
	hub
	hypervisor
	managed host
	router
	server device
	storage device
	switch
	View
	virtual machine
	vpn gateway
	wireless controller
	wireless router

Incidents

If there are any incidents in the subView or on the device, then a small diamond is displayed to the top right of the object icon. Note, this is a separate metric to the object status indicator described below.

• The diamond will be colored according to the highest-severity open incident for that View or device with a severity level higher than Information (e.g., if there are any critical incidents in the View, the marker will be colored red). The number in the diamond corresponds to the severity level. The incident severity levels are as follows:
   

  UI Display Severity	Internal Severity	Color Code	Description
  1	2	green	information/cleared
  2	4	yellow	minor
  3	6	amber	major
  4	8	orange	severe
  5	10	red	critical

Status and utilization

Depending on the Map Overlay that you have chosen, you can immediately see status or utilization information about the View or device. Utilization is relative to the thresholds set on the View or device. Entuity indicates the status of a View or device on a map by displaying a color-coded disc as the background of the object. Note, this is a separate metric to the incident severity indicator described above.

• For a View, the disc is colored according to the most critical status or utilization of an object within that View.
• For a device, the disc is colored according to the status or utilization of the device.  In your user Preferences, you can specify whether or not you want devices that are in a normal state (i.e., they have no known issues) to be displayed with a green disc (if not, then devices in a normal state will simply have no background).

• Status colors:
  
  

  Object Color	Object Status	Description
  	Down	device or port is being polled and is down.
  	Degraded	device or port is being polled and is degraded.
  	Unknown	device or port is being polled, but Entuity could not determine the status, for example because: -device unreachable but not root cause. -port data unavailable because the device is down.
  	OK	device or port is being polled and is OK.
  none	Administrative Down	Entuity identifies an object as administrative down when: -for a device, polling of the device is disabled. -it is a custom device and is therefore not polled. -for a port, it is set to administrative down. -a link does not have an associated port, e.g. when using a physical connection.

• Utilization colors:
  
  

  Object Color	Link Color	Utilization Status	(Object Status)	Description
  		Critical	(Ok/Degraded)	device or port is responding and has crossed its critical utilization threshold.
  		High	(Ok/Degraded)	device or port is responding and has crossed its high utilization threshold.
  		Low	(Ok/Degraded)	device or port is responding and has crossed its low utilization threshold.
  		Unknown	(Ok/Degraded)	device or port utilization could not be determined.
  		Any	(Unknown)	device or port utilization could not be determined.
  		Any	(Down)	device or port utilization could not be determined.
  		Normal	(OK/Degraded)	device or port is responding and has not any utilization thresholds.
  none		Any	(Administrative Down)	Entuity identifies an object as administrative down when: -for a device, polling of the device is disabled. -it is a custom device and is therefore not polled. -for a port, it is set to administrative down. -a link does not have an associated port, e.g. when using a physical connection rather than to an interface on the device.
  none		Any	(System Uninitialized)	device or port has not yet been fully discovered by the system.
  none		Null (no data returned)	(Ok/Degraded)	device or port is OK, but utilization data cannot be retrieved. Possible causes might include: -the device might be a hypervisor or a managed host. -the map's Links are displaying only routing links, and the routing protocols do not refer to ports.

To change a map's overlay:

The overlay applies to devices on a map, and the links between devices and between Views. By default, the map overlay is set to 'Status'.

1. Click Overlay: Status. The Map Overlay form will slide in on the right.
2. Click the field and select Status or Utilization.
3. Click Done in the top right of the form to save and exit, or Cancel to cancel.

To specify custom utilization bands:

You can specify your own custom utilization bands. The existing Utilization map overlay displays utilization relative to thresholds that you set, but with custom utilization bands you can specify link color based on overall utilization.

To specify custom utilization bands:

1. In the Map Overlay form, select Utilization.
2. The Use Custom Util Bands field will appear below. Switch it on.
3. By default, a single custom util band appears for 0-100% utilization, colored red. Either click + Add Util Band or click on an existing band to edit its value parameters and change its color.
   
   
   
   
4. Edit or curate new bands as you wish by entering the lowest value % of the band and its color, and then click Done to save the band.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. The bands will appear on the Map Overlay form. Click Done to save your changes, otherwise click Cancel. Note, if you switch off Use Custom Util Bands or change Map Overlay to Status, your saved custom utilization bands will still be available when you turn custom utilization bands back on.
   
   

To highlight a specific View, service or network path on a map:

If you want to highlight a specific View, or the View in which a service is located, or a network path on the map, you can specify this via the Highlight button at the top of the dashlet. By default, the map highlight is set to 'None'. The highlight mode 

1. Click Highlight: None. The Map Highlight form will slide in on the right.
2. Click the Highlight field and select what you want to highlight on the map:
   
   
   
   
   • None - no highlights.
   • View - select View, and then from the View field below, select the View you want to highlight.
   • Service - select Service, and then below select the View which your desired service is in, and then below select your desired service.
   • Network Path - select Network Path, and then below select the View which your desired network path is in, and then below select your desired network path. This is only available when you have a remote SurePath server.
3. Click Done in the top right of the form to save and exit, or Cancel to cancel.
   
   

To highlight specific objects on a map:

If you want to quickly find a View or object on the map, you can search for it via the Search box at the top of the dashlet.  If located, the View or object will be highlighted with a pulsing blue circle.

1. Navigate to the desired map dashlet.
2. In the Search box in the top right of the dashlet, enter the name of the object for which you want to search and press Enter.
3. All objects with the search term that you have entered will be highlighted with a pulsing blue circle.
4. To remove the highlight, clear the text from the Search box.

To specify which links to display on a map:

 By default, the map link type is set to 'All'.

1. Click Links: All. The Map Link Types form will slide in on the right.
2. Select or deselect the types of links you want or do not want to be highlighted on the map.
3. Click Done in the top right of the form to save and exit, or Cancel to cancel.

Please see below for a list of the link types that you can select:

• Layer 2: CDP - Cisco Discovery Protocol.
• Layer 2: LLDP - Link Layer Discovery Protocol.
• Layer 2: Physical Address Matching - physical address matching.
• Layer 2: SONMP - SynOptics Network Management Protocol.
• Layer 2: Spanning Tree.
• Layer 3: IP Peers - IP peering.
• Layer 3: Trace Route - Trace Route ping state.
• Other: Custom Connection - displays any user defined physical connections in the map. You can create a custom connection from the map via the right-click context menu.
• Other: Host Detection - host detection.
• Other: IPv6 ND - IPv6 ND is available in Entuity through the IPv6 module. When it is activated through configure, Entuity discovers port IPv6 addresses on IPv6 managed devices. You can then use the IPv6 ND to show links between IPv6 devices using neighbor discovery.
• Other: VM Detection - VM detection.
• Routing: BGP - Border Gateway Protocol.
• Routing: EIGRP - Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol.
• Routing: IS-IS - Intermediate System to Intermediate System.
• Routing: OSPF - Open Shortest Path First.

To view details of links between managed objects:

You can drill down into the links between managed objects for further information.

1. Navigate to the Map for your chosen View/subView.
2. Double click on the connection you want to look at, or right click on it and click Show Details on the menu that appears.
   
   
   
   
3. The Link Details window will open. The Link Details window lists all connections between the two connected managed objects.
   
   
   
   The status and direction of each connection is displayed, along with the SubViews/components (and their parent devices) that are connected. You can click on each subView, component or device to open the Summary dashboard for the selected managed object.
4. You can filter the list with free text via the Filter Table field in the top right:
   
   
   
   Or by clicking the Overflow Menu and clicking Edit Filter, which opens the Filter Columns form:
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. You can also remove all filters by clicking Reset Filter via the Overflow Menu.
   
   

To change the layout of objects on a map:

1. Navigate to the Map dashboard for your selected subview.
2. On the map itself, click and hold down the mouse button on the subview/device you want to move. A purple highlight will appear on the object, so that you can see exactly which object it is you have selected. Drag the object to where you want to move it. The connections from this object will move with it in real time, showing you how the map will look.
3. To move two or more objects at the same time and in the same arrangement, hold CTRL and select the objects you want to move. Drag any of the highlighted objects to where you want them to be moved.

To customize inline and hover-over tooltip labels on a map (to display attributes on the map):

You can add customizable labels on the Topological Map that can display any attribute that is not a time-series metric. From Entuity v19.0 P03 upwards, you can also add labels that display time-series attributes to device nodes. You can display up to 3 fields of information on the map itself (under the device/metric), and up to 10 fields of information on a tooltip that is displayed when hovering over the object/device.

Attributes will be updated when a new value is available. Any stream attributes displayed will be the most recent valid attribute, meaning that if the device stops communicating with the Entuity server then the attribute will display the last valid value.

You can specify whether to display the following:

• both inline and hover-over tooltip labels.
• just inline labels.
• just hover-over tooltip labels.
• none.

In the below example, you can see an example of an inline label (red arrow) and hover-over tooltip label (yellow arrow):

To specify/edit the labels you want to see on a Topological Map:

1. Navigate to the Create/Edit Map Dashlet form.
2. Scroll down to and click the Topological Map Labels field. This will open the Topological Map Labels form, which lists the labels you have currently assigned to this map and is where you can click + Add Label.
3. Clicking + Add Label will open the Add Label form. Select the attribute you want to display as a label on the map from the Attribute dropdown field, and click Done.
4. On the Topological Map Labels form, any attributes you have selected will be listed. Click on an attribute to open its Configure Label form, where you can choose whether to display the label inline on the map (up to a maximum of 3 fields of information), as a hover-over tooltip (up to a maximum of 10 fields of information), or both. You can also delete labels using this form.

To change the background image of a map:

You can change the background of the map from a blank page to an image of your choice. E.g. you might want to change the background to a map or a plan of an office, and then change the layout of the objects on the map to reflect their real life positions.

1. Navigate to your desired Map dashlet.
2. Right click on the map to open the map's context menu and click Background Settings. This will open the Background Image Settings form on the right.
   • Select an image file from the browser, or drag an image file in to the file box.
   • Once you have selected a file, specify the Background Image Settings, either Fit (default), Fill or Stretch.
   • Click Save to save your changes, otherwise click Cancel.

To navigate around a map:

1. Navigate to the Map dashboard for your selected subview.
2. Use your mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out, or use the + and - zoom buttons in the bottom right of the screen. Note that you can zoom in and out even whilst you are dragging an object. Alternatively, right click anywhere in the map's blank space and click Fit To View, Zoom In or Zoom Out.
3. Click and hold anywhere in the map's blank space and then drag the mouse in the direction you want to move the map. Release the mouse button to stop moving the map.

To add a text box:

You can add one or more text boxes to the Topological Map. A text box can contain a heading and/or text. To ensure that you can see the text box or boxes the next time you navigate to this specific Topological Map, you will need to save the map definition using the Save Map option in the map's Overflow Menu.

To add a text box:

1. Navigate to the Topological Map to which you want to add a text box.
2. Click Add Text Box via the right-click Context Menu, or the Overflow Menu.
   
   
   
   
3. This will open the Add Text Box form on the right. Specify a Heading and/or Text as you wish.
   
   
   
   
4. Click Done to save your changes, otherwise click Cancel.

The text box will appear on the map. You can then resize it and drag it to whichever position is best.

To edit a text box:

1. Right click on the text box to open its Context Menu, and click Edit.
   
   
   
   
2. The Edit Text Box form will appear on the right, which again contains the Heading and Text fields.
3. Make your changes as appropriate and click Done in the top right to save your changes, otherwise click Cancel.

To remove a text box:

1. Right click on the text box to open its Context Menu, and click Remove.
   
   
   
   
2. A dialog will open asking you to confirm your choice.
   
   

To select multiple objects on the map:

• Hold shift and drag across the map with the left mouse button to draw a selection box. Every object inside the will then be selected.
• Hold Ctrl and click on the objects you want to select. Each of the objects will be selected.

To drill down into a subView:

1. Navigate to the Map dashboard for your selected View/subView.
2. Double click on a subView. This will take you to the selected subView's level in the hierarchy, and will open its own Map dashboard.
3. You can also right click on a subView to access more options from a drop down menu. These are:
   • Add to View - opens the Target View form. Select the View to which you want to add the selected subView and click Done in the top right.
   • Create Service - opens the Create Service form.
   • Create View - opens the New View form.
   • Delete View - deletes the View. A deletion confirmation window will open.
   • Edit View - opens the Edit View form.
   • Put Into Maintenance - opens the New Maintenance form.
   • Show Open Incidents - opens the Incidents page for selected subView.
   • Threshold Settings - opens the Thresholds dashboard for the selected subView.

To drill down into a device or object:

1. Navigate to the Map dashboard for your selected View/subView.
2. Right click on a device or object. A drop down context menu will appear with the following options:
   • Add to View - opens the Target View form. Select the View to which you want to add the selected subView and click Done in the top right.
   • Configuration Management - click
   • Explore - opens the Summary dashboard page for the selected device.
   • MIB Browser - opens the MIB Browser for the selected device.
   • Ping
   • Put Into Maintenance - opens the New Maintenance form.
   • Remote Terminal - opens the Remote Terminal for the selected device.
   • Show Open Incidents - opens the Incidents dashboard page for the selected device.
   • Suppress Events - opens the Event Suppression form for the selected device.
   • Threshold Settings - opens the Thresholds dashboard page for the selected device.
   • Create Custom Connection - select two devices to create a custom connection between them.
   • Access via Web Browser
   • Connectivity Report - opens the Infrastructure Connectivity Report for the selected device.

To add a custom device to a map:

1. Navigate to your desired Map dashlet.
2. Right click on the map to open the map's Context Menu and click Add Custom Device.
3. This opens the Add Custom Device form on the right. Enter the name of the device and click Done, otherwise click Cancel. 

To save changes to a map: 

In Entuity, all map definitions are stored on the Entuity server and then drawn on the web browser that you are using. If you adjust the map layout (e.g. by dragging an object or View from one position to another) and then click Save, the map definition is updated and saved.

Because more than one user can access the same View and therefore the same map, it is possible that another use will make a change to and save a map whilst you are viewing it. When this happens, the map that you are viewing will automatically refresh and update.

The following list shows map changes that can be saved:

• changes to the positional coordinates of nodes on the map, i.e. where objects appear on a map. Changes can be caused by repositioning objects on the map, adding objects to the map, and removing objects from the map.
• changes to the map overlay.
• changes to the display of links.
• changes to the background image of the map.

Note, zooming or panning within a map is not saved to the map definition.

To export a map to Visio: 

Entuity supports integration with Visio 2003, Visio 2007, Vision 2010 and Visio 2013 through the .vdx XML drawing file format. The layout of the network in the export file is the same as that in the currently displayed Entuity topological map. The exported map uses a predetermined set of network icons.

1. Navigate to the topological map that you want to export.
2. Click the Map dashlet Overflow Menu.
3. From the menu, click Export to Visio. Entuity will generate a .vdx file, and the filename will be the name of the View shown by the map. E.g., a topological map for the View called "UK" will be exported to Visio with the filename UK.vdx.

To switch between topological mode and geographical mode:

Geographical mode is the other type of map available in Entuity. Please see this section for further help and information on Geographical maps.

1. Navigate to your desired View, and access the Map dashboard (or a custom dashboard containing a Map dashlet).
2. Click the Mode toggle at the top of the Map dashlet (which will be showing Topological Mode, depending on your preferences), and select Geographical Mode. The dashlet will then change to the Google Maps satellite map display.
3. To switch back to the topological mode, click the Mode toggle (which will be showing Geographical Mode) and click Topological Mode.