Table Of Contents
Cisco Network Designer Importer
CND PC Import Utilities
Installing the NMT2CND file
Nmt2Cnd Operating Instructions
Installing The DBF2Cnd Utility
DBF2Cnd Operating Instructions
CND PC Utilities
Cisco Network Designer Importer
The Cisco Network Designer (CND) is a PC configuration system for pre-sales
CND PC Import Utilities
The NMT provides two PC Utilities for loading the CNF into the Cisco Network Designer, where the data is stored as a project.
Table 12-1 PC Utilities for the CND
Utility
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Description
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NMT2CND
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Proprietary CNF file used by NMT to provision a network considering QoS, minimizing costs, and failure recovery. This file describes WAN topologies using the BPX, MGX, and IGX switch product line. These configurations can be loaded directly into CND for graphic display, BOMs and further reports, configuration checking, and LAN and other network additions.
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DBF2CND
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Uses the NMT SpreadSheet Interface (SSI) to load data from MS Excel workbooks into Cisco Network Designer. This data can be any Cisco products that CND supports. Data must still be verified within CND to confirm the validity of the design.
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Table 12-1describes these utilities.
Installing the NMT2CND file
Once the NMT PC version is installed, the NMT2Cnd and DBF2CND files are located the in the nmt\bin directory on your hard drive.
Note 
Install the NMT2CND on a high powered PC with Cisco Network Designer (CND) and Cisco WAN Modeling Tool (NMT) installed. NMT installation is not technically required to run the NMT2CND utility. If you plan only to use the DBF2CND utility, you only need CND and MS Excel installed.
Nmt2Cnd Operating Instructions
To operate the nmt2cnd, perform the following steps:
Step 1 Shut down CND if it is running.
Step 2 Launch nmt2cnd by clicking on the icon. You should see an MFC menu with the following three selections: File, Export, and Help.
Note Select File from the menu. Then select open NMT cnf.... Navigate to find and open your CNF file. nmt2cnd will read the cnf file, and look for a partlist.dbf file in a sub directory with the same name as the cnf file. To create the partlist.dbf file, run the Execute command. Use the NMT to run the Route, Optimize or Build Sites commands.
Step 3 A pop up window appears, listing sites, links, and part candidate counts. Click on OK.
Step 4 Select Load from the menu. Then select Import into CND.
Step 5 CND will launch, and the project loads. No messages are displayed in CND unless the project name already exists, in which case you will see a message that your project has been renamed to Project<n>.
Step 6 Bring the nmt2cnd window to the foreground while you wait for a message box displaying the status of the load. This message will tell you how many parts were accepted and rejected from the load.
Note This step could take 5 minutes or more for large networks and there is no feedback as to the status yet.
Step 7 Click OK.
You can now use CND to explore what you've loaded. Before modifying the project further, close nmt2cnd.
Note Do not close CND directly, and do not close the project or open other ones. When you are done working on the CND, close nmt2cnd, which will close CND. You can then reopen CND and work normally.
Installing The DBF2Cnd Utility
The DBF2CND utility is located in the nmt\bin directory on your hard drive. Before starting the DBF2CND utility, move the SSI macro from the c:\nmt\ssi directory to the c:program files\Microsoft Office\Office\XLStart directory. If Excel is running, shut it down and restart it.
DBF2Cnd Operating Instructions
To run the DBF2Cnd utility, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click the SSI macro to start MS Excel.
Step 2 Create an Excel workbook with the following files:
1. a sites sheet— The Site sheet must have two columns:
–Name - Site name, up to 10 characters,
–Type - Chassis Part type, up to 19 characters.
The Hor and Ver columns are optional. Use them to position sites on the CND drawing. 0,0 is the upper left coordinate. The positions will be stretched to scale. All sites but one must have at least one non-zero coordinate for the coordinates to be used. Otherwise an auto-position algorithm is used.
2. an options links sheet—The Link sheet must have two columns:
–Site1—Site name for end one of the link.
–Site2—Site name for end two of the link.
3. a Parts List sheet—The Parts List sheet must have two columns:
–Site—Site name for the part
–Model_No—The part to add QTY is an optional column, Use this if you want to enter more than one part per line.
Note There is a template example of these files in c:\nmt\data\excel
Step 3 In the Tools menu, go to macro<macros<SSI!NMT_Unload', and click run.
Step 4 Navigate to the directory where you wish to store the DBF files, and click save.
Note Ignore the message about other missing NMT files.
Step 5 Shut down CND if it is running.
Step 6 Click the dbf2cnd icon to launch the dbf2cnd utility. An MFC menu appears.
Step 7 In the MFC menu, select File<open and navigate to the directory containing your DBF.
Step 8 Open any file in the DBF directory. A pop up window displays sites, links, and part candidate counts.
Step 9 Click OK.
Step 10 Select Load<Import into CND. The CND launches and loads the project.
Note Be sure your project name is unique. If another project exists under the same name, an error message will appear and your project will be renamed to Project<n>.
Step 11 Bring the dbf2cnd window to the foreground while the project is loading. A message box displays the status of the load, and how many parts were accepted and rejected from the load. Click OK.
Note This step could take 5 minutes or more for large networks.
CND PC Utilities
You can now use CND to explore your loaded project. When you are finished, close dbf2cnd before you close CND. You will have to reopen CND to work normally; otherwise, it may hang up.
