View Plots
WAE Design opens to the main network plot. Although WAE Design shows only the sites in the network plot and tables, you can view those sites in more depth. You can also view more depth of interfaces and demands in their respective plots. In addition to these plot views, you can create and view layouts that show only those portions of the network plot that you choose. For more information, see the WAE Network Visualization Guide.
View Network Plots
The network plot, also referred to simply as the plot, is the main area showing the network topology. It can contain both sites and nodes.
There are multiple network plot views available (top left of Figure 3-2). The default view is Simulated Traffic. To change the view, select it from the Network Plot View drop-down list in the far, left Visualization toolbar.
- Simulated Traffic—View of simulated traffic that can be used for capacity planning, what-if analysis, and failure planning. Circuits are sized proportional to their capacity. Interfaces are colored according to the percentage of simulated traffic (in comparison to available capacity as defined by the size of the interface or the QoS bound).
- Measured Traffic—View of traffic as measured from live views of the network. Circuits are sized proportional to their capacity. Interfaces are colored according to the percentage of measured traffic (in comparison to available capacity as defined by the size of the interface or the QoS bound).
- Worst-Case Traffic—Interfaces are colored to show the maximum utilization of the interface over all failure scenarios as defined by the most recently run simulation analysis. For more information, see the Simulation Analysis chapter.
- Failure Impact—Interfaces and nodes are colored to indicate how a failure of that interface or node would impact other interfaces and nodes. For more information, see the Simulation Analysis chapter.
- LSP Reservation—Circuits are sized proportional to their LSP reservable bandwidth. Interfaces are colored according to the percentage of bandwidth (in comparison to what is reserved for the LSP). For information, see the RSVP-TE Simulation chapter.
- By editing the plan file directly, you can add a user-defined static view to display interfaces with customized color fills and fill percentages. The view then appears as an option in the Network Plot drop-down list. For information, see the WAE Design Integration and Development Guide.
Although WAE Design focuses on IP/MPLS Layer 3 (L3) network views and traffic, you can also create and view Layer 1 topologies. To toggle between views of these two layers, use the View->Layer 1 View or View->Layer 3 View menus, or use the shortcuts Ctrl-1 for Layer 1 and Ctrl-3 for Layer 3. For information, see the Layer 1 Simulation chapter.
View Site Plots
The site plot can contain other sites and/or it can contain nodes and their connecting interfaces, including external interfaces that are labeled with their destination node (Figure 3-3).
To open a site plot, follow one of these steps.
- Double-click a single site from the plot.
- Select multiple sites from the plot and then double-click one of those sites.
- Select one or more sites from the plot or the Sites table.
– Select View->Selected Sites.
– Right-click and select Open Site View from the context menu.
Figure 3-3 Site Plots
View Interface Plots
The interface plot is a window that displays selected interfaces in a stacked format, making it easier to compare one with another (Figure 3-4).
Step 1 Select one or more interfaces from either the Interfaces table or the plot.
Step 2 Open the interface plot in one of two ways.
- Select View->Interface Plot.
- Right-click and then select Plot Interfaces from the context menu.
Following are further options for interface plots.
- To vertically move the interface list within the plot, click the up and down arrows.
- To view a table of the selected interfaces, click the Adjust button. A new Interfaces table appears.
- To sort the interfaces by ascending or descending order, follow these steps. The interface plot displays the interfaces according to the sort.
Click the Adjust button.
Click a column heading to toggle its sorting between ascending or descending order. Click OK.
Figure 3-4 Interface Plot
Objects
Other than a site, an object is a representation of elements found in live networks, such as nodes (which represent routers), circuits, interfaces, LSPs, and more. A site is also an object, and is a WAE Design construct for simplifying the visualization of a network by grouping nodes within a site, or even by grouping sites within a site.
Objects have properties that identify and define them, many of which are discovered, though they can also be manually added and changed. For example, all circuits have a discovered Capacity property that can be edited. Other properties are derived. For example, Capacity Sim is derived from the Capacity property. Another example is that interfaces have a Util Sim property that identifies the percentage of Capacity Sim the simulated traffic is using. Properties are viewable and editable through an object’s Properties dialog box (right-click the object and select Properties). They are also viewable as table columns.
For more detailed information on object creating and editing, see the Plan Objects chapter.
Object Selections
Objects are selectable through tables and plots. However, not all objects are selectable from both, though most are. Some object types are only selectable through their tables, such as LSPs.
All selections made in a plot appear in the associated table and vice versa ( Table 3-1 ). Likewise, changes made in the plot are reflected in the tables, and vice versa. Hidden objects are excluded from the selection.
Table 3-1 assumes that all objects are in the foreground. For information on selecting objects that are in the foreground versus background, see the Refine Viewable Objects section.
Table 3-1 Select Objects
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Site Selections
- If the object you select is a site, then none of the child objects (child sites, nodes, and circuits) are selected.
- To select a site and all objects contained within it, press and hold the Alt key during the selections identified in this table.
Examples
- To select only a site, click it.
To select a site and all of its nested child objects, press and hold Alt while clicking the site.
- To select only two sites, click one object and then Ctrl-click each site that you want to select.
To select two sites and all the objects they contain, press and hold both Alt and Ctrl while selecting both sites.
- To select all sites in the plan file, press Ctrl-A in either the network plot or the Sites table.
To select all sites and all objects they contain, press and hold Alt and Ctrl-A together in either the network plot or the Sites table. |
Select an object. If other objects were selected prior to this new selection, those objects become deselected. |
Click one or more objects in any plot or table. |
Select multiple objects from the plot. |
- Do one of these steps from the plot.
– Click and hold while you drag the cursor across any objects you want included in the selection. – Click one object and then Ctrl-click each object that you want to select.
- Select all objects showing in a plot.
– Press Ctrl-A (Cmd-A on Mac). – Click and hold while you drag the cursor over an entire plot. |
Select multiple objects from tables. |
- Do one of these steps in a table.
– Click and hold while you drag the cursor across any objects you want included in the selection. – Click one object and then Ctrl-click each object that you want to select.
- Select all objects in a table.
– Press Ctrl-A (Cmd-A on Mac). – Click and hold while you drag the cursor over an entire table.
- If you are selecting objects from multiple tables, make your selection in one table, and then press and hold the Alt key (Option key on Mac) while making selections in another table.
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Clear the entire selection. |
Do one of these steps.
- Select the Select All -> Clear Selection in the table control menu. This deselects all objects within that table. If objects in other tables are selected, they remain selected.
- Click anywhere in any plot. This deselects all objects in that plot and in the associated table.
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Invert the current selection (everything selected becomes deselected and vice versa). |
1. Show the table whose selections you want to invert. 2. Select the Select All -> Invert Selection from the table control menu. |
Filter to Selected Objects
To filter only to the selected objects, select one or more objects from any plot or table, then select Filter->Filter to Selection. Alternatively, you can press and hold Ctrl-Shift (Cmd-Shift on Mac), and then double-click.
As with other object selections, to include the nested objects for site selections, add Alt to the selection process. For example, press and hold Alt while selecting one or more sites, and then select Filter->Filter to Selection.
Filter to Nested or Parent Objects
If a site contains multiple levels of child sites, you can filter to those nested objects. Right-click a site, and select Filter to Contained <Object> and then select one of the following, where <Object> equals sites, nodes, or L1 nodes.
- Direct—To see only the objects immediately contained within the site.
- All—To see all contained objects, no matter how deeply nested they are within child sites.
If a site contains only one level, the context menu changes to reflect as such.
Conversely, you can find a parent site for any given node. Select it, and then select Filter to Sites.
Refine Viewable Objects
View icons are available both in the network plot and in the site plots. Each of these icons make it easier to find what you need.
Except for Set to Foreground, when accessed through the Visualization toolbar, the view changes are applicable only to the network plot. When accessed through a site plot, the Zoom, Fit-to-Plot, and Drag actions apply only to that site plot.
Both the Zoom and Set to Foreground icons enable you to better focus and work in specific plot areas.
- Zoom—Enables you to drag in the area that you want enlarged to fit the entire plot.
Shortcut = Press the letter “z,” which toggles this functionality on and off.
To escape from the Zoomed view, press Esc.
- Fit-to-Plot—Resizes the diagram to fit within and fill the plot area.
Shortcut = Press the letter “f,” which toggles this functionality on and off.
- Drag Plot—Enables you to move the cursor over any portion of the plot to drag it to a different location.
Shortcut = Press the letter “d” or press the icon again to toggle this functionality on and off. The feature remains enabled until you turn it off.
To escape from the Drag option, either press Esc or click the icon to toggle it off.
- Set to Foreground—Brings selected objects to the foreground for improved viewing while sending all other objects to the background where they appear as if they are transparent. Selected objects must be L3 nodes, L3 circuits, sites, L1 nodes, or L1 links. This feature does not apply to other objects, such as demands, LSPs, L1 circuits, and L1 circuit paths.
To escape the Set to Foreground option, click the icon to toggle it off while objects are selected.
To increase or decrease the transparency (opacity) of how well the background objects appear, select the drop-down arrow next to the Set to Foreground icon. Enter the desired value, and click OK. The higher the value, the denser (darker) the background objects appear.
Note If you are viewing both L3 and L1 objects, this opacity value for background objects takes precedence over the layout opacity value that is set for viewing different layers.
Set Foreground and Background Preferences
To set foreground and background preferences, select the View->Preferences menu.
- Enable Selection of Background Objects—If this is enabled (selected), then you can select objects in the background. Otherwise, you cannot do so.
- Fit to Screen Zooms to Foreground Objects—If this is enabled (selected), then clicking the Fit-to-Plot icon zooms into and centers the selected objects. Otherwise, the plot itself is centered.
- Save Preferences—Save all view and tooltip preferences for all layouts when you save the plan file.
Tooltips
One method of seeing related information about an object is to show the tooltips and then hover the mouse over a site, node, L1 node, interface, or L1 link. For instance, hovering over a site you can see the number of contained L3 nodes, L1 nodes, and sites, as well as the total number of interfaces connected to the contained L3 nodes. To toggle this tooltip on or off, select the View->Preferences->Show Tooltips.
Context Menus
WAE Design has a hidden menu called a context menu (Figure 3-5). Anywhere that you right-click, whether it is in an empty area in the plot, on an object in the plot, on a table tab, or on a column or row in a table, a context menu appears giving you available options based on where you clicked. The only areas this context menu does not apply is in the main menus and in the Visualization toolbar.
The most common use case for context menus is for filtering to related objects. For example, to find the L1 circuits mapped to an L3 circuit, right-click the L3 circuit and select Filter to L1 Circuits from the context menu. You can select multiple objects and right-click just one to find the related information for all selected objects. If needing to see only selected objects in a table, right-click one of the selected objects and select Filter to Selections.
To access a context menu, right-click any empty area of a plot or right-click one or more objects from the network plot or table. If in a site, an interface, or a demand plot, the actions taken affect the network plot.
Figure 3-5 Examples of Context Menus
Tables
The tables that are viewable from the WAE Design GUI display a series of rows and columns, wherein the rows are objects and the columns are properties (Figure 3-6). Plan files also contain other tables that are not viewable from the GUI. These tables contain more complex information, such as showing complex relationships between objects. If you open a plan file using a.txt editor, each table is labeled with angle brackets, such as <Nodes> and <Sites>.
Note For detailed information about plan files and tables, as well as information on creating user-defined columns and tables, see the WAE Design Integration and Development Guide.
Common Tables
There are numerous tables available for specialized purposes, such as Multicast, P2MP LSPs, and Ports default. The tables listed below are the most commonly used and are the defaults. For information on showing and hiding tables, see Show or Hide Tables or Columns.
To bring a table to the forefront and make it the active table, click its associated tab. For example, to open the LSP table, click the LSP tab.
- Interfaces—A list of the interfaces in the network.
- Demands—A list of the demands in the network. Each demand specifies how much traffic is routed from a source (node, external AS, or external endpoint) to a destination (node, external AS, external endpoint, or multicast flow destination).
- Shortest Path—A list of the routes between selected sites.
- Nodes—A list of network routers, which typically have names that suggest their location and function. For example, node cr1.atl is core router 1 in the Atlanta site.
- LSPs—A list of MPLS LSPs in the network; each LSP contains both a source and destination. Note that sub-LSPs within point to multipoint (P2MP) LSPs are listed in the LSP table.
- Sites—A list of network sites.
- SRLGs—A list of the shared risk link groups (SRLGs); an SRLG is a group of objects that might all fail due to a common cause.
- AS—A list of both internal and external autonomous systems (AS’s). An AS is a collection of connected IP routing prefixes that are controlled by one operator.
Figure 3-6 Common Table Functions
Show or Hide Tables or Columns
Table 3-2 Show or Hide Tables or Columns
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Show or hide one or more tables. |
1. Do one of these two steps. – Select View->Tables->Show/Hide Tables. – Right-click any table tab and select Show/Hide Tables. 2. Toggle the tables you want to show to T (true) and the ones you want to hide to F (false). 3. Click OK. |
Hide a single table. |
Right-click any table tab and select Hide this Table. |
Show or hide one or more columns. |
1. Do one of these steps. – Select View->Tables->Show/Hide Columns. – Right-click any column heading and select Show/Hide Columns. – Click the wheel icon in the table area. 2. Toggle the columns you want to show to T (true) and the ones you want to hide to F (false). 3. Click OK. |
Hide a single column. |
Right-click any column heading and select Hide this Column. |
Search and Filter in Tables
Most WAE Design tables, whether below the network plot or with dialog boxes, have an empty Search field in the top right as shown in Figure 3-6. Likewise, they usually have a Filter control menu that opens a Filter dialog box specific to that table. Figure 3-7 is an example of an Interfaces Filter dialog box.
Table 3-3 Use Table Search and Filter Features
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Search for objects that match a specific string. |
1. If you are not in a dialog box, show the table whose objects you want to search. 2. In the Search field, enter a search string and press Enter. |
Filter the table to a list of specific search values, and either replace, add to, or narrow the list of objects currently showing in a table. |
1. If you are not in a dialog box, show the table whose objects you want to filter. 2. Click the Filter control menu button (Figure 3-7). 3. Choose from the drop-down lists and enter search criteria. 4. If you are filtering by more than one criterion, you can optionally use these controls. – Select Match All to filter to only those rows that match all the specified criteria (default). – Select Match Any to filter to rows that match any one of the criteria. 5. Select whether to replace, add to, or narrow the list of objects currently showing in a table. – Replace—Replace objects showing in the table with those found in the search (default). – Union—Add the objects found to those showing in the table. – Intersection—Filter to (search for) objects only within those objects that are currently showing in the table. |
Filter the selection to associated objects. For example, you might want to filter a circuit to associated interfaces. |
Select the Filter -> Filter to X control menu, where X is a name of a viable object. |
Toggle whether to change the filter selection with or without first asking. |
Select the Filter -> Interaction with current filter -> X, where X is either Always Ask or Replace. |
Figure 3-7 Interfaces Filter
Save Table Settings or Return to Defaults
Table 3-4 Save Table Settings or Return to Defaults
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Save table and column settings. |
Select View->Tables->Save All Settings |
Save table settings. |
Do one of these steps.
- Select View->Tables->Show/Hide Tables.
- Right-click any table tab and select Save Table Settings.
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Save column settings. |
1. Show the table whose column settings you want to save. 2. Do one of these steps. – Select View->Tables->Show/Hide Columns. – Right-click any table tab and select Save Column Settings. |
Restore all table and column settings to system defaults. |
Select View->Tables->Reset All. |
Resize column widths. |
1. Show the table whose column settings you want to save. 2. To adjust the column width to that of the longest variable, right-click the column heading, and select Adjust Width to Fit. To adjust the column width to any desired size, click and drag the column heading edge to any size. |
Restore column widths to their original size. |
1. Show the table whose column widths you want to restore. 2. Select View->Tables->Reset Column Widths. |
Other Table Actions
Table 3-5 Miscellaneous Table Tools
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Show all objects for a table within the plan. |
1. Show the table whose objects you want to see. 2. Click the Show All control button. |
Toggle the columns to sort in ascending or descending order. |
Click a column heading. |
View the sum of the values in a column, the average, the minimum, and the maximum. |
Right-click a column heading. |
View how many entries in a column are unique. |
Right-click a column heading. |
Resize column widths. |
- To adjust the column width to that of the longest variable, right-click the column heading, and select Adjust Width to Fit.
- To adjust the column width to any desired size, click and drag the column heading edge to any size.
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Restore column widths to their original size. |
1. Show the table whose column widths you want to restore. 2. Select View->Tables->Reset Column Widths. |
Detach the table from the plot. |
Do one of these steps.
- Click and hold the empty gray area above the table while you drag it to a different location.
- Click the double-page icon in the right of that same gray area.
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Re-attach the table to the plot. |
Click and hold the empty gray area above the table while you drag it to the bottom of the plot. When an empty blue area appears, release the mouse button. |