Dynamic, Live Network Topology

Keeping track of their network topology is something that all companies struggle with.  On a daily basis new equipment comes online, old equipment goes offline, BYOD devices appear and disappear.  With VLANs, VxLANs, MPLS and other overlay technologies, network topology is constantly evolving.

To best diagnose networking issues, network engineers need to know where hosts are connected, the hosts uplinks and connectivity.  Network engineers need to know what links are active, where VLANs are configured and most importantly; what the root cause of an issue is.

There are a plethora of tools available to network operators, each promising better network inventory, tracking and insight.  Many solutions offer “maps” where network operators can place devices in their proper location, by hand, if the location is known.  Solutions need to offer an automatically generated, live updating end-to-end topology view.

To address network visibility issues, Sideband offers dynamically updated, live topology.

Within topology, devices are discovered and linked automatically.  Once a device is added to the topology map, traffic analytics and other important details are available directly from the map.  If a device detaches, it is automatically removed from the topology view and kept in the historical network model.  Network models provide historical information about the state of the network and allow for pre-deployment testing and historical analysis.

Device details such as the manufacturer, device type, management ip and interfaces are shown when a user clicks on the device.  The same Analytic drill-down available within the main WebUI is available on the topology map.

By utilizing the zoom feature within topology, devices can be easily located and their topology understood.  Devices are organized in layers, allowing network administrators to quickly visualize and comprehend the current network topology.