NP View supports several different methods of importing a variety of both primary device data, such as firewall configurations, and auxiliary data, such as hostname files.
Note: The Windows API has a maximum path length of 256 characters. When importing files into NP-View with long file names (typically > 50 characters), they may fail to import. Reducing the length of the file name before importing tends to resolve this issue.
Once a workspace is created, the user can begin importing configuration files from Firewalls, Routers and Switches, and/or auxiliary data, such as hostname files. Multiple supported configuration files can be loaded at a single time.
Import can be done via several methods. These methods are Drag and Drop, Main Menu Import, or Automated Import on a schedule Via 'Connectors'
Open the Main Menu and select Import Data
The Import window will open where you may add files. For Management Systems (Ex. Panorama) and also for Auxiliary Data, a second step will be presented to the user to allow them to view the entire list of data, and select a subset for import. For Panorama, it would show a list of all the devices contained in the files uploaded and allow the user to choose a subset of these devices to actually add to the workspace.
When files have been added, devices have been selected, and the user has chosen to click next; the files will be moved to the in progress tab.
When your files are completely processed they will move to the Uploaded tab. Users can view the history of all of their imports in the Uploaded tab at any time.
Automatically – NP-View can also be configured to automatically retrieve files from devices, network management systems, and file shares on a schedule to keep your environments more up to date. See the Connectors section for more information on how to get started.
Note: Import can take some time depending on the number and size of the files imported. The import status will be displayed by the background task spinner next to your user name in the upper right corner of the map. Upon completion of Import, the Home View of the Topology Map will be displayed.
Note: Device licenses are applied on First import. As files are loaded, the available license count goes down and the device is tracked across all workspaces. See the licensing section for more details.
When importing a device, NP-View uses a built-in device classifier to figure out what kind of device it is using device heuristics. However, because many devices can use the same configuration file, this can be tricky. For example, different Cisco hardware can run the same Cisco IOS, but the configuration file doesn’t tell you which hardware it is.
The device classifier tries to distinguish between routers and firewalls by looking for syntax differences like how static routes are expressed. But this isn’t always accurate since routers can use dynamic routing instead of static routes.
By convention, the NP-View device classifier will classify a device as a firewall if the configuration contains access lists. If the app misclassifies a device, the user can change the device type using the info panel for that device.
This table lays out the various types of Auxiliary Data NP-View accepts, and the order in which they should be prioritized for import. Primary Devices are considered Priority 1.
Once the relevant configuration files (priority 1) are loaded, auxiliary data may be added to a workspace to enrich and augment the analysis and topology visibility.
Each workspace can only handle one file of each auxiliary type at a time. This was done to support change tracking of hosts on the network. When a new file is uploaded, it completely overwrites the older file of that type regardless of the creation date of the file.
As multiple files can have similar data, we have implemented a data priority to facilitate data enrichment and prioritization of data importance within the system.
Please see the auxiliary data section for information on file types and structures for the file types.
NP View allows for several different methods of exporting different types of workspace data.
The entire Access Rules and Object Groups table and its contents can be exported to an Excel formatted document. The export will only contain the visible columns in the report.
It is important to keep the comments columns (Comment, Comment Author, Comment Status) as well as the Object Id column visible as they are required for subsequent import.
It is recommended that at least one row of data be manually filled in with metadata before export to fully populate the template with examples of the field format.
For Access Rules, there are three export options:
For Object Groups, there are two export options:
Once the export button is clicked, the file (rule.xlsx, or object.xlsx) will automatically download. The file will contain all of the visible table columns plus multiple columns of comment data.
As part of the audit process, Comments can be updated for Access Rules and Object groups as discussed here. Once the primary and secondary data is loaded, the user may want to bulk load justification data into the Access Rules and Object Groups tables.
Access Rules
The access rules export will contain four columns of data for each comment as below.
Object Groups
The Object groups export works the same as the Access rules except the Comment Criticality column will accept ‘Low’, ‘Medium’, ‘High’ or can be left blank.
Once the file is updated and saved, the user can use the +Import function or simply drag and drop the file into the workspace for upload.
Only metadata fields that have been added or changed will be imported. A time stamp and username of the importer will be applied when imported. The results will be viewable in the report after processing is complete and the report has been refreshed. Updates to comment and metadata history, standard NP-View fields and expanded objects will be ignored upon import.
Note that the import keys on multiple fields to match data. The following fields are required in the file to properly import.
