Manage Views
Overview
In NP-View there are three levels of segmentation that can be used to organize your assets. From the most general to most specific these are:
- Workspaces: Contain a group of devices
- Views: Segments the devices present in a workspace into multiple views
- Zones: Segments the devices present in a view into multiple visual zones
This article will focus on Views and the different functionality around them.
Home View
- After creating a workspace and uploading 1 or more configuration files, NP-View will automatically generate the Home View.
- The Home View presents a high level overview of the primary devices within the workspace (Firewalls, Routers, and Switches). It is the starting point for all workspaces.
- To view assets connected to the primary devices as well as path analysis a new view must be created. (All views other than the home view will contain all the assets connected to the selected primary devices along with path analysis data.
Manage Views
Manage Views: All View related functions can be accessed from the main menu under Manage Views and can be opened from:
- The main menu
- With the shortcut key “V”
- From the view navigation bar at the top of the map
- Right click on a node or group and using the right-click menu
Creating a View
When opening Manage Views in a workspace that contains only the Home View, you cannot edit the Home View, so a new view will need to be created.
- Open Manage Views
- Select Create New View
- Name the View
- Choose the Devices and/or Auxiliary Data to include in the new view
- Choose whether or not to include external paths (This can provide a more complete picture but significantly increases build time, and is not always necessary)
- Create View
- The view will be created in the background allowing continued use of the home view until the analysis has completed and the view has been built.
- Once completed, the topology map will switch to the newly created view with the view details.
Note: Devices can be connected by a solid or dotted line. A solid line indicates evidence of a direct connection. A dotted path represents a connection that is inferred from the information provided (e.g., a layer 2 connection). Additional configuration data is required to convert inferred to direct connections.
Editing View
Existing views can be updated by opening Edit mode
- Select the desired View
- Click the kebab menu
- Select Edit
From this point you can
- Rename the view
- Add or Remove devices from the view
- Change Path Analysis used (will reprocess the view and topology)
- Delete the view – Select the Trashcan from the kebab menu (only the view will be removed, not data will be deleted)
View Navigation
Navigation between views can be accessed in 2 ways
- From the topology: by opening the View Navigation dropdown
- From Manage Views by opening the menu navigating to manage views and selecting a View.
New in 5.0 [Release Notes] we’ve included:
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- Now you can load and work with the details of a view without loading the view on the map
- Views are only loaded on the topology if the Play button is selected
- View details only are loaded if the row itself is clicked
- Views build and rebuild in the background allowing you to continue work while a view is being generated
- Now you can load and work with the details of a view without loading the view on the map
Limitations
Devices per view are limited by the product purchased as outlined below:
- Desktop: 15 devices per view
- Server : 25 devices per view
The above limitations also depend on the size and complexity of the configuration files and the specifications of the system. Lower powered system may reduce the capability to support the above limits. YMMV.
