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Routing Analysis & Troubleshooting

Workbook

1. Search, map and visualize a routing design

Objective

Create a map for all devices or interfaces running a certain routing protocol.
Visualize the routing design in the map


Instructions

a. Search and map a routing design

1) Enter a configuration keyword such as router eigrp in the Search box and press the Enter key.
Use double quotes around the string to match the whole string.


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2) Check the checkbox before the category Configuration file to select all devices under this
category. Check the checkbox Create new map and then click the Map Selected Devices link. A
new Qmap (Qmap1) is created.



3) Zoom in on the map to see the routing protocol along the link.




b. Highlight the routing protocol

Select Highlight >> Routing Protocol from the map floating menu of the map you created in the
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previous step. In the pop up window, keep the default setting (highlight all routing protocols) and
click OK.




c. Annotate the configurations of a routing protocol on the map

Mouse over an object on the map such as a routing protocol to view its configurations and click the
Display on the current map button to save it as a note on the map.




d. Launch Design Reader to analyze the routing design





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1) From the tip window, click the To Design Reader icon. The Design Reader pane opens at the
bottom.



2) Select two devices (NY-WAN-Tr and SF-WAN1-Tr) on the map and their configurations will be
displayed in the Design Reader pane. Select a design filter (Routing Redistribution) in the lower
left pane. In our example here, it shows the routing redistribution from EIGRP to BGP.




e. Create a dynamic link group for all interfaces running a certain routing protocol

The map you created earlier shows the devices running EIGRP 1300. For routing protocol such as
EIGRP or OSPF, it is ideal to create a map to draw only the interfaces running this routing protocol.
You can create a link group to serve this purpose.

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1) In the Workspace pane, right click on the Local node under Link Group and select the New Link
Group option.



2) Enter a unique name (eigrp interfaces). Under Search Dynamic Interfaces, select Routing
Protocol from the drop-down menu of criteria A and enter eigrp #eigrp_as (#eigrp_as is a
variable). Click the OK button. Click the Yes button if a popup window comes up.

Note: Under Search Dynamic Devices, you can enter the criteria to search devices and all
interfaces of the matched devices are added into the link group.





3) Right click on the link group you just created in the Workspace pane and select the Create Map
option. Enter an EIGRP AS number (1300) under the Value filed in the popup window and click
the OK button.

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Note: the link group name, the variable name and value are labeled in the created map.







2. Use Procedure to document the routing protocol design

Objective

Run automation procedures to
Filter a routing protocol configuration
Draw a map with all devices running this routing protocol
Draw note to show the configurations
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Instructions

Automation procedures provide further automation to document the routing design. If you are
interested in how to write this type of procedure, attend our free web training class Network
Automation via Qapp Intermediate. Here we use a built-in procedure as an example.


a. Search procedures in the Procedure Center

Click the Procedure tab and then the Qapp Center icon in the ribbon menu. At the top of the Qapp
Center is the Search box. Enter a keyword (for example, eigrp) and the first file matching this
keyword will be highlighted. Double click a procedure (Highlight EIGRP Configuration) to pre-view
the procedure. Click the Edit link to edit the procedure.


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b. Run a procedure

Right click a procedure (Highlight EIGRP Configuration) and select the Run... option.



c. Select seed devices

In the Procedure Task window, click the Select Seed Devices link. In the Select Device(s) window,
click on the Device Group radio button and select a device group (Netbrain Class Lab) from the pull
down menu. Click the >> button to select all devices in this device group. Click the OK button.

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Wait for the process to finish. This procedure will create a map with EIGRP devices and their EIGRP
configurations as device notes. Right click the blank space of the map and select the Auto Link
option to link the devices. You may also right click the blank space of the map and select the Auto
Layout to get a better layout.

Note: some procedures such as the one we just ran, Highlight EIGRP Configuration, are run against
the current baseline. If a procedure requires retrieving data from the live network, it may take some
extra time to finish.

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3. Route Table toolkit

Objective

View the route table and find the route to a destination quickly
Identify any flapping routes and how a route is propagated
Compare the route tables to find any missing routes



Instructions

a. View the route table
Select a router (NY-WAN-Tr) in a map and click Route Table >> Route Table from the map floating
menu.


b. Sort the route entries

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Click on a parameter to sort route entries by this parameter. For example: sort the routes by Age
in ascending order to find flapping routes.




c. Find the route for a destination

Enter a destination IP address or subnet (10.81.12.0) in the Filter field of the Route Table pane,
then press the Enter key.



d. Map the route on the map

Create a new map and drag-and-drop a route entry to the Qmap.



e. Find out how a route is propagated
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Click the Go To Next-hop button to discover how this subnet is routed to the next hop device.
Continue this process till the destination is reached.



4. Ping and Traceroute tools

Objective

Ping a device
Traceroute to a device and map the results


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Instructions

a. Run proxy ping from a device

1) In the ribbon menu under the Home tag, select the Qapp group Network Analysis Tools. All
common used network analysis tools are under this Qapp group. Click Ping to option under the
functional category Live Tools.



2) In the Ping window, under Ping From select Device and press the button to select the ping
source (Bos-Core1-Tr). Similarly select the device (BOS-MUL-SRV-TR) or IP (10.83.10.20) to
ping to. Click the Start button to run proxy ping.

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b. Run traceroute from a device to an IP address

1) In the ribbon menu under the Home tag, select the Qapp group Network Analysis Tools. Click
Traceroute to option under the functional category Live Tools.



1) In the Traceroute window, switch to the Live Traceroute tab. Under Traceroute from select
Device and press the button to select the traceroute source (Bos-Core2-Tr). Similarly
select the device (SF-Office-SW-Tr) or IP to traceroute to. Click the Traceroute button to run
the traceroute. The system will login to the source device and issue the traceroute command.

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c. Map the traceroute results

In the Traceroute window, click the Options button to set the correct option and then click the
Map button. A new map will be created to draw the path for the traceroute results.




5. Automation on CLI commands

Objective

Execute CLI commands to retrieve the routing status, for example, BGP/OSPF/EIGRP neighbors
Compare CLI commands (text-based difference)
Find out the real data change of a CLI command via NCT procedure
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Monitor the real data change of CLI commands via Qapp



Instructions

a. Execute CLI commands

On the map you created in step 1, click Run >> Execute CLI Commands from the map floating menu.



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b. Add commands to be executed

Click the Add via Template button and check the checkbox next to the template EIGRP Command Template
to add all EGIRP commands of this template. Click the OK button.



c. Execute commands

Click the Start button. You can select one device to see the execution status and log.



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d. View show command results

After the system finishes execution, click View Outputs to view results. Select one device (SF-
NetMan-Tr) and one command (show ip eigrp neighbors).
Tip: the show command results can also be viewed in the Map Data pane.



e. Compare show command results

Click the Compare button in CLI Command Outputs Browser window. Select two DataFolders and
then click the Compare button. Note that the differences are highlighted and it is pure text-based
comparison.

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f. View the real data change of a CLI command

Right click on a device (SF-NetMan-Tr) in the map and select Device Data >> EIGRP Neighbors. Click
the Retrieve Live button in the EIGRP Neighbors pane to retrieve the data on demand.



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Click Compare button in the EIGRP Neighbors pane and select two DataFolders to compare the
data. Note that the system does not think that an EIGRP neighbor has changed even if the field
Uptime is different.



Note:
The device data EIGRP Neighbors we just demonstrated is implemented by NCT procedure. In the ribbon menu
under the Procedure tag, click the System Procedure Manager icon to view NCT procedures.

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A NCT procedure (NCT means Network Control Table) is used to benchmark and analyze the key network data.
The data created by NCT Procedure are identical to the system built-in data such as route table.


g. Monitor the data change of a CLI command via Qapp
As you may learn from other NetBrain classes, NetBrain Qapp is a standalone application which can be executed
from inside NetBrain Workstation. From the point of an end user, a Qapp is usually run within a Qmap to
monitor the data retrieved from any CLI command. The output of a Qapp map with the hotspot highlighted,
alarms and the data chart.
NetBrain team has created Qapps and Procedures for the routing protocols. From the ribbon menu under the
Home tag, select the Qapp group Analyze EIGPR Neighbors and Routes. There are four function categories for
this group, Map, Configuration, Monitor and Compare. Each function category includes one or multiple Qapps
or Procedures.
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Click the Monitor EIGRP option under Monitor functional category. The Instant Monitor window opens. The
variables to be monitored are listed as well as the input for the Qapp. Click the Run button.



The variables are displayed in the Qmap and refreshed very 2 minutes. The current variable value and its
historical chart are shown under the map.


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