Topology Hierarchy Manager

Within CloudVision, topology hierarchies are a way to customize the topology layout of your environment and devices that are reporting into CloudVision. This deviates from the standard CloudVision topology layout and allows you to more closely align the topology hierarchy, with how the environment really looks. This lab will walk you through the steps to create a custom topology hierarchy to match the dual Data Center ATD environment.

Preparing the Lab

This lab utilizes the Dual DC ATD and doesn't need anything special configuration wise. We are going to use the base ATD environment as it comes, and just modify the topology hierarchy in CloudVision. Click the CVP link on your main ATD screen to access CloudVision.

We can verify the default topology layout as follows:

1. In CloudVision, on the left hand side menu, click Topology.

   

2. From the Topology page, right click the icon that says untagged in the center, and click Expand Cluster.

   

3. Now we can see the default, unorganized topology view.

   

Lab Tasks

Now lets create a custom topology hierarchy that more accurately reflects the network layout for this ATD environment.

1. From the Topology screen, click the to open Topology Settings, and click Edit under the Topology Hierarchy section.

   

2. In the Topology Hierarchy Manager screen that opens, we can see some existing network hierarchies, however, we are going to create a custom one, so click New.

   

3. In the New Network window, give your hierarchy a name and click Confirm.

   

4. Click the top layer in your new hierarchy, which should say Custom. On the Layer Properties menu on the far right, we will change the following settings.

   1. Device Role: DC_Site_Number

   2. Display Name: DC Site Number

      Syntax

      Mind the spaces. While the Device Role field CAN NOT have any spaces, the Display Name field can.

   3. Display Alignment: Vertical

   Once you have changed these settings, click Save to save your changes.

   

5. At this point we will create the layers and sublayers that creates the menu system that appears on the Topology page. The layers and sublayers we create will be left with horizontal alignment. Create them as specified below.

   1. Create the following layers by clicking the 3 ellipses next to DC_Site_Number, and clicking Add Sublayer.

      

      • Device Role: DC_Spine
      • Device Role: DC_Leaf
      • Device Role: DCI_and_Hosts
      Auto Populate

      When you type in the Device Role, the Display Name field will auto-populate with the same content. You can just type over it to change the name to something else.

      

   2. Create the following sublayers by clicking the 3 ellipses next to each layer you just created, and clicking Add Sublayer.

      

      • Under layer DC_Spine:
        • Device Role: spine
      • Under layer DC_Leaf:
        • Device Role: leaf
      • Under layer DCI_and_Hosts:
        • Device Role: leaf
        • Device Role: endpoint

   3. When complete, your layers should look like below. Click Save to save your changes and then Done to exit back to the Topology Overview.

      

6. At this point we are ready to tag our devices to create the topology view. This is done by clicking the device, then clicking Tags, then assigning the tags. At this moment, the tags do not exist yet so we will create them the first time, and then the tags will show in the dropdown menu for subsequent devices. The tags will be assigned as follows:

   Container Arrangement

   Containers are arranged alphabetically, left to right. To get the DCI leafs and Border leafs close to each other, create the container names with that in mind. In our container names below, C1 and C2 (column 1 and column 2) will be how we organize the leafs on the left or right side of their corresponding data center's.

   

   • All Devices
     • Hierarchy: ATD Dual DC Topology (Or whatever you named yours if something different)
   • s1-spine1, s1-spine2
     • Device Role: spine
     • DC Site Number: 1
     • DC Spine: DC1 Spines
   • s1-leaf1, s1-leaf2, s1-leaf3, s1-leaf4
     • Device Role: leaf
     • DC Site Number: 1
     • DC Leaf: DC1 C1 Leafs
   • s1-brdr1, s1-brdr2
     • Device Role: leaf
     • DC Site Number: 1
     • DC Leaf: DC1 C2 Border Leafs
   • s1-host1, s1-host2
     • Device Role: endpoint
     • DC Site Number: 1
     • DCI and Hosts: DC1 C1 Hosts
   • s1-core1, s1-core2
     • Device Role: leaf
     • DC Site Number: 1
     • DCI and Hosts: DC1 C2 DCI Leafs
   • s2-spine1, s2-spine2
     • Device Role: spine
     • DC Site Number: 2
     • DC Spine: DC2 Spines
   • s2-leaf1, s2-leaf2, s2-leaf3, s2-leaf4
     • Device Role: leaf
     • DC Site Number: 2
     • DC Leaf: DC2 C2 Leafs
   • s2-brdr1, s2-brdr2
     • Device Role: leaf
     • DC Site Number: 2
     • DC Leaf: DC2 C1 Border Leafs
   • s2-host1, s2-host2
     • Device Role: endpoint
     • DC Site Number: 1
     • DCI and Hosts: DC2 C2 Hosts
   • s2-core1, s2-core2
     • Device Role: leaf
     • DC Site Number: 1
     • DCI and Hosts: DC2 C1 DCI Leafs

Test

Once you have assigned the correct tags for every device and you zoom out, your topology should look like below, which looks just like the ATD Dual DC network diagram.

Success

Lab Complete!