[AusNOG] Network Visualisation Tools, favourites?

[Simon Knight]

On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 3:09 PM, Andrew Fort <afort at choqolat.org> wrote:

> In my view, this sounds like a solution to the wrong problem.
>
> Have the network database provision your network resources, build the
> config, and the diagrams.  Doing it the other way around seems to
> encourage divergence from your standards.

I agree. To me the research area is what this database should look
like and how it is setup.

We'd like to reduce the steps to go from a network diagram (eg Visio)
to the network database - a network diagram seems a natural starting
point in network design.

What does this database look like?
Resources stored in an SQL style database can automatically generate
configurations and diagrams. We'd like to capture the network in a
more abstract form, as this allows verification: actively measuring
the network to check it meets the database.
We can do host reachability, but we'd also like to be able measure
network-level goals, such as redundancy and throughput requirements,
and play around with "what-if" scenarios in a test/emulated lab,
before changes are rolled out.

Any input is welcomed.

Cheers
Simon