[gentle electronic music]
>>It's time to build our first map.
The mapping tool we'll be using is called Network Atlas,
which is included with Orion.
This is one of the tools that runs outside the web console,
so I'm going to launch it from my Orion server.
Network Atlas is automatically
installed on the polling engine, and you'll find it
on the server's start menu, under the SolarWinds folder,
or you can install it on your local workstation,
so that you don't have to log on
to the polling engine directly.
Also, if you are the primary
Orion administrator for your organization,
but you have users who want custom maps,
you can let them build their own.
For instance, if you're monitoring multiple physical sites,
your local network admins may want to create
maps of the offices they're responsible for.
They could download Network Atlas on their workstations
and build whatever maps they want,
without having to log into the Orion server.
You can find the Network Atlas download link
at the bottom of your maps in the web console.
All right, let's go into Network Atlas.
When you launch the program,
it will first ask you to log in.
This lets Network Atlas connect to the Orion database,
to pull in all the objects
that your account has permissions to see.
When other users log in with their Orion user accounts,
any account limitations in place
are going to restrict what they can see.
So, letting your Orion users have access to Network Atlas
doesn't grant them any elevated privilege level.
It just allows them to manage their own maps.
Once I've logged in, Network Atlas asks me
what type of map I'd like to build.
I can either build a traditional network map
or I can build a wireless heat map.
Wireless heat maps let you automatically
map your wireless access point coverage areas,
and they do a very good job of it.
If you've never looked at wireless heat maps,
once you're comfortable with Network Atlas,
you should definitely give them a try.
But for this video, we're going to
stick with a traditional network map.
Network Atlas has a fairly simple and standard layout.
Up at the top you have a toolbar.
On the left-hand side, you'll have your Orion objects pane.
This is where you'll see all the objects
that were pulled in from the database.
And on the right-hand side of the screen
you have your map editor pane,
which automatically opens to a new map.
The first step in building your map
is going to be to choose a background image.
Ignore the fact that there's a world map
background already loaded.
You can use any image file that you'd like.
So, you can go find your own background,
or you can use one of the pre-installed background images.
To load a background, click 'Background Image' on the toolbar,
and browse to the location of the image.
I'm just going to grab the very first
preloaded background image, this Africa 964 background.
Right now you may be saying, "In a previous clip,
"didn't you say you'll want to
"make sure that you're planning ahead,
"so that your maps will fit inside your views?"
So, is this background image a good fit?
And honestly, probably not.
So, I am cheating here a little bit.
I said that step one is to choose a background image.
In reality, step one should be to find or create
a background image that's the right size
to fit the view where the map will be displayed.
What I'd normally do first is open
this graphic file in any graphic editor,
and scale the image to match
the pixel width of my view columns.
I'm going to skip that step this time.
And it's not going to affect how I build the map.
But when I add this map to a view a little later,
you'll see why it's so important
that you pay attention to the size of your maps
before you start building them.
Now that I've got my background,
step two is to begin adding some objects to my map.
On the left-hand side of the screen,
I'll go to my Orion Objects pane,
and I'll add some nodes, using drag-and-drop.
You can multiple objects at once,
using shift-click and control-click.
Once I've got a few nodes placed on the map
and have them positioned where I want,
I'll go to the toolbar and click on the 'Connect Now' button.
Connect Now will automatically add links between devices,
based on your network topology.
When you click the button, you'll get a drop-down
that asks whether you'd like to map
your layer 2 topology, layer 3 topology, or both.
I'll click 'layer 2' topology first,
and you'll see that in this case,
it found the three physical links
between my network hardware.
I can click 'Connect Now' again
and choose my layer three topology as well.
But notice that there's no real differentiation
between layer 2 and layer 3, so it's probably best
to stick with one or the other on a single map.
There are some links that Connect Now will never find.
For instance, I'm going to add a couple of my
Windows® servers that I'm not monitoring the interfaces on.
Since I'm not monitoring the interfaces,
Connect Now cannot map the layer 2 connections.
In cases like this, I can add the links manually.
On the toolbar there are two connection tools,
a straight line connector and a curved line connector.
The straight line connector is very simple.
You click on a start point
and the end point, and you're done.
With the curved line connector, you're going to draw out
the curve by clicking at multiple points as you go.
So, I've got some nodes placed on my map,
and I've added my connections.
But now I want to format my map
to make it a little easier to read.
So, I'll start by repositioning
some of the labels to make them easier to see,
and then maybe I'll change the font's size and formatting,
which I can do from the toolbar.
But I'll be honest, I tend not to
use the toolbar all that often.
Instead, I almost always use the right-click menu,
because from the right-click menu,
you'll always have all the same
options you have on the toolbar.
But sometimes you'll have additional options as well.
Look at my label, for instance.
On the toolbar, I can change the font size
and basic formatting.
I can even change the color.
But what I can't do is change the background color.
But if I right-click on the label and click 'Properties',
on the Appearance tab, which is the only tab
I have for labels, you'll see I've got
all the same options I had on the toolbar,
but I have an additional option
to change the background color as well.
So, I'm going to change my text color to white,
uncheck the box for transparent background,
and I'll make my background color black.
Now, any time I do this I always add
a little bit of border width, because if you don't,
the text runs right to the edge of the background field
and it just doesn't look as good.
So, I'm going to give it just a little bit of border padding.
Now, click 'OK', and now you can see
that my label stands out on my map much better.
And you can change the look
of any of the objects on your map.
If I want to change my link, I'll right-click,
go to Properties, and on the Appearance tab
I can make my line thicker.
Maybe I'll change the color to green.
And I'll change it to a dashed line, just because I can.
Now again, my link stands out much better on my map.
Now, I do want to throw out one word of caution here.
When you look at a link like this,
you might be tempted to assume that the link is up.
But there is no "up" status indicator
for links in Network Atlas.
There is some status information.
In the lower left-hand corner, below the Orion Objects pane,
you'll see Connection Display Options.
And you have the choice to show link speed
or show link utilization, which will color code
all of your layer 2 links according to the link details.
There's also a down status indicator,
so if any of the 2 two links
that Connect Now is able to map automatically
go down, the link color will change to red.
So there is some link status information,
but there's not an "up" status indicator.
So, if you're looking at a map like mine
and you see a link that's green,
that doesn't necessarily mean that link is up.
It probably just means someone likes the color green.
Of course, you can also change the look of your node icons.
To do this, I could click the icon,
go to the toolbar, and click 'Select Graphic.'
And that brings up a pop-up window with a whole bunch
of built-in graphics you can use as your icons.
But instead, I'm going to use the right-click menu again
and go back to Properties.
And on the Appearance tab, notice I have more options.
So, I can still choose graphics,
and when I click on 'Select Graphic'
I get exactly the same pop-up I saw just a second ago.
But I also have additional options as well.
I can choose a basic shape to use as my icon,
which sometimes is exactly what you want.
It just depends on what sort of map you're building.
I can also choose Orion LED Status Icon,
which includes the small LED icon,
which is actually the default icon for almost all
of the objects you'll see on your maps.
I'm going to choose the large LED,
just to make my icon a little easier to see.
And then I'll click 'OK.'
So, now my icon is a little bigger.
And the reason I wanted to enlarge this a little
is I want to take a look at the little bubble
here in the lower right hand corner of the icon.
This little bubble is the child status indicator.
If you have an element that is part of the parent object
that's acting up, you'll see the child indicator pop up.
For instance, if I have an interface
or a volume on a node that's having problems.
You can turn the child status indicator on or off
by selecting the node, then on the toolbar,
under Status and Links, click 'Show child status'
and you'll see the bubble is gone.
But again, you always have
all the same options in the right-click menu.
So, I'll right-click on the icon, go to Properties,
and on the Status tab you'll see include child status.
So I'll check the box and click 'OK',
and now you see my little bubble is back.
All right, my map is starting to take shape.
It's still very simplistic, of course,
and there are a lot of features
of Network Atlas that we haven't talked about yet.
But at least I've got something to look at.
So, I'm going to save my map
by clicking 'Save' on the top of the toolbar.
It will ask me to name my maps.
So, I'll call this "My First Map" and click 'OK.'
Sometimes, people ask where the map files are actually saved,
and there actually is no map file.
The maps only exist as links in the database.
So, to see your saved maps, go to the top
of the Orion Objects pane and expand the Maps folder.
This will show you the list
of all of the maps that you have built.
And this is where you'll do all of your map management.
So, if I need to rename or delete a map,
I'll right-click on the map name and make that change here.
When I save my new maps, this is where I'll go to find them.
All right, my map is saved and I'm ready to add it
to a custom view in the web console.