The newly developed VAA technology of the Guard! NetworkManager stands for Visual Assisted Analysis. This is a methodology that supports the informational capacity of the human eye in order to extract essential information from complex contexts.

 

When looking at the current state of technology, machines and programs are usually not capable of doing so or require disproportionate efforts.

Example:

Anyone who has ever tried to register at a Web site will know what the above example is about. This method is used because automated functions or programs are hardly capable of recognizing these types of patterns. Because the human eye or human intelligence, however, is capable of recognizing these patterns, we assume that it can also extract information from highly complex contexts - if only the information is prepared accordingly.
 

And this is exactly what is being implemented with the help of the VAA technology of theGuard! NetworkManager in order to detect configuration and performance problems with just one click of the button.
 
Example: In the image below, one can easily identify a duplex mismatch simply by retrieving a segment topology with just one click of the button. The corresponding path is marked in red.

The most basic level of an analysis based on the VAA technology is the mapping of the network topology. The physical connections that are found by the integrated topology manager are visualized using an AutoMap. The AutoMap will automatically place the nodes for the selected segment. Here, the user can choose from four layout algorithms:

• Orthogonal
• Hierarchical
• Symmetric
• Circular

The visualization can be limited to individual groups of nodes (e.g. sites, segments, etc.). Furthermore, there are certain filter conditions that limit the visualization to, for example, Active Nodes (switches, routers, etc.) in order to provide a better overview.

With the optional module VAA - Routing & Switching, the different statuses are displayed to the user as color-coded status information on the individual paths. Among others, the following status information is available:

• Operation and administration status
• Forwarding status
• Speed, duplex status
• Utilization and error status (when threshold values are exceeded)

In principle, the user can display any information on the respective object that is stored in the database.
 
The AutoMap functionality is already included in the base system. The modules VAA - Routing & Switching and Virtual Networks have to be purchased separately.

With the optional module VAA - Virtual Networks, VLAN-based statuses are displayed to the user as color-coded status information on the individual paths. Among others, the following status information is available:

• VLAN membership
• VLAN status
• the optional display of MPLS status information will be available shortly

 
Example: In the image below, one can easily identify the VLAN membership of the nodes; the filter was set to Active Nodes. The corresponding VLANs are displayed using different colors.