Mapping Consumer Edge WAN Links
Hey all,
I have a number of sites that are in a logical broadcast domain over WAN connections that are essentially delivered to me as a layer 2 connection. I would like to be able to see these sites represented as having their physical interface connect into something like a provider cloud, which represents a necessary abstraction. Beyond my consumer edge equipment, I have no visibility or access into the provider network, naturally.
I've come up with a very kludgy way to do this, but I am hoping that someone here might have a more refined way of doing this.
What I am currently doing:
1. Create a map with my consumer edge devices included (let's say for the sake of argument that we're dealing with 7 sites on the same broadcast domain.)
2. Create a dummy device with only an ICMP monitor
3. Rename the dummy device 'WAN Broadcast Domain', disable alerts, etc.
4. In Maps, I link the relevant interfaces from my consumer edge devices to the dummy device so it can do nothing other than hold the other side of the link and pretend to be my provider network.
When this is all done, I end up with functional representation of my physical interfaces connecting to my provider network duplicated at multiple sites. However, I've also got this lie of a dummy device in the middle of the topology, which is not monitored, nor does it need to be.
I'm hoping there is an easier / more 'honest' way to show this that doesn't require the theater of the dummy device.
Any ideas? Help MUUUUCH appreciated.
Thanks,
-Dan
I have a number of sites that are in a logical broadcast domain over WAN connections that are essentially delivered to me as a layer 2 connection. I would like to be able to see these sites represented as having their physical interface connect into something like a provider cloud, which represents a necessary abstraction. Beyond my consumer edge equipment, I have no visibility or access into the provider network, naturally.
I've come up with a very kludgy way to do this, but I am hoping that someone here might have a more refined way of doing this.
What I am currently doing:
1. Create a map with my consumer edge devices included (let's say for the sake of argument that we're dealing with 7 sites on the same broadcast domain.)
2. Create a dummy device with only an ICMP monitor
3. Rename the dummy device 'WAN Broadcast Domain', disable alerts, etc.
4. In Maps, I link the relevant interfaces from my consumer edge devices to the dummy device so it can do nothing other than hold the other side of the link and pretend to be my provider network.
When this is all done, I end up with functional representation of my physical interfaces connecting to my provider network duplicated at multiple sites. However, I've also got this lie of a dummy device in the middle of the topology, which is not monitored, nor does it need to be.
I'm hoping there is an easier / more 'honest' way to show this that doesn't require the theater of the dummy device.
Any ideas? Help MUUUUCH appreciated.
Thanks,
-Dan