Inventory

The Inventory section allows you to add/edit/delete network switches and SoftGates (VPC gateways). Initial setup of a Netris managed network is a three step process:

1. Create Inventory Profiles.

2. Adding Switches.

3. Adding Softgates.

Inventory Profiles

Inventory profiles allow security hardening of inventory devices. By default all traffic flow destined to switch/SoftGate is allowed. As soon as the inventory profile is attached to a device it denies all traffic destined to the device except Netris-defined and user-defined custom flows. Automatically allowed flows include:

• SSH from user defined subnets

• NTP from user defined ntp services

• DNS from user defined DNS servers

• Custom user defined rules

Inventory Profile Fields

Name	Profile name
Description	Free text description
Allow SSH from IPv4	List of IPv4 subnets allowed to ssh (one address per line)
Allow SSH from IPv6	List of IPv6 subnets allowed to ssh (one address per line)
Timezone	Devices using this inventory profile will adjust their system time to the selected timezone.
NTP servers	List of domain names or IP addresses of NTP servers (one address per line). You can use your Netris Controller address as an NTP server for your switches and SoftGate.
DNS servers	List of IP addresses of DNS servers (one address per line). You can use your Netris Controller address as a DNS server for your switches and SoftGate.

Example: This example Inventory profile is used to provide NTP and DNS services to the switches (common setup). A custom rule is created to allow UDP connections to the port 161.

Adding Switches

Every switch needs to be added to the Netris Controller inventory. You can add new devices with the following process:

1. Navigate to Network → Inventory

2. Click the Add button

3. Fill in the fields as described below

4. Click the Add button

Add Inventory Fields - Switch

Name	Name of the device
Owner Tenant	Owner tenant of the device (usually Admin)
Description	Description of the device
Type	Select Switch
NOS	Operating system of the device; applicable to switches only
Site	Site where the devices reside
AS Number	Private AS number of the device; applicable to switches only; recommended to be assigned automatically
Profile	Inventory profile for the current device. Profiles are used for the security hardening of the devices
Main IP address	Main loopback IP address for the device. A subnet with purpose set to loopback needs to be defined in IPAM for the current site
Management IP address	Management IP address for the device. A subnet with purpose set to Management needs to be defined in IPAM for the current site
MAC address	MAC address of the device; applicable to switches only (reserved for future use)
Preliminary port count	Used for definition of topology. When the device registers with the controller the actual ports will synchronize with inventory
Add Link	Used for describing physical connections between switches and SoftGates

Example: Add a new Switch.

Note

Repeat this process to define all your switches.

Adding SoftGates

Every SoftGate node needs to be added to the Netris Controller inventory. To add a SoftGate node:

1. Navigate to Network → Topology

2. Click Add

3. Fill in the fields as described below

4. Click the Add button

Add Inventory Fields - SoftGate

Name	Descriptive name
Owner Tenant	Tenant(typically Admin); who administers this node
Description	Free text description
Hardware Type	Select SoftGate
Site	The data center where the current SoftGate node belongs.
Profile	Inventory Profile describing the timezone; DNS; NTP; and Security features
IP Address	IPv4 address for the loopback interface
Management IP address	IPv4 address for the out of band management interface
Add Links	Used for describing physical connections between switches and SoftGates

Example: Adding a SoftGate Node to Topology.

Viewing Inventory

Inventory Listing provides information about network nodes known to Netris.

Heartbeat - Indicates whether the node can communicate with Netris Controller. Health - Indicates the health status of the node.

Note

You can also add new devices in the Topology view.

Topology Manager

The topology manager is for describing and monitoring the desired network topology. Netris Switch Agents software will automatically configure the underlying network devices according to this topology and will watch against potential failures.

Adding Links

To define the links in the network:

1. Right-click on the spine switch

2. Click Create Link

3. Select the From Port and the To Port

See the example below:

Once the links have been defined, the network is automatically configured as long as physical connectivity is in place and Netris Agents can communicate with Netris Controller.

Tip

You can drag/move the units to your desired positions and click “Save positions”.