Connecting Infrastructure

Interfaces: Connecting Your Infrastructure

Interfaces are crucial for visually representing the connections between your devices.

1. Right-click on a host node and select "Properties"
2. Select the "Interfaces" tab

Zabbix Integration: If you have correctly configured Zabbix to monitor the interfaces on your hosts (using templates like "Interfaces SNMP"), MapZ will automatically detect and display those interfaces.

tip

Make sure the "Interfaces SNMP" template is added to your host in Zabbix to collect the necessary data for MapZ to automatically detect and display your interfaces.

Interfaces Page

A dedicated Interfaces page allows you to manage each interface:

1. In the Sidebar, under the settings section, select 'Interfaces'
2. Here you can set each interface's properties:
   • IP, Status Item, Type Item, Speed Item
   • Rx Item, Tx Item, IP Address Item
   • Rx Limit (mbps) and TX Limit

note

The MapZ system tries to find matching items automatically from Zabbix. If your templates don't match what MapZ expects, you can match them manually for the best experience.

Adding Interfaces

Option 1: Using the Interface Tab

1. Click the "+" button to add a new interface
2. Specify:
   • Name: A descriptive name (e.g., "eth0," "WAN Interface")
   • Type: Select interface type (Ethernet, Wireless, Fiber, Other, VLAN)
   • Zabbix Item Mapping: Map to correct Zabbix items for status, speed, receive rate, and transmit rate -- RX Limit: Set the receive limit in Mbps
   • TX Limit: Set the transmit limit in Mbps

Option 2: Using the "+" Button on the Node

Click the small (+) button directly on the host node for a quicker way to add an interface.

Custom vs Zabbix Interfaces

You can add interfaces directly from Zabbix items, or create custom interfaces that don't necessarily link to a Zabbix Item.

Connecting Nodes

Now, let's connect the hosts to represent the physical or logical connections in your network:

1. To create a connection between nodes:

   • Click on the interface handle (small circle or square) on the first host
   • Drag the line to an interface handle on another host
   • Release to establish the connection

2. You can also set source and target by:

   • Holding the "Alt" key and clicking on an interface
   • Dragging the connection line to the destination interface

3. Interface handles are visually represented as:

   • A square with dark border indicates the source
   • A square with light border indicates the target
   • Hovering over the interface will show the name of the interface

Source and target handles are represented as:

Once the connection is established, you can customize its appearance by right-clicking on the connection and selecting "Properties".

Connections/Links

Connections are made between interfaces and react to RX and TX usage:

1. Right-click on a connection to customize its properties

   

2. Use the "Dot-Dot (Animated)" style for best visualization of traffic

3. Connection colors change based on utilization:

   • Yellow: 50%-60% utilization

   

   • Orange: 70%-89% utilization

   

   • Red: Over 90% utilization

   

4. Problems with an interface will also be shown on the connection

   

Adding Data to Connections (Monitoring)

You can monitor the performance of connections between hosts:

1. Right-click on a connection and select "Properties"
2. Go to the "Monitoring" tab

3. In the "Monitoring" tab, you can enable performance monitoring and add items from either host involved in the connection

The selected items will be displayed on the connection.

note

The "Enable Performance Monitoring" switch provides a basic function that checks each host's latency and uses the delta to update the "link latency". This feature is still under development.