Creating Physical or BGP Topology Graphs

netlab graph command creates a graph description in Graphviz or D2 format from the transformed lab topology data (usually stored in netlab.snapshot.pickle) created by netlab create command. It’s replicating the functionality of netlab create -o graph:name command with a more convenient user interface.

Note

netlab generates the graph description files. You will have to install Graphviz or D2 and use them to create the actual graphs in SVG/PNG/JPEG/PDF format.

Usage

usage: netlab graph [-h] [-t {topology,bgp,isis}] [-f G_FORMAT] [-e {graphviz,d2}]
                    [-i INSTANCE] [--snapshot [SNAPSHOT]] [output]

Create a graph description in Graphviz or D2 format

positional arguments:
  output                Optional: Output file name

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -t {topology,bgp,isis}, --type {topology,bgp,isis}
                        Graph type
  -f, --format G_FORMAT
                        Graph formatting parameters separated by commas
  -e {graphviz,d2}, --engine {graphviz,d2}
                        Graphing engine
  -i INSTANCE, --instance INSTANCE
                        Specify lab instance to create a graph from
  --snapshot [SNAPSHOT]
                        Transformed topology snapshot file

Tip

• For more graph type- and graph formatting details, read the GraphViz and D2 output module documentation.

• When executed with the --instance option, ‌netlab graph creates the graph description file in the lab directory.

• You can use netlab environment variables to change the graph appearance (graphviz, d2)

Examples

• netlab graph creates lab topology graph in Graphviz format

• netlab graph -e d2 -t bgp creates a graph of BGP sessions in D2 format.

• netlab graph -t bgp -f vrf creates a graph of BGP sessions with VRF sessions show as dashed lines (more details)