Creating Topology, BGP, or IS-IS Graphs

netlab graph command creates a graph description in Graphviz or D2 format, or draws a graph with the help of GraphViz or D2 (which have to be installed on your system). It can use the transformed lab topology data created by the netlab create or netlab up command (usually stored in netlab.snapshot.pickle) or the original lab topology (more details).

This command replicates the functionality of the 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 to create the actual graphs in SVG/PNG/JPEG/PDF format. You can use the ‌netlab install graph command on a Ubuntu server to install them.

Usage

usage: netlab graph [-h] [-t {topology,bgp,isis}] [-i INC_LIST] [-x EXC_LIST]
                    [--title G_TITLE] [-f G_FORMAT] [-e {graphviz,d2}] [-v]
                    [-q] [--instance INSTANCE] [--snapshot [SNAPSHOT]]
                    [--topology TOPOLOGY]
                    [output]

Create a graph description in Graphviz or D2 format or draw a graph

positional arguments:
  output                Optional: Output file name

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -t, --type {topology,bgp,isis}
                        Graph type
  -i, --include INC_LIST
                        Links/nodes to include in the graph
  -x, --exclude EXC_LIST
                        Links/nodes to exclude from the graph
  --title G_TITLE       Graph title
  -f, --format G_FORMAT
                        Graph formatting parameters separated by commas
  -e, --engine {graphviz,d2}
                        Graphing engine
  -v, --verbose         Verbose logging (add multiple flags for increased
                        verbosity)
  -q, --quiet           Report only major errors
  --instance INSTANCE   Specify the lab instance to create a graph from
  --snapshot [SNAPSHOT]
                        Transformed topology snapshot file
  --topology TOPOLOGY   Topology file or URL

If you specify an image file as the output file (filename ending in
png/svg/jpg), netlab graph command tries to run graphviz (dot) or d2 on the
generated graph description file to create the image file you want.

Selecting Lab Topology

The netlab graph command gets its data from:

The topology file specified with the --topology argument
The lab instance specified with the -i argument
The snapshot file specified with the --snapshot argument
The default snapshot file (netlab.snapshot.pickle)
The default lab topology file (topology.yml)

The netlab.snapshot.pickle snapshot file is created when a lab is started and deleted when you shut down the lab with the netlab down --cleanup command.

Selecting Graph Type and Formatting Graphs

The graph type parameter can take one of these values:

topology – draw “physical” lab topology (nodes and links)
bgp – draw BGP sessions
isis – draw IS-IS routing adjacencies

These formatting parameters can be applied to a topology graph:

vlan – draw VLAN links in a different color. Use wider lines for VLAN trunk links.

These formatting parameters can be applied to a bgp graph:

all – show all lab devices in the BGP graph. By default, the BGP graphs include only lab devices running BGP
rr – draw arrows on BGP sessions to indicate peer-to-peer versus reflector-client sessions
vrf – draw VRF BGP sessions as dotted lines
ipv4, ipv6, vpnv4, vpnv6, 6pe, or evpn – draw the BGP sessions with the specified address families
novrf – do not include VRF BGP sessions in the graph

You can also specify/overwrite the graph title with the --title argument.

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)

Generating Image Files

If you specify an image file name (for example, graph.png) as the output file, netlab graph tries to execute Graphviz (dot) or D2 after generating the graph description file to create the desired image file.

netlab graph recognizes gif, png, pdf, svg, jpg, and jpeg as valid image file types. You can modify the netlab.graph.types system default to extend that list (assuming Graphviz/D2 recognizes the desired file types).

Creating Graphs from a Subset of Nodes or Links

The --include and --exclude parameters can be used to create a graph from a subset of nodes or links. This is how you can use these parameters:

You can specify one value per --include or --exclude parameter, but can specify the parameters multiple times
The include/exclude values match node modules, link roles, or node/link graph.class attributes (hint: the graph.class attribute can be a list of values)
If none of the specified include/exclude values match any nodes or links, netlab graph ignores all of the filters, emits a warning, and generates the full unfiltered graph to avoid returning an empty graph.
If you specify just the --include parameter, netlab graph creates a graph from the nodes or links that match the include values.
If you specify just the --exclude parameter, netlab graph removes the matching nodes/links from the topology
When you specify both parameters, netlab graph removes the nodes/links matching any of the --exclude values unless they also match one of the --include values.
After identifying the nodes/links to be removed from the lab topology, netlab graph removes the corresponding link attachments and node interfaces. Nodes or links that lose all connections are removed from the graph.

Examples

netlab graph creates a lab topology graph in Graphviz format
netlab graph graph.png creates a lab topology graph in graph.dot Graphviz graph description file and executes dot graph.dot -T png -o graph.png to create graph.png.
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 shown as dashed lines (more details)
netlab graph –include bgp creates a topology graph containing all nodes that run BGP.
netlab graph –exclude external creates a topology graph without any inter-AS links (they have role set to external)