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Most users and deployments will see a single network view, which differs in name based upon whether you are performing a new installation or an upgrade to the current release. 

• New Installation: Initial setup for a new NetMRI appliance automatically creates a default network view, named Network 1, as a part of the procedure. This network view is automatically assigned to the appliance's LAN1 port before you perform discovery of the network. If the LAN1 port is not active, the MGMT port is associated with the Network 1 view.
• Upgraded installations: The managed network's network name is automatically used to identify the network view used for managing the network. This value may be changed, but changes are not necessary. The network name value is found in the Settings icon –> Setup –> Settings Summary –> Network Configuration section. It is titled Database Name in the current release and Network Name in the prior release. For Multi-Network Operations Center deployments, the same principle applies.

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When you perform the initial setup of a NetMRI appliance using the configure server, the appliance automatically uses the default network view, named Network 1, for the first discovery. You can also create more 'unassigned' network views for use with other physical scan interfaces and other networks. To create network views for the global network, complete the following: 

1. Choose Settings icon –> Setup –> Network Views.

2. Click the Add icon [+]  to add a new view entry.

3. Enter a Name and Description for the new view. Press the Tab key to navigate from the Name to Description fields.

4. Click the Add icon [+] again if you wish to create another view, or close the Network Views settings page.

The new unassigned network view will appear with a caution icon (Image Removed) in other dialog boxes, such as a discovery range configuration. This indicates the network view is not associated with a scan interface. For more information, see Configuring Physical Scan Interfaces and Configuring Virtual Scan Interfaces.

For information on creating network views for virtual networks, see Mapping Virtual Networks to Network Views.

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User action is required to clearly associate each discovered virtual network with its correct network view in the Network View Editor. This provides additional context to collected data and enables NetMRI to fully discover and model the network topology. If you define any new network views in this step, you will also need to configure scan interfaces based on the steps in Configuring Scan Interfaces. If a network view does not have an assigned scan interface, discovery will not take place on that network.

If you do not wish to perform extensive management of VRF-based virtual networks in your deployment and receive a System Health banner alert reporting unassigned VRFs, do not ignore the alert. Simply map all the discovered VRF-based virtual networks to your existing network view (VRF examples include (Default) IOS (for Cisco IOS), default (for Cisco Nexus), or master (for JunOS), which are the global VRFs that may be present in some networks). Doing so automatically instructs NetMRI to use collected VRF data for further discovery.

To add a discovered VRF to a network view, perform the following:

1. Go to the Settings icon –> Setup –> Network Views.
   The Network Views settings page appears, listing all currently defined views.
2. Hover over the Action icon for the chosen network view and select Assign. 
   The Define and Configure Networks editor appears in a popup window.
3. To see all currently discovered VRFs, click Search VRF Names.
   All discovered VRF instances in all devices are listed alphabetically. Unassigned VRFs appear in white in the left panel, and assigned VRFs are highlighted in gray. If you see more VRF entries then you can easily navigate, check the Show unassigned VRF Only check box.

4. To see all VRFs listed as discovered on each device, click Display VRFs per Device. All VRFs are listed under their respective device names.

5. To see all VRF instances that are associated with any Network View, click Display VRFs per Virtual Network. All VRFs are listed under their respective virtual networks. The same network view can manage all VRFs in a single virtual network.

6. To set an entire virtual network to the selected network view, check the check box for all discovered VRF routers in the list that are identified by a specific VRF Name (such as red or blue). In this case, each instance of the same VRF in the list shows its own unique Device Name.

1. • For each discovered virtual network, you will see one or more devices that are running VRF instances in that virtual network.
   • To easily select an entire virtual network for the network view, select the Display VRFs per Virtual Network option. Then, check all the device check boxes listed for that network.

7. In the right panel of the editor, select the network view from the Network View drop down to which you want to assign the virtual network.

8. Click Add (–>) to add the selected VRFs to the network view. To remove a VRF from the view, select it from the right panel and click Remove (<–).

9. Click Save or Save and Close to commit the changes. Clicking Save keeps the Define and Configure Networks window open.

Your changes are saved into the network view. To begin seeing the practical effects of this action, go to Network Explorer –> Summaries and open the VRFs accordion panel. Click View All VRFs in the panel if necessary, and click a network view link in the Network View column in the center panel.

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When the network views are configured with their associated discovery settings and scan interface, NetMRI automatically starts discovery across the connected network. After a few moments, newly discovered devices will begin to appear in the main Discovery pages under Network Explorer –> Discovery. Click device group names on the right-hand panel to see categories of devices discovered by NetMRI.

If NetMRI identifies a device inside any network view as using Cisco IOS, NXOS, or Juniper JunOS, it attempts to collect possible VRF configuration data on the device by using the device's CLI. If the CLI is not accessible, (or the device does not have VRF configurations), NetMRI treats the device as not configured for VRF. Full detection of VRF configurations on VRF-aware devices requires CLI credentials, including Enable password access. After discovery, you map VRFs to network views associated with virtual scan interfaces and discovery settings, to allow ARP and routing data collected inside the network view to be leveraged for further discovery.

After NetMRI discovers VRF-based virtual networks in your deployment, a System Health banner alert appears at the top of the screen. Click its link to view details about the alert, which appears in the Settings icon –> Notifications –> System Health page. For more information, see Managing and Tracking System Health.

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Anywhere you can view device information, such as under Network Explorer –> Inventory, the devices table shows a column titled Network View. Each managed device belongs to a network view, and the Network View column shows the device's membership.

Each entry under the Network View column links to the Network Viewer window. It shows the complete list of devices that are members of the network view, broken into the following two categories:

• Associated VRFs: The complete list, which are all of the VRF instances that route traffic for the current network, including the selected device's local VRF.
• Imported VRFs: The list of imported VRFs, which are all VRF instances imported based on routing policy from other VRF-aware devices that route traffic in the virtual network. The Route Distinguisher values identify the VRF instance to help specify how routes will be shared between different VRF networks.

Some device types do not use Route Distinguisher values (also known as Route Targets) for VRF configuration and the value will be blank as a result.

You can assign other VRF instances to the current network by clicking the Assign button over the Associated VRFs list, which opens the network editor. For more information, see Mapping Virtual Networks to Network Views.

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If you delete a network view from the Settings icon –> Setup –> Network Views page, all discovery ranges and static IPs that are associated with the network view will also be deleted from their respective pages under Settings icon –> Setup –> Discovery Settings.

When you delete a network view from NetMRI, all VRFs (virtual networks) that are a part of the Network View will become unassigned. When this occurs, a System Health warning message banner appears at the top of the screen. You can then reassign the unassigned VRF to another network view.

The scan interface that is associated with a deleted network view also becomes an unassigned interface. To delete a network view, perform the following:

1. Click the Settings icon –> Setup –> Network Views. The Network Views settings page appears, listing all currently defined views.
2. Hover over the Action icon for the chosen view and select Delete. A confirmation message appears.
3. Click Yes to delete the network view. Its previously assigned network becomes unassigned.

At least one network view will always be active in the system. Attempts to delete the last remaining network view, regardless of name, will be prevented by NetMRI.