Lab 07 - Learning the Circuits Model¶
Lab Overview¶
This lab provides an introduction and overview of how to manage Circuits, Circuit Types, and Providers within the Nautobot GUI.
Table of Contents¶
Lab 07 - Learning the Circuits Model
- Task 1 - Create a Provider
- Task 2 - Create and Import Circuit Types
- Task 3 - Create and Import Circuits
- Task 4 - Terminate and Connect a Circuit
- Task 5 - Review the imported and manually-entered results
Task 1 - Create a Provider¶
A circuit provider is any entity which provides some form of connectivity of among sites or organizations within a site. While this obviously includes carriers which offer Internet and private transit service, it might also include Internet exchange (IX) points and even organizations with whom you peer directly.
Step 1-1 - Login via the web browser to Nautobot¶
If you have not already, use a web browser to navigate to your instance of Nautobot at https://{{ your pod }}. We will be using the Nautobot GUI for the remainder of this lab so there won't be a need for a terminal. Log into Nautobot by using the login option in the upper right of the Nautobot homepage. You can log in as the superuser you created in a previous lab or the superuser account included with your lab environment, the credentials for this account will be provided by the instructor.
Step 1-2 - Create a new Provider using the web form¶
Click on the Circuits drop down menu at the top of the page and select Providers to see the list of Providers that have been preloaded for this lab. A CSV file with these Providers is...provided 12_nautobot_circuit_providers.csv, but you won't need to use it for this lab.
Click on the blue Add button on the upper right of the Providers list to open the Add a new proider form. The provider in my area is Cox Communications, so let's create a new Provider with the following attributes:
- Name: Cox Communications
- Slug: cox-communications
- ASN: 22773
The support information is completely optional, and we don't need to include it here.
Task 2 - Create and Import Circuit Types¶
Circuits are classified by functional type. These types are completely customizable, and are typically used to convey the type of service being delivered over a circuit.
Step 2-1 - Create a Circuit Type using the web form¶
Circuits require a Circuit Type, so in this step we will create one. Click on the Circuits drop down menu at the top of the page and select the green button next to Circuit Types to open the Add a new circuit type form. This is the most basic form possible, requiring only a Name and Slug. Create a new Circuit Type with the following attributes:
- Name: Internet transit
- Slug: internet-transit
Step 2-2 - Import Circuit Types¶
Click on the Circuits drop down menu at the top of the page and select the blue import button next to Circuit Types. Import 13_nautobot_circuit_types.csv, if successful you should see the following confirmation page:
Task 3 - Create and Import Circuits¶
A communications circuit represents a single physical link connecting exactly two endpoints, commonly referred to as it's A and Z terminations. A Circuit in Nautobot may have zero, one, or two terminations defined. It is common to have only one termination defined when you don't necessarily care about the details of the provider side of the circuit, e.g. for Internet access circuits.
Step 3-1 - Import Circuits¶
Click on the Circuits drop down menu at the top of the page and select the blue import button next to Circuit Types. Import 14_nautobot_circuits.csv, if successful you should see the following confirmation page:
Step 3-2 - Create a Circuit using the web form¶
Click on the Circuits drop down menu at the top of the page and select the green button next to Circuits to open the Add a new circuit form. Create a new Circuit with the following attributes:
- Provider: Cox Communications
- Circuit ID: cox-123456789
- Type: Internet Transit
- Status: Active
- Tenant: Nautobot Football Stadiums
If successful, you will see the detail page for the new Circuit.
Task 4 - Terminate and Connect a Circuit¶
Now that we have a Circuit and a Provider, let's terminate the Circuit at a Site and Connect it to a Device Interface.
Step 4-1 - Terminate a Circuit¶
From the detail page of the Circuit that was created in the previous task, look to the right and find the Circuit Termination info. Right now both the A side and the Z side are empty. We are going to connect the Z side to our Football stadium, but leave the A side alone as we are not concerned with how the Provider handles the connection on their side. However, if the provider was another Site we control, then we would include the A side`as well.
Click the green Add button on the right side of the Termination - Z Side box to open the Side Z Termination form. At the top of the form is information about the Provider, Circuit and Termination, just below that are 2 tabs - Site and Provider Netowrk. A Circuit must be terminated at a Site or Provider Network. We know what a Site is, but what is a Provider Network? A Provider Network is another object that can be created from the Circuits drop down menu. It represents an abstract portion of network topology, just like in a topology diagram, MPLS For example.
Select the Region and Site matching your stadium from the form, "Texas" and "HOU01" in my example, and click Create at the bottom of the page. The detail page for the Circuit now shows it is Terminated at the stadium.
Step 4-2 - Connect a Circuit Termination to a Device Interface¶
Click the green Connect button in the Termination - Z Side box of the Circuit detail page, this will open the connection form.
In the B Side box, set the following attributes (substituting you stadium details if necessary):
- Region: Texas
- Site: HOU01
- Rack: hou01-101
- Device: hou01-edge-01
- Type: Interface
- Name: Ethernet1/1
Just below that form in the Cable box (not pictured), set the Status to Connected and click the Connect button at the bottom.
If the connection is successful you will be re-directed to the detail page and the connection details will be populated. From here click on the small blue square Trace button on the Cable row of the table.
When Trace is clicked, Nautobot will follow the path of connected cables from this termination across the directly connected cable to the far-end termination. If the cable connects to a pass-through port, and the peer port has another cable connected, Nautobot will continue following the cable path until it encounters a non-pass-through or unconnected termination point.
In the simple example used here the cable path isn't very long so there isn't much to trace. However, feel free to connect additional cables.
Task 5 - Review the imported and manually-entered results¶
Step 5-1 - Find the tenant¶
Return to the Tenants list by clicking on the Organization drop down menu and selecting Tenants. From this list click on Nautobot Football Stadiums to view the detail page for that Tenant.
Step 5-2 - Review the Tenant stats¶
This will be the last time coming to this Stats section of the Tenant detail page. There are now 21 Circuits, unless you decided to create more (which is okay!). From Regions and Sites to Devices and Circuits, you have now modeled 345 (or more) objects in Nautobot, not bad!
