[Cu-wireless] link-state visualizer?

[stephane at shimaore.net]

Hi Dave,

> Does anybody know of free software for visualizing the OSPF link state
> on a network?

Not yet.

> My ideal program draws a graph: routers are vertices, links are
> edges. Green edges are in use, dashed green edges are available paths
> that are unused, red edges are links that recently were lost or that
> flap. Edges are missing between routers that have no link.
> Is there any such thing?

I had some code doing something like that based on traceroute & ping info,
in 3D (included the infamous "pink links" where the color was different
depending on the round-trip time).  However today I'd probably use
Otter[1] for visualization (although I wouldn't mind re-inventing the
wheel) and feed it with a script. (Real-time updates are generally a bit
more demanding than static image, YMMV.)

Not sure how to distinguish "in use" versus "unused", however. ;]
(In OSPF all links are potential candidates for a path; it's not like
Spanning-Tree where you block some links.)

If you have some "show ospf (whatever)" output I can use as starting
point, I'd be glad to give it a try. :D
S.

[1] http://www.caida.org/tools/visualization/otter/