Try out the Demo Maps
The first time InterMapper launches, it will open a Demo Map file that
shows simulated network activity: outages, high traffic, and other problems
that you'd see in a real network. (Although not as frequently, we hope...)
The image below shows a portion of an example map with a number of devices
(rectangles) connected by various kinds of links (lines). Here are some tips
to help you understand the various items on the map:
- Devices are displayed in green to indicate that the
device is up and running.
- Devices that are down blink red when InterMapper
cannot communicate with them.
- Click and hold a device
to see a status window of detailed information and outage history, or Right/Ctrl-click it and choose Status Window from the dropdown menu.
- You can tear off these status windows to keep them
open by dragging the mouse outside their boundary.
- You'll hear sounds to indicate that there have been
failures. (InterMapper can send e-mail or pages, too!) To silence these
alarms, choose Preferences... from the Edit menu, click the Sounds subcategory of the Behavior category and clear the Play sound notifications check box.
- Lines (links) show dotted lines (ants) when traffic exceeds a threshold
- Links get a yellow or orange background when traffic
exceeds 50% or 90%, respectively.
- Circles at the ends of links
(they look like raindrops in puddles) indicate errors that have been detected
by the interface.
- Circles close to the device indicate receive errors.
- Circles close to the network indicate transmit errors.
- Click and hold on a link
to see a status window of port/interface information and traffic statistics, or Right/Ctrl-click it and choose Status Window from the dropdown menu.
In addition, there are other things you may note on the map as it operates:
- Some devices become dim from time to time. That's because
they're being shadowed by another failure on the map. We also say
that those shadowed devices depend on all the devices on the path
to it. InterMapper can automatically detect this state and will avoid notifying
the network manager about outages if the dependent devices are unreachable
because of the other failure.
- On several of the demo maps, a star appears on a device. That means that it's the Vantage Point for "shadowing".
InterMapper will suppress notifications for a device if it's not possible
to reach the device from the Vantage Point without going through a failed
device. (It's in the "shadow" of a failed device.")