End-to-end network visibility and automated troubleshooting

With NetBrain | A real-world example from the telecommunications industry

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Download the PDF here: End-to-End Netzwerktransparenz und automatisiertes Troubleshooting in komplexen MPLS-Umgebungen

1. The Initial Situation

Our client, a regional telecommunications company based in southwestern Germany, specializes in fiber-optic internet, telephony, and mobile communications.

It operates a complex, heterogeneous network environment using MPLS** technology and components from various manufacturers (including Nokia and ZTE).

The existing infrastructure presents the operations team with several key challenges:
Lack of transparency regarding network paths in multi-vendor environments
Time-consuming fault analysis due to manual data correlation
Unclear data traffic paths between Points of Presence (POPs)
No consistent end-to-end view of services and dependencies

Similar to traditional monitoring environments with centralized logging, there is a lack of structured, visual, and proactive analysis—resulting in troubleshooting that is often reactive and time-consuming.

**MPLS – Multiprotocol Label Switching

2. Requirements analysis

The goal was to implement a solution that significantly improves both operational efficiency and transparency:

Intuitive visualization of complex networks (including MPLS & VPLS)
Display of end-to-end service paths
Visibility of POP-to-POP connections
Automated troubleshooting and diagnostics
Reduction of manual analysis processes
Support for multi-vendor environments
Compliance, traceability, and simulation of changes

In addition, the solution was also intended to enable less specialized teams to quickly identify the causes of errors—a key success factor for modern IT operations platforms.

3. The Solution

In order to meet the requirements and ensure both transparency and proactivity in IT operations, it was necessary to find a suitable technology.

The Solution from NetDescribe

With NetBrain, a centralized platform has been implemented that provides complete transparency in complex multi-vendor environments through dynamic network visualization, end-to-end path analysis, and detailed point-to-point visibility. Complemented by automation, intelligent diagnostic functions, and a digital twin, the solution enables significantly faster troubleshooting, reduces manual effort, and sustainably improves efficiency, compliance, and operational security.

NetBrain was implemented as a central platform for network visibility, automation, and analysis. The solution combines dynamic visualization, automation, and a digital twin of the network.

Dynamic Network Visualization

A key component of the solution is dynamic network visualization via the NetBrain Dynamic Map (Qmap™), which provides a real-time topology of the entire network. Unlike static diagrams, the visualization is based on an automatically generated mathematical data model and enables vendor-agnostic visualization of complex MPLS environments, including all components involved.

The solution presents network structures in an easy-to-understand manner and enables multi-layer analysis across different levels (Layer 2, Layer 3, SDN). With on-demand generation, operations teams can create maps tailored to specific locations, services, or issues, while flexible layout options clearly display even large and complex environments.

In addition, the Dynamic Map functions as an interactive “single pane of glass” by directly integrating data from third-party systems – such as monitoring, ticketing, and SIEM solutions – and visualizing it in context. This creates a holistic view of the network that both increases transparency and significantly accelerates analysis and troubleshooting.

Dynamic Network Map / Topology View*

End-to-End-Path Analysis

Another key component of the solution is end-to-end path analysis, which NetBrain uses to accurately visualize the actual flow of data across the entire network. This provides end-to-end visibility across all network layers, enabling service dependencies to be quickly identified and the root causes of issues to be pinpointed.

Unlike simple tools, NetBrain’s Path Calculator is based on an in-depth mathematical data model that takes into account routing tables, ACLs, NAT, firewall rules, and policy-based routing. This enables the real-world packet flow to be accurately tracked even in complex, hybrid environments spanning on-premises, SD-WAN, and public cloud.

Additionally, the solution enables the visualization of outbound and inbound paths (asymmetric routing) as well as comparison with defined reference paths (“Golden Path”). This allows for the rapid identification of deviations and significantly accelerates the analysis of performance issues and outages in particular.

End-to-End Path Visualization*

Visibility between Points of Presence (POPs)

NetBrain enables transparent and detailed analysis of connections between geographically distributed locations (POPs). By visualizing POP-to-POP paths, affected network segments and hardware can be quickly identified in the event of a failure, significantly reducing the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR).

The underlying MPLS/WAN path trace function is based on an extended path model that also takes into account provider networks, which typically appear as a “black box.” Using an abstracted MPLS cloud model and virtual routing tables (VRT), the actual data flow between customer edge devices is precisely calculated and visualized even across provider boundaries.

The visualization also allows switching between logical (overlay) and physical (underlay) views and integrates both classic MPLS and modern SD-WAN environments. This makes different transport paths, as well as their status and utilization, visible, enabling a well-founded analysis of routing decisions and performance issues across multi-site networks.

Graphical Features of the WAN Path Trace – In the Dynamic Map, an MPLS or WAN path is displayed as follows:

MPLS Cloud Icon: A central cloud icon represents the ISP network. It connects geographically separate locations and simulates the forwarding of packets based on labels.
Virtual Routing Tables (VRT): NetBrain generates virtual routing tables to accurately calculate the path between CE (Customer Edge) devices across the provider’s infrastructure.
Overlay vs. Underlay: The graphic allows you to switch between the logical WAN view (overlay) and the physical infrastructure, provided that data is available for this.
Multi-Vendor Integration: Paths are visualized across vendors, including specialized technologies such as MPLS VPN, IPsec VPN, or GRE.

Path Trace between Sites / WAN Visualization*

Automation & Troubleshooting

NetBrain automates key troubleshooting processes by automatically detecting device types, verifying configurations, and performing diagnostics directly within the network visualization interface.

The automated troubleshooting workflow is based on an end-to-end process: events such as alarms or tickets automatically trigger diagnostics; results are enriched with contextual information and are immediately available for analysis. This knowledge is continuously expanded and reused, resulting in a lasting improvement in troubleshooting efficiency.

The automated workflow at a glance:

Trigger (Event): A ticket is created in an ITSM system such as ServiceNow, or an alert (e.g., from SolarWinds) is received.
Auto-Diagnosis: NetBrain responds immediately and automatically, without the need for human intervention. It creates a dynamic map of the affected area and performs predefined diagnostics (intents).
Data Enrichment: The results of the diagnosis (CLI data, status checks, “Golden Rules”) are written directly back into the ticket.
Collaborative Analysis: Operations teams use the pre-generated map and diagnostic results in the Incident Dashboard to collaboratively analyze the root cause in real time.
Resolution & Automation Library: Once a solution is found, this knowledge is saved as a new “automation building block” in the library so that the problem can be proactively prevented or resolved even faster the next time it occurs.

Automated Runbook / Troubleshooting Workflow*

Network and Service Insights

NetBrain enhances network visibility by providing context-sensitive visualization of technical parameters directly within the topology, enabling the rapid identification of bottlenecks and misconfigurations. This includes, in particular, the display of link speeds (e.g., 10G, 40G, 100G) as well as the visualization of complex Layer 2 structures such as VPLS.

This information is displayed directly in the Dynamic Map via so-called Data Views and Overlays, making bandwidths, interface parameters, and statuses immediately visible within the network context. Through visual highlighting – such as for deviations or overloads – performance issues can be efficiently analyzed, and consistent configurations can be ensured along the entire data path.

Link Capacity / Interface Speed Overlay
This view is designed to identify bottlenecks and configuration differences in bandwidth at a glance.

Visualization: The map displays metrics such as bandwidth, interface speed, and duplex mode directly on the connection lines between devices.
Color Coding: Links are often highlighted in color (e.g., red for overloaded links or links with lower-than-expected speeds) to make anomalies immediately visible.
Application: Operations teams use this overlay when troubleshooting performance issues to ensure that interface speeds are consistent across the entire path.

Layer 2 / VPLS Visualization
NetBrain enables the visualization of complex Layer 2 structures, even when they traverse MPLS/VPN clouds (such as VPLS).

L2 Topology: This view displays physical port-to-port connections, VLANs, Spanning Tree (STP) roles, and MAC address tables.
VPLS View: For VPLS (Virtual Private LAN Service), NetBrain visualizes the logical multipoint-to-multipoint connections. Provider Edge (PE) devices and the underlying tunnels are displayed transparently, so that the widely distributed customer network appears as a single local Ethernet segment.
L2/L3 Hybrid View: A key feature is the ability to display Layer 2 links and Layer 3 routing information simultaneously on the same map to understand the dependencies between logical routing and physical circuit configuration.

Digital Twin & Compliance

A key differentiator of the solution is the network’s digital twin, which provides a complete, multi-layered, and real-time synchronized representation of the entire infrastructure. Based on a mathematical data model, NetBrain integrates configuration data, performance metrics, and operational information and presents them as a dynamic, visual representation.

The digital twin encompasses various layers, including configuration and compliance layers (“Golden State”) as well as flow and path layers that map actual data traffic. Through continuous synchronization with the live network, changes can be simulated, historical states can be traced, and deviations can be detected early on.

This is complemented by Network Intent Mapping, in which the desired target state of the network is defined in the form of validation rules and continuously monitored. This enables the automated detection of configuration deviations, compliance violations, and design breaches, which both simplifies audits and sustainably increases operational security.

Digital Twin
The visualization of the Digital Twin in NetBrain goes beyond a simple map and is often represented as a multi-layered model:

Data Model: NetBrain ingests “big data” (configurations, performance metrics, CLI data) and converts it into a visual representation – the Dynamic Map.
Layer Model: The twin comprises various layers:
- Golden State & Config Layer: Monitors compliance with standards and best practices.
- Flow Layer (Path Layer): Visualizes actual traffic flow and identifies bottlenecks.
Real-time synchronization: Through automated discovery and benchmarking, the digital twin remains constantly synchronized with the live network.

Network Intent Mapping
Network Intents (NI) are the method used to encode the “intent” or desired state of the network in the digital twin.

Visualization of Intents: On the map, intents are often represented as status indicators or validation rules. An intent defines how a specific design should function (e.g., “BGP neighbor must be up”).
Intent Dashboard: The results of these continuous checks are visualized in summary dashboards that precisely show where deviations from the “design intent” occur.
No-Code Automation: Engineers can create these intents without programming knowledge to, for example, validate application paths or prevent configuration drifts.

*Source: NetBrain

4. Business Benefits

By implementing NetBrain, our client was able to achieve significant improvements:

Reduced downtime through faster fault resolution
Accelerated troubleshooting through visual analysis
Increased efficiency through automation
Improved service quality through end-to-end visibility
Lower operating costs through reduced manual processes

In addition, the combination of visualization and automation enables a shift from reactive to proactive network operations – a key success factor for modern IT organizations.

NetDescribe Business Bonus

In addition to simply deploying NetBrain, NetDescribe delivers significant added value through the targeted implementation of proactive monitoring and automation solutions that are specifically tailored to the requirements of complex network environments, such as those of our client.

Particularly in multi-vendor and MPLS environments, the challenge lies not only in data collection but also in the context-based interpretation and operational utilization of this data.

NetDescribe supports this by:

Network data from NetBrain is specifically enriched and correlated to detect anomalies in end-to-end paths or POP connections at an early stage
proactive use cases are defined that automatically identify typical error patterns (e.g., routing deviations, capacity bottlenecks, or configuration drifts)
Automated testing and diagnostic mechanisms are established to detect problems before they impact services

A particular focus is on translating technical network data into information tailored to specific audiences:

For operations teams: detailed technical analyses and automated troubleshooting approaches
For service and management levels: clear end-to-end views of services and their dependencies

This ensures that information is not only available but also becomes actionable.

As a result, NetDescribe significantly reduces internal effort because:

complex analyses no longer need to be performed manually
know-how is centrally consolidated and standardized
operational teams can make faster and more informed decisions

This creates sustainable added value that goes beyond the mere implementation of the tool: proactive, transparent, and efficient network operations that detect disruptions early and ensure service quality in the long term.