Single-pane of glass for the visibility layer is a critical mechanism for Network and Security Operations (NetSecOps) to enable them to locate, isolate, and provision network visibility solutions for performance and network security related applications. In today's fast-paced, digital-first ecosystem, complete visibility is vital in maintaining control of your network and eliminating (or at least minimizing) blind spots and infrastructure downtime.
 
NVC 4Web
 
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The pro-active visibility management mechanism should address the following three primary concerns:
 
1. Enable a comprehensive 360° network visibility (on your visibility layer)
2. Enable simple and intuitive configuration and provisioning of the visibility infrastructure as an intelligent cross connect
3. Empower NetOps and SecOps to serve business agility enablement and maximum security posture

Niagara’s Visibility Controller - The Power of Unlimited Visibility

 

Niagara Visibility Controller (NVC) is an Enterprise-wide unified SDN manager for network visibility - operating system agnostic 

Whether you are an administrator looking for an overview of all of your visibility nodes (network packet brokers, network TAPs, network bypasses) for your virtual and physical network in a data center, or an engineer studying the configuration details, the key to addressing the evolving and dynamic needs of the network visibility layer is best described as being seamless. The NVC is operating system agnostic, so it can be hosted on any type of IT environment (on-prem or cloud).

Network Visibility Controller (NVC)

360° Intent-based Visibility and Centralized Management

Even networks with the most advanced hardware and technology can be vulnerable without effective overall management. As you expand your network and the number of visibility nodes increases, it becomes paramount to obtain complete visibility of your visibility layer. This is due to the increasing demand for network visibility and the move from single-device solutions to multi-device solutions and from single-site deployments to multi-site deployments. For virtual data centers, cloud, hybrid cloud, and other environments, manually managing each device becomes inefficient.

 

The NVC provides network professionals with a powerful tool to quickly and seamlessly navigate their network and manage visibility via a centralized platform with the following proven functionality:

  • Visibility Groups: Logical containers of visibility elements tailored to your needs
  • Topology and Navigation: A 360° view of the network connectivity from a single-element view to a complete network view
  • Granularity: Topology of visibility elements, including port status, configurations, and device schematics.

This integrated three-layer approach enables seamless management of your visibility layer, no matter how many nodes you have or what type they are.

360° Visibility and Centralized Management

Advanced Abstraction Layer - Empowering Application Awareness

The NVC empowers a true application-aware network to manage and improve the performance of business-critical devices and applications. 

The NVC’s advanced abstraction layer enables the creation of an intelligent, dynamic, and responsive network visibility layer – one that interacts with the network services in real-time. The abstraction layer also serves to hide the complexities associated with managing and configuring the visibility layer, thus increasing the ease-of-use. It opens new opportunities for network administrators to enhance their service offerings and service management. Moreover, by increasing the ease-of-use, the probability for errors and the time and effort to manage the network visibility layer is significantly reduced.

Simple Orchestration for Complex Visibility Configurations

Network services and applications are expanding to encompass increased levels of sophistication and complexity involving application monitoring, performance management, and network security.

The increase in service complexity drives demand for an intuitive and user-friendly tool that enables engineers to accomplish their operational tasks quicker and with fewer errors. NVC enables authorized users to easily and seamlessly configure their visibility nodes. By treating connected visibility nodes as a single virtual switching fabric, configuring multi-device solutions becomes transparent without the need to manually configure each of the connected devices one by one.

Simple Orchestration for Complex Visibility Configurations

Niagara Visibility Controller - Key Features
    • SDN architecture - OpenFlow discovery & topology visualization.
    • REST API support for programmability.
    • Centralized management, monitoring and configuration of multiple visibility nodes - reducing configuration time and errors.
    • Simplified firmware and configurations updates of multiple visibility nodes from a single pane-of-glass UI.
  • Unified management for network packet brokers, network bypasses, and network TAPs.
  • User-friendly and intuitive Fabric Flow creation.
  • Seamlessly navigate between three panes of management, from Group view to detailed Device view.
  • Hierarchical administration - User Management, User Roles, and Authentication.
  • Modern self-install Virtual Machine package.

Situation Awareness and Node Visibility

 

Users can easily drill up to a higher view or drill down to a more detailed view to obtain the optimal mix between overall visibility node monitoring and detailed port configurations.

Each view offers a specific set of contextual actions.

In the Group view, the user can dynamically group visibility nodes into hierarchical logical containers for a simple top-down view.

Heartbeat Protection

Topology View

Intelligent prism in topology view.

Users clearly see the visibility nodes and their connection to network infrastructure devices such as routers and switches on the one hand, and the destination services, such as monitoring, security and performance management tools, on the other hand.

The main screen enables an editable topology canvas with all the visibility appliances and their connections to network source and service destinations. An expandable left panel supports easy navigation and provides details on the selected entity without hindering the overall topologic view of the network.

Computer showing view of network management software

 

Point and click simplicity.

By selecting specific devices from the Topology view or by directly drilling from the left hand panel devices tab to a specific granular view, the user can monitor relevant device details and statuses.

This includes detailed port status, connected interfaces, cross connect mapping, and more.

Computer showing the topology view for the network visibility software

The Power of Visibility

Niagara Visibility Controller™ (NVC)  gives you complete visibility. This means that you will be better able to protect your data, improve your operational efficiency, and successfully manage networks of all types and complexity. It also means that you and your team can benefit from increased flexibility when introducing new elements into your network, or troubleshooting any issue.


The well-known saying "you can’t manage [i.e. monitor and control] what you can’t see" is becoming more and more accurate as cyber-attacks increase, BYOD continues to rise in popularity, and as networks expand beyond the walls of physical data centers.


The only sure method of ensuring complete monitoring and understanding of your network in real-time is a visibility solution. Niagara Network has painstakingly crafted its NVC solution for maximum performance, in order to deliver the most timely and valuable insights into your network.

 
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