So my network manager has asked me to create one of the network topology maps with link utilization and all that fun stuff, but one problem. Whenever I go to Network Atlas and create a map and pull all the nodes into it, none of my links get discovered. This is not surprising, as I have had Layer 2 and 3 topology turned off on all devices since testing it, because having that spike the CPU on half of my switches every 2 minutes it updates is much more dangerous than it is worth it, and to set the interval to anything less often defeats the purpose of showing "current" link utilization. So, what I'm wondering is- is it possible to still get ConnectNow to work, perhaps with some form of LLDP or Avaya's answer to CDP (Synoptics Topology protocol of some kind) and WITHOUT using the layer 2 and 3 topology discovery stuff built in? Or should I just break it to him that a map that advanced is not possible if we like our network in the non-down state in which it is currently? Does anyone know if from Orion's perspective, layer 2 topology is exactly LLDP or if it's some mixture of that and arp/mac tables?
Oh, and I suppose it's worth mentioning- I don't know what switch connects to what for 70+% of our network because we have 12 major sites and about 60 off-site locations that are just too many to figure out. Heck the guys that installed them probably aren't positive anymore. That kind of means that drawing the links manually is out of the question, and even then I wouldn't get the utilization as far as I know so that defeats the whole purpose.
Any help or a point in the right direction would be great.
Thanks!