Lab: Exploring Versa Director

Overview
In this lab you will connect to the Versa Director and explore the different Versa Director user interface
workspaces.

By completing this lab you will:

• Log in to the remote lab environment

• Open a web browser on the remote desktop to connect to Versa Director
• Complete various navigation tasks and answer questions regarding the components, workspaces,
configuration parameter locations, and structure of the Versa Director environment.

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Part 1: Connect to the Remote Training Environment

In this lab part, you will connect to the remote lab environment, and login to Versa Director.

Step 1.1

From the web browser on your computer, connect to the following web address, or click on the link you
received in your class registration email (if available):

https://dcm.toolwire.com/alai/admin/login.jsp?r-p

Step 1.2

Enter your login credentials for the training lab and click Login. Your credentials should have been sent
to you via E-mail with your lab registration information, or they should be provided by your instructor.

Note: If you have not received your login credentials, please notify your instructor.

You should now have access to the training portal.

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Step 1.3

Enter the lab environment (remote desktop) by clicking on the vLAB icon. Once the remote desktop
starts, you will be presented with several icons.

Step 1.4

Open the Chrome web browser and click on the bookmark to open Versa Director. Log in to Versa
Director using the login credentials in the README.txt document on your remote desktop.

You should now be connected to the Versa Director. Ensure that you are on the Administration tab of
the workspace.

Part 2: Explore the Administration Workspace

In this lab part, you will explore some of the basic Administration workspace parameters.

Note: As you navigate the different workspaces and dashboards, your current location
hierarchy in Versa Director is displayed in the upper-right corner of the
workspace. If you feel like you may be on the wrong screen at any time, verify
that you are in the correct hierarchy by checking the location in the top-right
corner.

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Step 2.1

From the top right of the workspace, click on labuser and select Change Session Timeout. Set the
session timeout to 60 minutes and click OK.

Step 2.2

On the left menu of the Administration workspace, the Administration categories are displayed. Ensure
that the Appliances menu is selected.

Question: How many appliances are present in Versa Director?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: There should be 4 appliances: Controller01, Controller02, Hub105, and Router.

Question: To which organization(s) are the Versa Controllers assigned?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The controllers are assigned to the Tenat1 and SP organizations.

Question: Based on the previous question, which organizations have access to the
Controllers?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The Controllers can be used by the SP organization or the Tenant1

organization.

Question: To which organization(s) is the Router appliance assigned?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The Router appliance is assigned to the SP organization.

Question: To which organization is the Hub device assigned?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The Hub device is assigned ot the Tenant1 organization.

Step 2.3

Navigate to the Administration > Director User Management > Provider Users workspace.
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Question: How many users are displayed?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: There are 2 users listed; Operator and labuser.

Question: What is the role assigned to the labuser user?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The labuser role is ProviderDataCenterAdmin.

Step 2.4

Navigate to the Administration > Director User Management > Organization Users workspace. From
the Organization Users workspace, select Tenat1 from the Organization drop-down menu.

How many users are listed as Tenat1 users?

No users are listed under Tenant1. The user labuser is a Provider user, and therefore has access to the
Provider organization and any organizations configured under the Provider organization.

Step 2.5

Navigate to the Director User Management > User Roles workspace, then click the Provider tab to
display the Provider user roles.

How many pre-defined Provider User Roles are present, and what are they named?

There are 3 pre-defined User Roles: ProviderDataCenterAdmin, ProviderDataCenterOperator, and

ProviderDataCenterSystemAdmin.

Step 2.6

Navigate to the Director User Management > User Global Settings workspace in the left menu.

Question: How many unsuccessful login attempts are allowed?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: Users are allowed 3 unsuccessful login attempts.

Question: What are the password requirements for user created passwords?
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_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The users are required to have a lowercase character, a number, a special
character, and an uppercase character in the passwords.

Click on the edit icon ( ) in the top right corner of the User Global Settings box.

Question: Are you able to reset your password from the Global Settings dialog box?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: No. Passwords are user specific, and therefore can’t be changed from the
global settings.

Question: What global user parameters are configurable from this location?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The Default Unlock Time, number of login attempts, first-time login password
change, password policy, password expiration time, and password history options are
configurable.

Step 2.7

Navigate to the Administration > SDWAN > Settings workspace.

Question: What is the Overlay Addressing Scheme used for the lab environment?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The scheme contains 2 parameters: The IPv4-Prefix and the Maximum
Organizations. We will discuss these parameters in another module.

Part 3: Explore the Analytics and Monitor Workspaces

In this lab part, you will explore the Analytics workspace and the Monitor workspace. The Analytics
Dashboard displays historical information of devices, circuits, logging, and other parameters in the SD-
WAN environment. Currently there are only Versa Controller devices in the SD-WAN. This will change as
you complete other labs, and you will revisit the Analytics workspace at different times during the class.
During this lab part, you will be asked to answer specific questions about the SD-WAN environment.
You will find the answers to the questions by exploring the different dashboards and log sections of
the workspace. Due to the varying nature of the lab environment, your answers may differ from the
answers provided in the lab guide.

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Step 3.1

Navigate to the Analytics tab from the top menu of Versa Director.

The default dashboard is the SD-WAN dashboard. The Analytics node to which you are connected is
displayed in the top right corner of the workspace. You are currently viewing analytics information from
the van1-Analytics node.

Question: How many controllers are displayed in the Top sites by bandwidth monitor?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: There are 2 controllers displayed: Controller01 and Controller02.

Question: What access circuits are displayed in the Top access circuits by bandwidth
monitor?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: There are 4 access circuits displayed: Controller-01,INET, Controller01,MPLS,

Controller02,INET, and Controller02,MPLS.

Question: For what organization is information displayed?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The SP organization should be selected in the filer at the top of the workspace.

Question: For what time period are the statistics being displayed?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The time period of Last Day should be displayed. You can modify the time
period displayed by selecting an option from the drop-down menu.

Step 3.2

Click on the Dashboards > SD-WAN > Sites workspace.

Question: What 4 categories of site information is available from the SD-WAN Sites
workspace?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The Usage, Availability, Connections, and Heatmap categories are available.
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Question: How can you display usage information from Controller01 only?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: You can toggle which site information is displayed by clicking on the site name
in the graph.

Step 3.3

Select the Availability tab in the Sites workspace.

Question: Have there been any registered availability issues with either controller in the
last 7 days?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: Your answer may vary. If you feel there may have been brief availability issues
over the time frame, you can deselect the Up chart display to display only the Down
entries.

Step 3.4

Select the Connections tab in the Sites workspace.

Question: Are any sites displayed in the output?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: No.

Question: Why do you think that no sites are displayed?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The Connections display is for site-to-site connections. The controllers are
head-end components and not sites. This information will be populated as sites are
added in later labs.

Step 3.5

Select the HeatMap tab in the Sites workspace.

Question: What is the purpose of the HeatMap display?

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_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The HeatMap displays all devices in a block-grid format to give a fast indication
of availability based on a percentage (displayed in the percentage legend at the bottom
of the chart).

Step 3.6

Navigate to the Dashboards > System > Interfaces workspace. Modify the WAN utilization display
to only show the Controller01,MPLS and Controller02,INET WAN interface statistics over the last 12
hours.

Question: Which of the two links has used more bandwidth?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: Your results may vary, but the Controller01,MPLS link should have used more
bandwidth.

Step 3.7

Navigate to the Logs > Alarms dashboard.

Question: Are any alarms displayed in the log output?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: Your response may vary. In the test environment, no alarms are displayed.

Question: If no alarms are displayed, why might that be the case?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The current filters are inherited from the last display window, which was set to
filter output based on the SP organization and the last 12 hours.

Step 3.8

Modify the display filters to include alarm logs for the last 30 days.

Question: Are alarm logs displayed?

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_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: Yes, you should have historical alarm information displayed.

Question: Are the alarms currently active?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: No, the alarm status is cleared. The analytics node displays historical
information for reports and analysis.

Step 3.9

Click on the Monitor tab in Versa Director to enter the Monitor dashboard.

Question: What types of information are shown in the Monitor dashboard?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The Monitor dashboard shows live status information of devices in the SD-
WAN, including the asset inventory, recent events, health of devices in the environment,
application activity, and types of enabled services.

Step 3.10

Click on the Devices tab in the Monitor dashboard.

Question: What version of code is running on the currently deployed devices?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: Your answer may vary from the lab guide, but the answer is in the Software
Version column of the device table.

Question: What other information is available from the Devices tab in the Monitor
dashboard?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

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_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: Information about each device includes the management address (Eth0), the
type of device, the date and time the device was created, the site ID, the organizations
to which the devices are assigned, the configuration synchronization and reachability
status of each device, and the ability to manage device configuration snapshots.

Step 3.11

Click on the Controller01 device in the device list.

Question: What did clicking on the device name in the device list do?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: Clicking on a device in the device list takes you to the Monitor dashboard for
that specific device.

Question: What is displayed in the Summary tab of the device monitor?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The CPE interfaces for that device are displayed, with general site location
and management information, real-time traffic statistics information, site-specific
application traffic information, recent events, health monitor information, and SLA
policy violations. Most of these fields will be empty due to the fact that this is a
controller and not a branch device.

Step 3.12

Click on the Services tab of the Monitor dashboard.

Question: What type of information is displayed in the Monitor > Services dashboard?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

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Step 3.13

Click on the System tab in the Monitor dashboard.

Question: What type of information is displayed in the Monitor > System dashboard?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Step 3.14

Click on the Tools tab in the Monitor dashboard.

Question: What type of tools are available in the Monitor > Tools dashboard?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Step 3.15

Click on the drop-down menu next to the Home icon in the top left corner of the Monitor dashboard and
select device Hub105.

The Hub105 device is a CPE device that serves as a hub, so some of the information is different from
the head-end components (controllers).

Question: What interfaces are displayed in the CPE Interfaces chart?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: There should be 3 CPE interfaces: 2 WAN-based CPE interfaces, and one LAN
CPE interface.

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Question: What bandwidth measurements are available for each CPE interface?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The bandwidth measurements area available for the WAN links, but not for
the LAN links. The statistics and SLA measurements are only applicable to WAN link
connections. Currently there are no remote devices configured to provide statistical
measurement results, and therefore the Measure function doesn’t gather any usable
information.

Step 3.16

Click the Home button in the top left corner of the dashboard to return to the Monitor > Devices
dashboard and leave the device-specific Monitor dashboard.

Part 4: Explore the Workflows Workspace

In this lab part, you will explore the dashboard of the Workflows workspace. Workflows are
configuration wizards used to build and link configuration parameters of different devices and
templates. Although we will not review all of the different Workflows options and will not perform any
configuration, familiarize yourself with the environment and answer the questions in this lab part. We
will discuss Workflows and templates in more detail in another module.

Important! Do not make or save changes to the workflows as you explore

the workflow environment! Making changes to the workflows
can affect the lab environment for you and others!

Step 4.1

Click on the Workflows tab in Versa Director to open the Workflows dashboard. Ensure that the
SDWAN > Infrastructure > Controllers dashboard is selected from the menu on the left side of the
workspace.

Question: What controller workflows are displayed?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The workflows used to create Controller01 and controller02 are displayed.

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Question: Are the controllers listed the actual controller devices deployed in the
network?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: No. The controllers listed are the workflows (wizards) used to generate the
configurations for the listed controllers. Each controller is unique, so a different
workflow or configuration wizard was created for each. We will discuss Workflows and
Workflow templates in detail in another module.

Step 4.2

Click on Infrastructure > Organizations in the left menu to open the organization Workflow dashboard.

Question: What organization(s) are listed?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The Tenant1 organization is listed. This is the configuration Workflow (wizard)
used to create the Tenant1 organization.

Step 4.3

Navigate to the SDWAN > Infrastructure > Template > Templates dashboard.

Question: What template is listed in the Templates dashboard?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The T-Hub-105 template is listed.

Question: Is this the actual Hub105 device, or the actual template used to deploy the
Hub105 device?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: No. This is the wizard that was used to create the templates for the Hub105
device. The Workflows are wizards that create and link other configuration components.

Answer:
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Step 4.4

Navigate to the SDWAN > Infrastructure > Devices > Devices dashboard.

Question: What devices are listed in the Devices dashboard?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: Device Hub105 is listed.

Question: Is this the actual device?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: No. This is the configuration wizard that was used to define and link
parameters used to build the Hub105 device configuration.

You should note that all of the items in the Workflows dashboard are wizards that are used to build
other configuration components, and to link them together. This is a key feature and function of the
Versa Networks SD-WAN solution.

Part 5: Explore the Configuration Workspace

In this lab part, you will explore the workspace used to configure components in the SD-WAN.
The configuration components built by the Workflows wizards (previous step) are placed in the
Configuration workspace, where they can be viewed and modified.

Important! Do not make or save changes to parameters in the

Configuration workspace as you explore the configuration
environment! Making configuration changes can affect the
lab environment for you and others!

Step 5.1

Click on the Configuration tab of Versa Director to enter the Configuration workspace. From the
Configuration dashboard, click on the down arrow next to the SP organization in the left-hand menu to
expand the SP organization members, then select the Tenant1 organization.

Question: What item is listed in the Templates dashboard?

_____________________________________________________________________

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Answer: The T-Hub105 template is listed in the dashboard.

Question: What type of template is the T-Hub105 template?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: It is an SDWAN Post Staging template, used to deploy devices in the SD-WAN
environment.

Step 5.2

Navigate to the Devices > Devices dashboard of the Configuration workspace.

Question: What device configurations are listed?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The Controller01, Controller02, and Hub105 configurations are listed.

Question: Are the items listed template items or actual configurations?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The items listed are the actual configurations generated for each device by the
Workflows and Templates processes.

Step 5.3

Click on the Hub105 configuration in the list.

Question: What was the result of clicking the Hub105 configuration link?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: Clicking on the configuration link in the list directs you to the device-specific
Monitor, Configuration, and Administration workspace.

Step 5.4

Click on the Home button next to the device name in the upper-left corner of the dashboard to return to
the previous dashboard.

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Step 5.5

Navigate to the Configuration > Devices > Device Groups dashboard.

This dashboard lists the Device Groups. Device Groups are used to link devices to templates.

Question: What device(s) is(are) associated with device group DG-Hub105?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: Device Hub105 is associated with device group DG-Hub105.

Step 5.6

Navigate to the Configuration > Objects > WAN Networks dashboard.

There are 2 WAN networks defined: INET and MPLS.

Question: What Transport Domains are associated with each WAN Network?

_____________________________________________________________________

Answer: The INET network is in the Internet transport domain. The MPLS network is
in the MPLS transport domains. Transport domains define the WAN links that should
have common reachability. For example, the INET WAN links in the configured SD-WAN
environment are assumed to have no reachability to the MPLS links because they are in
different transport domains. We will discuss transport domains in a later module.

Part 6: Exit the Lab Environment

In this lab part, you will exit the lab environment in preparation for the next activity.

Step 6.1

Navigate to the Administration > Appliances workspace to display the appliance administration
workspace.

Step 6.2

Click on the labuser link in the top-right of Versa Director and select Logout to log out of Versa Director.
Close the browser window and complete the lab.

STOP! Notify your instructor that you have completed the lab.

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