About This Publication

This section discusses the objectives, audience, organization, and conventions of the publication Cisco WAN Design Tools User Guide.

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Document Objectives

This publication provides instructions for using the WAN Design Tools, a design aid for WANs. The WAN Design Tools consist of the following:

The Network Modeling Tool (NMT).
The Configuration Extraction Tool (CET) for retrieving existing topologies from the StrataView Plus database.
The Conversion Plug-ins: the Third-Party Interface (TPI) for sharing NMT information with WANDL and the SpreadSheet Interface (SSI) for exchanging NMT configurations with Microsoft Excel.

Audience

This publication is intended for anyone who operates or manages a WAN and has a general understanding of data communications concepts, some knowledge of UNIX, and knowledge of the interfaces used by devices connected to their WAN.

Document Organization

This publication is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, "Overview of the WAN Design Tools," presents an overview of the WAN Design Tools.

Chapter 2, "Using the NMT," introduces the NMT interface.

Chapter 3, "Modeling a Simple Network," provides step-by-step instructions for modeling a three-node network.

Chapter 4, "Modeling Complex Networks," provides procedures for modeling special types of networks, such as tiered and FastPAD networks.

Chapter 5, "Configuration Extraction Tool" explains how to extract information from StrataView Plus for use in the NMT.

Chapter 6, "Third-Party Interface" explains how to share configuration information with WANDL, a network design tool.

Chapter 7, "SpreadSheet Interface" explains how to transfer configuration information between Microsoft Excel and the NMT.

Appendix A, "Installing WAN Design Tools," provides instructions for installing the WAN Design Tools software.

Appendix B, "Configuration Tables and Fields," lists the fields and default values for all configuration tables in the NMT.

Document Conventions

Command descriptions use these conventions:

Commands and keywords are in boldface.
Elements in square brackets ([ ]) are optional.

Examples use the following conventions:

Terminal sessions and information the system displays are printed in screen font.
Information you enter is in boldface screen font or boldface font.

Note Means reader take note. Notes contain helpful suggestions or references to material not covered in the publication.

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