Path Topology
The path topology draws a detailed
connection that exists between any two virtual machines in your environment.

The topology involves both Layer 3 and Layer 2
components. You can view this topology using the search query
vm_name_1
to vm_name_2
. If a path exists, the VM-to-VM path
visualization proceeds to populate all the components that exist between
vm_name_1
to vm_name_2
and also draws an animated
path. If the routers are physical, then they are shown outside the boundary. In the path topology, you see the VM-to-VM path
between the source and the destination. If the default path is not configured between
the VMs, an error message appears to inform that the path is not defined or the router
interface is not found.
For Kubernetes, the Path topology displays
the path for the following scenarios:
- Kubernetes Service to Kubernetes Service
- Kubernetes Service to Kubernetes Pod
- Kubernetes Pod to Kubernete PodThe path involving physical devices is not supported.
The
Path Via Load Balancer
option lists all the load balancers that are used in between the path from the selected
source and the destination VM. To see the path between the VMs via a particular load
balancer, select the load balancer name from the list. If you hover the mouse on load
balancer component on the path topology, you see the following details: - Virtual Server name
- Load Balancer IP address
- Port number
- Load Balancer Algorithm
- The default gateway that was taken from the load balancer.
If you hover your mouse on any of the routers,
edges, or LDRs that are involved in the path, the complete routing or NAT information is
shown.
The VM Underlay section that is on the right side
of the VM Path topology shows the underlay information of the VMs involved and their
connectivity to the top of the rack switches and the ports involved. For Kubernetes
entities, VM Underlay displays the VM or the Kubernetes node information on which the
Pod resides.
In the VM underlay section, the components
are labeled if you select
Show labels
under Path Details.
In this
section, the drop-down list at the top shows the endpoint VMs and the active VMs at the
edges. For each edge VM, the neighboring drop-down menu shows the ingress and the egress
interface IP addresses. Based on the selection, the underlay path for that particular
interface is shown. You can also reverse the path direction using
the arrows on top of the topology map.
The topology map gives more visibility regarding
the ports involved in the VM-VM path. In the
Path Details
section,
the name of the actual port channel is shown. There is no complete visibility for
layer 2 on the physical front. If a packet is traversing from one switch to another,
there maybe multiple switches involved. But the topology does not show the switches
in the underlay network.