About This Manual

The Cisco Netsys Baseliner Reference Guide describes how to use the Cisco Netsys Baseliner software on a Windows NT workstation to display, validate and debug configurations of networks running the Cisco IOS software, in order to avoid costly network configuration problems.

This manual also includes system requirements and installation instructions, as well as step-by-step getting started instructions.

You should read the readme file on the CD-ROM. This file provides information about known software and documentation problems and any last minute information about the software not available when this reference manual went to press.

Who Should Use This Book

This book is written as a technical resource for network managers and system administrators (the people responsible for managing the network) and for network analysts (those who configure it).

It is assumed that readers have a basic understanding of network design, operation, and terminology, and that readers are familiar with their own network configurations. It is also assumed that readers have a basic familiarity with Microsoft Windows NT.

How This Book Is Organized

This manual is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, "Overview," describes the Cisco Netsys Baseliner software's capabilities, key features and benefits, supported protocols, and system requirements.

Chapter 2, "Getting Started," describes how to install and start the program, and guides you through some of the program's fundamental operations.

Chapter 3, "Keeping Baselines Up-to-date," describes how to update configuration files and baselines using command-line utilities or Cisco Netsys Baseliner menu selections.

Chapter 4, "Topologies," describes the different topologies you can create, the on-screen controls and menu commands that are available to you while a topology is displayed, and how to customize the topology and create color-coded scenarios.

Chapter 5, "Reports," describes the contents and scope of the various reports the software generates---except the Integrity Check Report (see following chapter), and provides step-by-step instructions on how to generate them.

Chapter 6, "Integrity Checks Report," describes the components of the Integrity Checks Report window and provides information about the network problems that are identified in the Integrity Checks (diagnostic) report.

Chapter 7, "Web Reports and Topologies," describes the contents of the web-based reports generated by the software and how to view topologies while the web reports are on display in your Internet browser.

Appendix A, "Baseline Integrity Checks," lists and defines the messages that can appear in an Integrity Check report.

Appendix B, "Syntax Checks," describes the specific checks (syntax and policy) that are performed on the router configuration files by the Cisco Netsys Baseliner software when a baseline is opened.

Related Information

Cisco documentation and additional literature are available in a CD-ROM package, which ships with your product. The Documentation CD-ROM, a member of the Cisco Connection Family, is updated monthly. Therefore, it might be more up to date than printed documentation. To order additional copies of the Documentation CD-ROM, contact your local sales representative or call customer service. The CD-ROM package is available as a single package or as an annual subscription. You can also access Cisco documentation on the World Wide Web at http://www.cisco.com, http://www-china.cisco.com, or http://www-europe.cisco.com.

If you are reading Cisco product documentation on the World Wide Web, you can submit comments electronically. Click Feedback in the toolbar, select Documentation, and click Enter the feedback form. After you complete the form, click Submit to send it to Cisco. We appreciate your comments.

The following list of documents contains additional information which may help you more fully understand the material described in this reference manual:

Internetworking Technology Overview
Cisco IOS Software Command Summary
Internetworking Terms and Acronyms

These documents are available on the document CD.

Conventions and Terminology

This section discusses conventions and terminology used throughout this manual.

pointer - indicates where the mouse action is to occur
select - to push and hold down the left mouse button
release - to let up on a mouse button to initiate an action
click - to select and release a mouse button without moving the pointer
double-click - to click a mouse button twice quickly without moving the pointer
drag - to move the pointer by sliding the mouse with one or more buttons selected.

The Cisco Netsys Baseliner software supports a three-button mouse. For most users, these buttons are configured as follows:

left button - selects objects and activates controls
middle button - adjusts a selected group of objects, adding to or deselecting part of the group
right button - displays and chooses from menus

This reference guide will use this terminology (even though it is possible for individual users to customize their devices to use buttons differently).

In situations that allow more than one item to be selected from a list simultaneously, the following actions are supported:

To select a single item in a list, click on the entry. Clicking a second time on a previously selected entry deselects it.
To select a contiguous block of items, click on the first entry; then, without releasing the mouse button, drag to the last entry desired and release. (A subsequent click anywhere on the screen deselects all previous selections.)
To extend a currently selected block, hold the shift key down and click on the entry at the end of the group to be added.
To add a non-contiguous entry to the selection group, hold the Ctrl (control) key down and click on the entry to be added.

Names of on-screen elements that you click, or select (menu names and commands, and controls like buttons, drop-down lists, and so on) are printed in bold style type.

The bold style is also used for keywords, names of commands, and names of keys on the keyboard.

Words and characters that are displayed on-screen are printed in courier font.

When set off from the main text, words and characters that you should enter by the keyboard are printed in courier font in a bold style. If the word or character string is enclosed in angle brackets (< and >), then you should substitute your own character string for the example presented in the text. When referenced in body text, the word will be presented in the normal bold font (not courier).

For example, if you see this:

: login: root

you should enter the string root at the login prompt. But if you see this:

: password: <rootpassword>

you should enter your own password in place of the character string rootpassword.

The italic style is used to emphasize words, to introduce new terms, and for filenames and titles of printed publications (but not titles of CD-ROMs or floppy disks).

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