NetMapJs – A Scalable Network Mapping Tool

I recently posted my final report for my university honours project titled – ‘Improved Network Map Display’.

For part of the project, I implemented a JavaScript network mapping tool that I call ‘NetMapJs’.

I have made the source code of NetMapJs freely available on github.

The main features of NetMapJs are:

• Support for subnetwork hierarchy
• Separate layout algorithm support for different subnetworks
• Rich display of bandwidth data in graph edges
• Automatic poller to update performance data
• Semantic zooming which adds more detail to the map as the user zooms in
• Responsive zooming and panning to navigate through the network map
• Support for adding overlays such as VLANs
• Multi-nested interactive overview map to help maintain control when zooming

The following screenshot shows the KAREN network map loaded into NetMapJs. You can view this example running here.

NetMapJs makes use of the JIT library for a solid information visualisation framework and Arbor.js for the Force Directed (spring) layout type.

The tool is close to being ready for use in actual networks or a NMSs. Feel free to fork the repository and try it with your network.