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Text File Upload

The simplest way to get a topology into Topolograph: copy the Link-State Database from one router and paste (or upload) it. No agents, no tunnels, nothing that touches the live network.

This is the Manual ingestion method.

Upload an LSDB text file and build short paths

Why one router is enough

OSPF and IS-IS are link-state protocols: every router inside an area/level holds an identical copy of the area's database. Topolograph reconstructs the whole topology from that single copy — so you only ever need to collect it once, from one device.

1. Collect the database

Run the LSA/LSP database commands for your platform and save the output to a plain text file. The full matrix is below; see Supported Vendors for OSPFv3 and IS-IS TLV details.

Vendor LSA 1 (router) LSA 2 (network) LSA 5 (external)
Cisco show ip ospf database router show ip ospf database network show ip ospf database external
Cisco NX-OS show ip ospf database router detail show ip ospf database network detail show ip ospf database external detail
Quagga show ip ospf database router show ip ospf database network show ip ospf database external
Ruckus show ip ospf database link-state router show ip ospf database link-state network show ip ospf database external-link-state
Juniper show ospf database router extensive \| no-more show ospf database network extensive \| no-more show ospf database external extensive \| no-more
Bird show ospf state all show ospf state all show ospf state all
Nokia show router ospf database type router detail show router ospf database type network detail show router ospf database type external detail
MikroTik /routing ospf lsa print detail file=lsa.txt /routing ospf lsa print detail file=lsa.txt /routing ospf lsa print detail file=lsa.txt
Huawei display ospf lsdb router display ospf lsdb network display ospf lsdb ase
Palo Alto show routing protocol ospf dumplsdb show routing protocol ospf dumplsdb show routing protocol ospf dumplsdb
Ubiquiti1 show ip ospf database router show ip ospf database network show ip ospf database external
Allied Telesis show ip ospf database router show ip ospf database network show ip ospf database external
Extreme show ospf lsdb detail lstype router show ospf lsdb detail lstype network show ospf lsdb detail lstype as-external
Ericsson show ospf database router detail show ospf database network detail show ospf database external detail
Fortinet get router info ospf database router lsa get router info ospf database network lsa get router info ospf database external lsa
FRRouting show ip ospf database router show ip ospf database network show ip ospf database external
Vendor Command
Arista show ipv6 ospf database detail
Vendor Database command
Cisco show isis database detail
Juniper show isis database extensive
Nokia show router isis database detail
Huawei display isis lsdb verbose
ZTE show isis database verbose

LSDB collection commands per vendor

You can place the LSA 1 / 2 / 5 sections (OSPF) into a single file — Topolograph parses them together.

Optional: richer links with TE data

For FRRouting OSPF, append show ip ospf database opaque-area to the same file to include link bandwidth, TE metric and administrative group. The graph still builds without it. See Traffic Engineering.

2. Upload it

  1. Open Topolograph (http://localhost:8080/ for a local install).
  2. Start a topology upload and paste or attach your text file.
  3. Select the matching vendor and protocol (OSPF / IS-IS).
  4. Submit. Topolograph parses the database and renders the graph.

Uploading an LSDB text file and building short paths

The result is a snapshot — a frozen picture of the network at capture time. Every analysis runs against the snapshot, so nothing you try affects production.

3. Compare states over time

Upload another capture later and Topolograph can diff the two snapshots, highlighting exactly what changed — new/removed nodes and links, cost changes, and appearing/disappearing networks. See Comparing Network States.

Uploading via API instead

Anything you can paste, you can also POST. The Python SDK wraps this — and can even collect the LSDB from your devices over SSH and upload it in one step:

topo ingest inventory.yaml --upload --url http://localhost:8080

graph = topo.uploader.upload_raw(
    lsdb_text=raw_text,
    vendor="FRR",
    protocol="isis",
)

Want live updates instead of snapshots? Stream the topology with a GRE or BGP-LS Watcher session.

  1. Applies to the EdgeRouter line and older UniFi USG gateways. Newer UniFi gateways use the FRRouting project. ↩