A picture is worth a thousand words and that’s Topology Map for you, most simplistically put.  It gives you a pictorial depiction of an end-to-end relationship.  Consider Host, for example, Topology map for which, in a single shot gives you an ability to traverse from the host, to its ports, to the Fabric(s) its connected to, all the way to the Storage Systems.  [IMAGE]  There is more to this picture though.  It really becomes a navigation tool with the association of Categories (marked in red above).  As can be observed, upon selection of the host, what is seen on the right hand side is the list of reports available for that device type (host in this case).  As you select a different object (Array, for example), a list of reports available for that device will be made available. In essence, you get an ability to stay in the context of the object you started with while poking around the connected objects.  Everything mentioned above has been in ViPR SRM since 3.0 timeframe.  I would next like to highlight some of the enhancements made to topology maps as of ViPR SRM 3.5.1.  We have introduced the concept of “Map Types”.  What we had until 3.5 is the default view, shown above - a physical connectivity view filtered by logical connectivity (masking views that is).  Starting 3.5.1, we have two additional map types available:  [IMAGE]  [IMAGE]  In addition to having multiple perspectives on topology maps, we have also introduced some overlays.  For instance, if there are Alerts on a given device (Severe or High), an indicator would be shown on top of that device indicating as such.  In order to not clutter the map though, this indicator will be shown only if there is a Severe or a High Alert on that device.  [IMAGE]  Tooltips have gotten richer as well.  For Host, for example, upon hovering over the Host icon, you would see some attributes of the host and a spark line for it’s CPU Utilization – highlighted in red below.  [IMAGE]  For an Array, you would see the aggregated Port IOPs in addition to some vendor information – highlighted in red below.  [IMAGE] As can be observed, there has been a conscientious effort to not clutter the map instead to show these add-ons optionally.  I hope this gives a good glimpse on the rich topology maps within ViPR SRM 3.5.1.  I'll happy to provide any further information on any of the features mentioned above.
What are the new features and what do they provide?
ViPR SRM topology maps