Visualizing your network with Chef, chef-span, and Gephi

Hi all,

I've just pushed the code for a project I've been working on to visualize
logical network connectivity in my environment using chef server node data.
I'm calling it "chef-span".

In short, we can query the chef server about information that shows
connections between nodes, then build vertices and edges to describe them,
and output the content in a graphing-software-compatible format. This info
can be used to see system dependencies, central services, and unexpected
connections, among other uses.

To extend what chef knows about connections between nodes, I've created a
cookbook that collects and rolls up netstat connections, which are then
picked up by an ohai plugin.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Highlights video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtnzTwzJXZY



Thanks,
Joshua Miller

Joshua, that looks very nice!

Steffen
On 6/5/13 7:26 AM, Joshua Miller wrote:

Hi all,

I've just pushed the code for a project I've been working on to visualize
logical network connectivity in my environment using chef server node data.
I'm calling it "chef-span".

In short, we can query the chef server about information that shows
connections between nodes, then build vertices and edges to describe them,
and output the content in a graphing-software-compatible format. This info
can be used to see system dependencies, central services, and unexpected
connections, among other uses.

To extend what chef knows about connections between nodes, I've created a
cookbook that collects and rolls up netstat connections, which are then
picked up by an ohai plugin.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Highlights video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtnzTwzJXZY

GitHub - edmunds/chef-span
GitHub - edmunds/cookbook-chef-span
GitHub - edmunds/cookbook-connections

Thanks,
Joshua Miller

I am really excited to grab this and see what happens!

Joshua Miller wrote:

Hi all,

I've just pushed the code for a project I've been working on to
visualize logical network connectivity in my environment using chef
server node data. I'm calling it "chef-span".

In short, we can query the chef server about information that shows
connections between nodes, then build vertices and edges to describe
them, and output the content in a graphing-software-compatible format.
This info can be used to see system dependencies, central services,
and unexpected connections, among other uses.

To extend what chef knows about connections between nodes, I've
created a cookbook that collects and rolls up netstat connections,
which are then picked up by an ohai plugin.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Highlights video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtnzTwzJXZY

GitHub - edmunds/chef-span
GitHub - edmunds/cookbook-chef-span
GitHub - edmunds/cookbook-connections

Thanks,
Joshua Miller