ELI - AI assisted diagnosis overview

Technology Preview. Available since: version 6.3

ELI is our AI-assisted diagnosis tool. It is designed to assist in speeding up the troubleshooting of network issues.

It is driven by a “chat bot” natural language interface.

ELI has the ability to interpret natural language and query the equipment and MetalSoft’s database in order to return the information. It is also capable of more elaborate combinations and analysis of the data.

It currently has the following fundamental capabilities:

  1. Getting the switch ports of a switch

  2. Getting the VLANs configurations on a switch

  3. Getting the VLAN bridge table for a switch and a specific vlan

  4. Getting BGP Sessions status of a switch

  5. Getting LLDP neighbors of a switch

  6. Getting the log of a switch

  7. Getting the topology information stored in metalsoft.

These skills can be combined in any way in complex prompts such as: get me all the vlans configured on ports where LLDP neighbors show a switch or what is the mac address of the Management0 switch connected to switch 15?

Eli will execute a multi-stage process to retrieve the needed information and finally combine it into a single result etc. Eli is able to iterate of elements, do complex logic and more.

Getting the switch ports of a switch

prompt example: what switch ports are admin up on switch 5? output:

The following switch ports are admin up on switch 5:
ethernet1/1/2
ethernet1/1/13:2
ethernet1/1/13:4
ethernet1/1/14:2
ethernet1/1/14:4
ethernet1/1/15:4
ethernet1/1/7
ethernet1/1/11
ethernet1/1/15:1
ethernet1/1/15:2
ethernet1/1/15:3
ethernet1/1/5
ethernet1/1/6
ethernet1/1/8
ethernet1/1/12
ethernet1/1/13:1
ethernet1/1/14:1
ethernet1/1/1
ethernet1/1/13:3
ethernet1/1/14:3

Getting the VLANs configurations on a switch

prompt example: get all vlans configured on switch 15

Ports with VLAN 5 configured on switch 15: Eth1/2/2, Eth1/1/1, Eth1/2/3, Eth1/2/4, Eth1/4/2, Eth1/3/3, Eth1/1/2, PortChannel256, Eth1/4/1, Eth1/3/4, Eth1/1/3, Eth1/2/1, Eth1/3/1, Eth1/1/4, Eth1/4/4, Eth1/3/2, Eth1/4/3

another prompt example:is there any port that is down configured with vlan 5 on switch 15?

Analysis result

The following down ports are configured with VLAN 5 on switch 15:
Eth1/1/3
Eth1/3/3
Eth1/2/1
Eth1/4/2
Eth1/1/2
Eth1/2/3
Eth1/2/4
Eth1/3/2
Eth1/1/1
Eth1/3/4
Eth1/4/3
Eth1/2/2
Eth1/4/4
Eth1/3/1
Eth1/1/4
Eth1/4/1

Getting BGP Sessions status of a switch

prompt example:get the bgp sessions of switch 5 output:

BGP Sessions for switch 5: 
Session 1: Neighbor Name: 192.168.122.1 Enabled: true Active: true Uptime Seconds: 1203847756 State: established Last Error: Reset by peer

Getting LLDP neighbors of a switch

prompt example: is there any lldp neighbour of type switch on switch 15?

LLDP Neighbors Analysis Results

The following LLDP neighbors of type 'switch' were found on switch 15:
Neighbor Name: sw1-dell-s5232f
Neighbor Chassis MAC Address: c4:5a:b1:48:e4:85
Neighbor Name: US_CHG_QTS01_01_MJ40_ML43_01
Neighbor Chassis MAC Address: d8:94:03:96:5c:fb
Neighbor Name: sw1-dell-s5232f
Neighbor Chassis MAC Address: c4:5a:b1:48:e4:85
Neighbor Name: US_CHG_QTS01_01_MJ40_MGMT_01
Neighbor Chassis MAC Address: d0:7e:28:ec:3b:e8
Neighbor Name: US_CHG_QTS01_01_MJ40_ML43_01
Neighbor Chassis MAC Address: d8:94:03:96:5c:fb

  1. Getting a switch log prompt examples: get the switch logs of switch 5 output:

Thu Jun 27 22:25:26 2024 informational - LACP_PORT_UNGROUPED port-channel30 : ethernet1/1/4
Thu Jun 27 22:25:26 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_DOWN 30 is down
Thu Jun 27 22:25:53 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_UP :ethernet1/1/4
Thu Jun 27 22:25:54 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_DN :ethernet1/1/4
Thu Jun 27 22:25:55 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_UP :ethernet1/1/4
Thu Jun 27 22:26:10 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_UP 30 is up
Thu Jun 27 22:26:11 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_DN :ethernet1/1/4
Thu Jun 27 22:26:11 2024 informational - LACP_PORT_GROUPED port-channel30 : ethernet1/1/4
Thu Jun 27 22:26:11 2024 informational - LACP_PORT_UNGROUPED port-channel30 : ethernet1/1/4
Thu Jun 27 22:26:11 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_UP :ethernet1/1/4
Thu Jun 27 22:26:11 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_DOWN 30 is down
Thu Jun 27 22:26:11 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_DN :ethernet1/1/4
Thu Jun 27 22:26:12 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_UP :ethernet1/1/4
Thu Jun 27 22:26:27 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_UP 30 is up
Thu Jun 27 22:30:13 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_DOWN 30 is down
Thu Jun 27 22:30:15 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_UP :port-channel30
Thu Jun 27 22:30:15 2024 informational - LACP_PORT_GROUPED port-channel30 : ethernet1/1/4
Thu Jun 27 22:30:15 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_UP 30 is up
Fri Jun 28 01:29:05 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_DN :ethernet1/1/4
Fri Jun 28 01:29:06 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_DN :port-channel30
Fri Jun 28 01:29:06 2024 informational - LACP_PORT_UNGROUPED port-channel30 : ethernet1/1/4
Fri Jun 28 01:29:06 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_DOWN 30 is down
Fri Jun 28 01:29:34 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_UP :ethernet1/1/4
Fri Jun 28 01:29:34 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_DN :ethernet1/1/4
Fri Jun 28 01:29:35 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_UP :ethernet1/1/4
Fri Jun 28 01:29:50 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_UP 30 is up
Fri Jun 28 01:29:51 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_DN :ethernet1/1/4
Fri Jun 28 01:29:51 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_UP :ethernet1/1/4
Fri Jun 28 01:29:51 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_DOWN 30 is down
Fri Jun 28 01:29:52 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_DN :ethernet1/1/4
Fri Jun 28 01:29:53 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_UP :ethernet1/1/4
Fri Jun 28 01:30:08 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_UP 30 is up
Fri Jun 28 01:33:50 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_DOWN 30 is down
Fri Jun 28 01:33:52 2024 informational - LACP_PORT_GROUPED port-channel30 : ethernet1/1/4
Fri Jun 28 01:33:52 2024 informational - IFM_OSTATE_UP :port-channel30
Fri Jun 28 01:33:53 2024 informational - VLT_PORT_CHANNEL_UP 30 is up

Prompt example: is there any error in the log for switch 15?

Using the topology information

Note that this part is subject to change.

The topology information is available to the AI component in the form of a graph with nodes. Note that the AI might confuse lldp-based toplogy with the known topology. When questioned if switch 5 is connected to server 15 it will try an lldp query first. To force it to use the known topology use explicit prompts:

prompt: based on the topology what are the peers of switch 15?