Environments

An environment is a topology and the devices in it, whatever built it: the canvas, the Content Hub, the AI Generator or an import. This page covers the Environments list and the power actions for environments and devices.

The list#

Open Environments in the sidebar. Administrators see every environment on the appliance. Other users see the environments they own. The header shows how many environments you have and how many your license allows; see Limits per edition.

• Search matches environment names, descriptions and folder names. The cross in the box clears it.
• Any status filters the list to Running, Stopped or Failed. Running means at least one device is running. Stopped means no device is running and none has failed. Failed means at least one device has failed.
• Sort offers Recently updated, Name (A–Z), Name (Z–A), Newest, Oldest and Most devices.
• The refresh button reloads the list at once. The list also refreshes about every six seconds by itself.
• Collections and Folders on the left group environments; see Folders and collections. The Running and Total counts at the bottom of the left column show how many environments have every device running and how many you can see.
• The checkbox at the left of the search box selects every environment that matches the current search and filters.

Each row shows:

• the name, with a padlock when the environment is locked, and a REC tag when session recording is on;
• the power state (see Status words);
• the description, the folder, the number of devices and links, a breakdown such as 12 running · 2 failed · 6 stopped, and how long ago the environment last changed.

Select a row to open its canvas. A Suggest chip appears on an environment in Uncategorized. It proposes Network Engineering or Cyber from the devices in it. Select the chip to file the environment there.

With All Environments selected, rows are grouped by collection. Select a group heading to collapse or expand it. With no environments the list reads No environments yet and offers Create your first environment. A search or filter with no result reads No matches.

New environment#

1. Choose New environmentThe button is in the top bar of the list. It is disabled when your license has no environments left; the tooltip says so.
2. Fill in the formName is required. Collection offers Network Engineering, Cyber, Industrial / OT, Training, Testing and Uncategorized. Choose New folder… and type a name to create a new collection. Description is optional.
3. Choose Create EnvironmentONEP creates an empty environment and opens its canvas.

The New environment button on the Dashboard opens the same form.

Row actions#

Point at a row to show its actions. Each action acts on that one environment.

Bulk actions#

Select one or more rows, or use the checkbox at the left of the search box. A bar appears above the list with the number selected and Clear. Each action runs once per environment, and one message at the end reports how many succeeded and which failed.

Folders and collections#

Collections are flat groups: All Environments, Network Engineering, Cyber, Industrial / OT, Training, Testing and Uncategorized, plus any you created. A collection with no environments is hidden. The number beside each name is how many environments it holds. Drag a row onto a collection to file it there.

Folders are nested and separate from collections.

• The + beside Folders creates a folder. Point at a folder and use the icons for Rename, New subfolder here and Delete. Press Enter to save a name and Escape to cancel.
• Select a folder to show only its environments. A breadcrumb above the list shows where you are. Select All Environments in the folder list to clear the filter.
• Drag an environment onto a folder to move it. Drag it onto All Environments to take it out of its folder. Drag a folder onto another folder to nest it, or onto All Environments to move it back to the top. A folder cannot move into itself or into one of its own subfolders.
• Deleting a folder moves every environment in it to the parent folder. Environments are never deleted with a folder.

Start and stop#

Power on an environment from its row, from the bulk bar or from its canvas. Start a single device from its menu on the canvas. Stopping works the same way.

• Powering on an environment starts its devices a few seconds apart, in no set order. If one device must be up before the others, for example a firewall, start the devices one by one in the order you need.
• Starting a single device also records that its environment should be running.
• Your edition limits how many devices can run at once and how large a single device can be. A start beyond a limit is refused with a message; power off another device first. See Limits per edition.
• Environments do not start by themselves when the appliance starts. Power them on when you need them.
• To power off every running environment at once, use Power off all running environments in Settings › Advanced. It is for administrators, lists the environments first and deletes nothing.

Power actions for a device#

These rows are in the device menu on the canvas and in the Power panel of the console.

Suspend is only for virtual machines, because only a virtual machine can be frozen in place. When an application host stops, its containers go with it; that is why their consoles disappear too.

Reset to first boot#

Reset puts devices back to the state they had at their first boot. It is not Delete: nothing is removed from the environment. Power off first; a running device or environment cannot be reset.

1. Choose ResetFor one device, choose Reset… in its menu on the canvas. For the whole environment, choose Reset environment on its row.
2. Read what is kept and what is removedKept: the device records, interfaces, links and MAC addresses; saved startup configurations and every saved version; the canvas layout, icons and annotations. Removed: each device's disk changes. A router's saved NVRAM is cleared so its next boot loads the saved startup configuration. A container is recreated from its image on its next start.
3. Type the name to confirmType the device or environment name exactly, then choose Reset device or Reset environment. For a container there is also a checkbox, off by default, to reset its persistent data under /data as well.

Save points#

• Startup Config: a device's saved startup configuration and its versions, from the device menu. Which devices can save a configuration, and whether versions are kept, depends on your edition; see Limits per edition.
• Snapshots…: save and restore a virtual machine's state, from the device menu. Pro
• Checkpoints and Snapshot environment: buttons in the canvas header. A checkpoint is a named configuration snapshot for the whole environment. Snapshot environment takes a disk snapshot of every virtual machine in it. Pro

Organize and protect#

• Lock freezes an environment's topology. While it is locked, devices cannot be added, removed or moved, links cannot change, and configurations and annotations cannot be edited. Power on, power off and consoles still work. The padlock button is in the canvas header; the same button releases the lock. Only the owner and administrators can release it.
• Duplicate makes a full copy: devices with fresh identities and MAC addresses, links, canvas annotations and saved configuration versions. It does not copy runtime state, snapshots or events. The copy starts powered off, is not shared, and counts toward your environment limit. Every device must be powered off first.
• Rename changes the name only.

Delete#

Delete removes everything the environment created: every virtual machine and its disk, every virtual switch and link, every network rule and its storage on the appliance. The confirmation names the environment and says it cannot be undone. Delete is disabled while the environment is powered on or changing state: power it off first.

To delete several environments at once, use the bulk bar. It lists what will be deleted, skips anything still running, and asks you to type DELETE.

Status words#

Each row in the list shows one of these words.

The line beside the word counts devices, for example 12 running · 2 failed · 6 stopped. It turns red when a device has failed.

What the status shows#

• The canvas follows device state as it changes while an environment runs.
• The Environments list refreshes about every six seconds, so it can trail a start or stop by a few seconds. Use the refresh button to reload it at once.
• Powered on means the device is running. To know that the system inside the device is ready, open its console.

Markers on devices#

A small colored dot at the top left of a device on the canvas marks a recent event. Select the dot to read what happened and when. Dismiss hides it until the next occurrence.