CT-Ops

Host Networks

How to define CT-Ops networks, review discovered networks, and manage network membership.

Use Hosts -> Networks to organise hosts by network. CT-Ops networks are defined by CIDR, so hosts can be assigned automatically when an agent heartbeat reports an IP address inside a known subnet.

Use this area when operators need to model real infrastructure boundaries such as office LANs, datacentre VLANs, VPN ranges, customer subnets, lab networks, or cloud private ranges. Network membership is instance-scoped: users only see networks and hosts for the current CT-Ops instance.

Create and manage networks

The Hosts -> Networks page opens at /hosts/networks. It has four main controls in the page header:

Networks table

The networks table shows one row per managed network, sorted by network name.

If there are no managed networks, CT-Ops shows an empty state with New Network. Create the first network when you want heartbeat IPs to start producing automatic membership.

Network form fields

The create and edit dialogs use the same fields:

Cancel closes the dialog without saving. Create Network creates a new record. Save Changes updates the selected record. The submit button shows a spinner while the request is running.

Creating, editing, hiding discovered networks, and deleting managed networks require an instance administrator role. Users without permission may still be able to view the page, but the server rejects protected actions.

Delete behaviour

Deleting a network removes network membership records. It does not delete the hosts. The confirmation explains that auto-assigned hosts can be re-added on a later heartbeat if their IP address still falls inside the CIDR after a network with the same CIDR is created again.

Use discovered networks

The Discovered toggle shows CIDRs observed from hourly internal connection samples. CT-Ops asks online hosts for connection samples at most once per hour, stores private remote networks, and infers discovered ranges as IPv4 /24 CIDRs for RFC1918 addresses or IPv6 /64 CIDRs for private IPv6 addresses. Public remote addresses and addresses that cannot be parsed are ignored.

Discovered networks are separate from managed networks. A discovered CIDR is not shown in the discovered list once a managed network with the same CIDR exists.

Discovered networks panel

When discovered networks are available, CT-Ops shows a Discovered networks panel above the managed table. The panel includes a Hide discovered shortcut that turns off the discovered section for the current page session.

Use Add as known when the discovered range is operationally meaningful and should be tracked like other managed networks. The create dialog is prefilled with:

After the managed network is created, CT-Ops marks the discovered row as promoted and refreshes the managed and discovered lists.

Use the eye-off action when a discovered CIDR is expected noise, a transient test range, or a network operators do not want to track. Hidden discovered networks are removed from the default discovered list.

Switch between table and graph views

The networks page supports Table and Graph views. Table view is better for creating, editing, and auditing known networks. Graph view is better for seeing how networks and hosts relate across the estate.

Network detail pages also support table and graph views for the selected network.

All-networks graph

The all-networks graph loads when you select Graph. It is lazy-loaded so normal table administration stays fast on large fleets.

Hosts that belong to more than one managed network are drawn once and connected to each network they belong to. In the graph canvas, operators can pan, zoom, drag nodes, use the React Flow controls, and use the minimap to navigate larger topologies.

Host node context menu

Right-click a monitored host node in either graph to open the host-node context menu:

The terminal dialog asks for:

Right-clicking discovered remote IP nodes does not open host actions because they are not CT-Ops host records.

Manage network members

Open a network name from the table or graph to see its detail page at /hosts/networks/<network-id>. The page header shows All Networks back navigation, network name, CIDR, optional description, a Table / Graph toggle, and Add Host.

Network member table

The member table shows hosts that currently belong to the selected network.

Assignments can be:

• Auto, meaning the host was assigned because its heartbeat reported an IP address inside the network CIDR.
• Manual, meaning an operator added the host directly.

Use Add Host to add a host manually. Use the remove action to remove a membership. If an auto-assigned host still reports an IP inside the CIDR, CT-Ops can re-add it on a later heartbeat.

Add Host dialog

Add Host opens a searchable host picker for hosts that are not already in the network.

Manual add and remove actions require an engineer, instance administrator, or super administrator role.

Remove confirmation

Removing a host deletes that membership only. It does not delete the host. If the host was auto-assigned and still reports an IP inside the network CIDR, CT-Ops can recreate the membership on the next heartbeat. Manual memberships are not removed by heartbeat CIDR sync unless an operator removes them.

Network detail graph

The network detail Graph view shows the selected network node above a grid of member host nodes. It uses the same node labels, installed-app icons, animated edges, pan and zoom controls, minimap, drag behaviour, and host-node context menu as the all-networks graph.

Use the detail graph when a network has many hosts and you want a visual membership map without leaving the selected network.

Use networks from host detail

You can also manage network membership from a host detail page under Infrastructure -> Networks. That view is useful when you are investigating one host and need to confirm which CT-Ops networks it belongs to.

The host-detail networks tab loads only when the tab is active. It shows Networks this host belongs to, an Add to Network button, and one row per current network membership.

If the host is not in any networks, CT-Ops explains that the host will be added automatically when its IP matches a defined CIDR and offers Add to Network.

The Add to Network dialog lists managed networks that do not already contain the host. Each row shows the network name, CIDR, and an Add button. If the host already belongs to every managed network, the dialog shows This host is already in all available networks.

Use the host-detail view when the investigation starts from one host. Use the network detail view when the question is about all hosts in one subnet.

Automatic membership behaviour

On every heartbeat, CT-Ops compares the host’s reported IP addresses with all managed network CIDRs for the instance.

A host can belong to multiple networks. That is expected for hosts with multiple interfaces, VPN addresses, overlay networks, or manual memberships that model operational ownership rather than pure IP topology.

Permissions

Network date fields use Display Settings. Graph terminal actions use Terminal Access Settings.