Application dashboard

The application's DASHBOARD tab provides the ability to:

  • Quickly and easily view a summary of an application's status and history.
  • Verify an application's connectivity.
  • Apply or discard changes to an application.
  • Resolve an application's blocked flows.
  • Decommission an application.
  • Edit application information.
  • Export application information.
  • Create a clone of the application.

Application DASHBOARD tab interface

Dashboard Tab Areas

This area displays the following information about the revision of the application you are viewing:

  • Revision. The current revision's number, counting from the application's creation.

    For more details, see View multiple versions of the same application.

  • Revision Status. One of the following:

    Active The revision of the application currently in use. This revision's traffic flow needs are currently incorporated in the network security policy.
    Draft A revision of the application that has changes that have not been incorporated in the network security policy.
    Pending Implementation An application that has been updated, but the change request is still being processed in FireFlow. If the change request is rejected, the revision status will revert to being active.
    Rejected A revision of the application whose FireFlow change request was rejected.
    History A revision of the application that was once in use. The application has been revised, and the changes have been incorporated in the network security policy.
    Pending Decommission An application that has been decommissioned, but the FireFlow change request that is blocking the traffic has not yet been resolved. If the change request is rejected, the revision status will become rejected.
    Decommissioned An application that is no longer in use. The application's flows have been removed from the network security policy.

    By default, revision status changes from Pending Implementation to Active once the FireFlow change request reaches the reconcile, pending match, or resolved statuses. For more details, see Configure advanced AppViz properties

  • Revision Creation Date. The date the revision was created.

  • Number of flows. The total number of traffic flows.

    Note: The number of blocked traffic flows appears on the Flows tab. Blocked flows are resolved using the Resolve action.

  • The number of FireFlow change requests submitted for the application. Clicking View takes you to the Change Requests tab.

  • Risk Score. The application's risk score.
  • Vulnerability Score. The application's vulnerability score.

This area displays one of the following graphs:

  • Application Diagram. For details, see Application diagram.

  • Change Requests Over Time

  • Application Security Rating Over Time

Click the side arrows to switch between graphs.

Apply Draft

This is an optional action for draft revisions and rejected revisions.

Applying a draft updates an application according to the changes specified in the revision.

For details, see Apply application drafts.
Discard Draft

This is an optional action for draft revisions and rejected revisions.

Discarding a revision deletes all changes made to the application.

For details, see Discard application drafts.
Resolve

This is an optional action for active revisions with blocked flows.

Resolving an application opens blocked flows that are required by the application.

For details, see Resolve active applications.
Decommission

This is an optional action for active revisions.

Decommissioning an application disables the application.

For details, see Decommission applications.
Export

This is an optional action for all revisions.

You select which information to export.

For details, see Export application content to PDF

Clone

This is an optional action for all revisions.

Cloning allows you to create a duplicate of an application (with a different name).

For details, see Clone applications.
Refresh Connectivity

This is an optional action for all revisions except decommission.

Refreshing connectivity updates AppViz's connectivity information for the application.

For details, see Refresh application connectivity.

Note: You can never perform an action that initiates change requests for applications that are Pending Implementation or Pending Decommission.

Note: When a FireFlow change request is created as the result of an application action, the subject of the change request signifies the application. For details, see Customize interactions with AFA and FireFlow.

This area displays the following information about the application:

Created on Date the application was created.
Expiration Date

Date application is set to expire.

  • If an application has expired, appears in the upper right corner.
  • If an application is nearing expiration, Expires in n days appears in the upper right corner.

See Manage application expiration .

  • Testing. The application is undergoing tests before use.
  • Staging. The application is undergoing limited use before it is put into production.
  • Production. The application is currently being used.
  • Decommission. The application is no longer being used.
Lifecycle phase

By default, one of the following:

Tip: The lifecycle phase is not tightly coupled with the network security policy, and only signifies the application's state from the business perspective.

You can optionally customize the names and number of lifecycle phases. For details, see Custom fields.

Additionally, any of the following that is relevant for the application will be displayed in this area:

  • Business Unit
  • Business Unit Location
  • Line of Business
  • Business Criticality
  • Business Partner ID
  • Attachments
  • Any custom fields that you have added

To edit an application's general information, see Edit general application information.

This area displays all tags associated with the application and allows you to add new user-defined tags.

There are two different types of tags in AppViz:

User-defined tags

  • Basic tags that can be created and added to any application as a way of organizing applications in groups. These tags appear in blue.
    		•

    System tags

     

    tags that are automatically assigned to an application as the result of a system function. Applications with system tags include:

    • Critical Process Applications. All applications that are part of a critical process are marked with its tag.

      The tag will be the name of the critical process and will appear in maroon.

      For more details, see Critical processes.

    • PCI Applications. All applications that contain a network object that intersects the PCI zone in their active revision are marked with the PCI tag.

      The tag appears in teal.

    For more details, see Business applications.

    This area displays contact information for all contacts associated with the application.

    To edit an application's contacts, see Edit contact information.

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    Apply application drafts

    Applying an application draft activates changes to the application that you have made in the draft revision. You can apply all of the changes in a draft or only some of the changes. A FireFlow change request is created to apply the specified changes to the network security policy.

    • When you apply all the changes in a draft revision, the draft enters the Pending Implementation status.
    • When you apply some of the changes in a draft revision, a new application revision with only the selected changes is created and enters the the Pending Implementation status. The original draft revision remains intact (as a draft revision) with both the changes that were and were not applied.

    Note: When applying a draft where some of the changes in the draft have already been applied, only the changes that have not yet been applied will appear as options to be applied with the FireFlow change request.

    To apply an application draft:

    1. View the application for which you want to apply a draft. For details, see Business applications.

    2. In the Actions area of the Application Dashboard tab, click .

      The Apply Flows Changes window appears, describing the FireFlow change request that will be created to add or remove traffic flows for the application in the network security policy.

      • Flows to be added to the application and objects to be added to a flow appear highlighted in .
      • Flows to be removed from the application and objects to be removed from a flow appear highlighted in .
      • Flows to be edited in the application and objects to be edited in a flow appear highlighted in .

      Note: If traffic flows have been removed from the application, but the traffic intersects the needs of another application, a FireFlow change request will not be created to remove the traffic.

      Note: If the draft that is being applied includes changes that have already been applied, only the changes that have not yet been applied will appear in the Apply Flows Changes window.

    3. Clear the check boxes next to the flows that you do not want to apply.

      Note: Only the selected changes will be included in the FireFlow change request.

    4. (Optional) Edit the Change Request Summary field.

      The contents of this field will be the subject of the FireFlow change request(s).

    5. Click Apply.

      The draft is applied. This may take a few minutes.

      The relevant change request is created. The FireFlow change request will include a link to the application, the application's diagram, and details of the changes to the application's flows.

    Note: The application information in FireFlow will only be visible to users with the required AppViz / AppChange permissions.

    When the change request is resolved in FireFlow, the new revision of the application will be Active.

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    Discard application drafts

    Discarding an application draft deletes all changes to the application you have made in the draft revision. No record of changes you have made to the draft revision is kept, as the changes were never active.

    To  discard an application draft:

    1. View the application for which you want to remove an application revision. For details, see Business applications.

    2. In the Actions area of the Application Dashboard tab, click .

      The Discard Draft window appears.

    3. Click OK.

      The draft is discarded.

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    Resolve active applications

    When some or all of an active application revision's flows are blocked, you have the option to resolve the application. This action issues a change request to open blocked flows.

    To resolve active applications:

    1. View the application you want to resolve. For details, see Business applications.

    2. In the Actions area of the Application Dashboard tab, click the icon.

      The Resolve window appears, describing the FireFlow change request that will be created.

    3. Click OK.

    The relevant change request is created. The FireFlow change request will include a link to the application, the application's diagram, and details of the changes to the application's flows.

    Note: The application information in FireFlow will only be visible to users with the required AppViz / AppChange permissions.

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    Decommission applications

    Decommissioning an application deactivates the application. A FireFlow change request is created to block traffic that was allowed for the sake of the application, and the application enters the Pending Decommission revision status.

    When an application enters the Pending Decommission revision status, the following occurs:

    • A change request opens in FireFlow to close any relevant traffic.
    • No actions that initiate change requests can be performed on the application.
    • The application will appear grayed out in the Applications tab of any network or service objects associated with the application.

    • If the application is currently used in a critical process, project or discovery search, the application will appear grayed out. You will no longer be able to use the application in any of these processes.

      If the change request is resolved in FireFlow, the application enters the Decommissioned revision status, and the following occurs:

    • The network and service objects that were associated with the application lose the association. The objects will still appear in the application's Flows tab, but the application will not appear as an affected application for its objects in the Application tab or for a search or impact analysis.
    • If the application is used in a critical process, project or discovery search, the application will be removed.
    • The application's history will still be visible in the activity logs in the administration area. For details, see Application activity log.
    • Any rules in AFA that were associated with the application will lose their associations.

    If the decommissioning change request is rejected, the application will revert to its previously active revision.

    To decommission an application:

    1. View the application you want to decommission. For details, see Business applications.

    2. In the Actions area of the Application Dashboard tab, click the icon.

      The Application Decommission window appears, describing the FireFlow change request that will be created to block traffic in the network security policy. If the traffic slated to be blocked intersects the needs of another application, a FireFlow change request will not be created to remove the traffic.

    3. Click Decommission.

      The relevant change request is created and the application enters the Pending Decommission revision status.

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    Export application content to PDF

    To export application content:

    1. View the application you want to export. For details, see Business applications.

    2. In the Actions area, click .

      The PDF Export window appears.

    3. Select the information to export, and click OK.

    You can chose specific tabs and/or all Change Request and Activity Log information for the last week, month, or quarter.

    Your browser will prompt you to save or open the PDF file.

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    Clone applications

    To facilitate the creation of a new application that is similar to an existing one, you can clone the application and edit it to meet the new requirements.

    There are two options for cloning an application:

    • From the New Application page
    • From the Actions area of the application's Dashboard tab

    Note: When you clone an application, any user-defined tags will be cloned, but the system tags will not be cloned. For example, if an application has one user-defined tag and one tag indicating it is part of a Critical Process, only the user-defined tag will be created with the clone.

    To clone an application from the New Application page:

    1. In the Applications panel, click +New Application.

      The New Application area appears.

    2. Click the Based on existing tab.
    3. In the Base Application box, type the name of the application to clone. Or, click Application lookup to search for the base application or select from the Application Name list.
    4. Modify data fields as needed. For details, see Business applications.

    To clone an application from the Applications Dashboard:

    1. View the application that you want to clone. For details, see Business applications.

    2. In the Actions area of the application's Dashboard tab, click .

      The Edit Name window appears.

    3. Type the name for the cloned application and click OK.
    4. Modify data fields as needed. For details, see Business applications.

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    Refresh application connectivity

    Refreshing application connectivity checks whether the network security policy allows all the traffic flows that an application requires and updates all the connectivity information AppViz has for the application. To verify the application connectivity per traffic flow, see Application flows.

    Note: You must have permission to refresh connectivity to perform this procedure.

    To refresh application connectivity:

    1. View the application for which you want to verify the connectivity. For details, see Business applications.

    2. In the Dashboard tab, click .

    AppViz checks whether the network security policy allows all the application's required traffic flows. This may take a few minutes.

    The color of the icon next to the application's name is updated to reflect the current connectivity of the application. For more details, see Business applications.

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    View multiple versions of the same application

    When you are viewing an application with more than one revision, you can navigate between the different revisions. You can identify applications with more than one revision because the icon to the left of the application's name appears with an arrow: .

    To view different revisions of the same application:

    1. View the application. For more details, see Business applications.

    2. Click the icon to the left of the application's name.

      A drop-down menu appears.

    3. Select the icon that represents the revision you want to view.

      This icon...

      Indicates this revision...

      Active or Decommissioned

      Pending implementation or Pending decommission

      		Draft

      Note: The color of the icon indicates the connectivity status, not the revision status. For more details, see Business applications.

    The revision you selected appears.

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    Edit general application information

    To edit general information:

    1. View the application for which you want to edit the general information. For more details, see Business applications.

    2. In the General Information area of the Application Dashboard tab, click.

    3. Edit the desired fields as needed. For more details, see Business applications.

      Other fields may appear, depending on your custom field configuration.

      Note: Renaming an application is disabled when a connectivity check is running for the application.

    4. To edit or delete an existing attachment, click the Attachment link.
    5. To add an attachment, click Attach files and follow the instructions.
    6. Click Save Changes.

    The edits are saved.

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    Edit contact information

    To edit contact information:

    1. View the application for which you want to edit the contact information. For more details, see Business applications.

    2. In the Contacts area of the Application Dashboard tab, click .
    3. To associate a new contact with the application, do the following:

      1. Click Add contact.

        The Add contact wizard appears.

      2. Use the wizard to select the contact. For more details, see Business applications.

    4. To remove a contact from the application, click the X next to the contact.

    5. Click Save Changes.

      The edits are saved.

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