VisualRoute Quickstart Guide

This online Quickstart Guide was designed to help you install and run VisualRoute for the first time. Advanced topics are covered in the VisualRoute Reference Manual.

Installing VisualRoute

First, make sure that you meet the minimum requirements for your platform, including the proper Java VM. Then install VisualRoute:

Windows: The download EXE is the install program for VisualRoute. Just run this program after downloading it.

UNIX: To install VisualRoute for UNIX, follow these steps:

Login as root. You should be root user to install, but not to run VisualRoute (refer to Appendix A for notes on 'running as a user')
Uncompress "uncompress vr.tar" or gunzip "gunzip vr.tar" the download file.
Untar this file "tar -xf vr.tar" to create a directory in your present directory of vr7

Mac: Within 'Finder' double-click on the downloaded StuffIt vr.pkg.sit self-expanding file, this will create the vr.pkg file structure. Next, within 'Finder', double-click on thevr.pkg structure and this will start the 'Installer', then follow the instructions.

Running VisualRoute

Windows: Go to Start / Programs / VisualRoute and click on VisualRoute. If you are running under NT/Win2000, it is possible to configure VisualRoute to run as a Service.

UNIX: To run VisualRoute for Unix follow these steps. It is possible to configure VisualRoute to run as a daemon service that is started at system boot. Refer to Appendix A for details.

Change to the install directory "cd vr7"
Make sure that the current directory ('.') is in the PATH environment variable by typing "env | grep PATH". There may be perhaps two or more environment variables that have PATH in them. If it's not already there then set it with (assuming a Kourne shell) "PATH=$PATH:.; export PATH". Note: You could also amend the profile of the account that will be running VisualRoute to include ('.')
If using a Java 1.1 Runtime Environment (JRE), type "jre vr" to run VisualRoute. Otherwise, type "java vr"

Mac: VisualRoute is installed in the /Applications/VisualRoute folder. Click on the VisualRoute application in this directory to start VisualRoute.

Running VisualRoute for the First Time

When you run VisualRoute for the first time, you will be presented with a dialog box (shown in Fig 1) asking you to select the language you want to use in VisualRoute.

Fig 1 Language Selection Dialog

Just select your language to continue into the product.

If you are a seasoned user of VisualRoute 6 (or previous), you will notice immediate differences between that and the new VisualRoute 7. VisualRoute 7 can be run in two modes: advanced and simple. The new simple mode offers an overview of a traceroute displayed on a world map and basic route analysis information. The advanced mode, which is similar in appearance to VisualRoute 6, offers an entire routing table giving detailed information on each hop, detailed analysis, and still the world map. The map can be resized by dragging the horizontal separator bar in between the table and map.

Entering the License Key

When you have selected the language you have to enter your license key (if you have bought one.) This can be done be either clicking the link on the top part of the GUI to bring up the license key dialog or you can go through the menus, see below:

Fig 2 Edit --> License key..

Once "license key" has been selected you can will get the dialog below. Simply highlight your license key and copy and paste it into the license dialog below and click ok

Fig 3 License Key Dialog