Network diagram software

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1

I'd like to know what software people are using to document networks.
Visio is obvious but feels like a straight jacket to me.
I liked netviz but it seems owned by CA and unsupported nowadays.

What do you use?

/Tias

2

Mathias Wolkert wrote:

I'd like to know what software people are using to document networks.
Visio is obvious but feels like a straight jacket to me.
I liked netviz but it seems owned by CA and unsupported nowadays.

Omnigrafle and Dia are all I can add to your list

3

network notepad

4

Mathias Wolkert wrote:

I'd like to know what software people are using to document networks.
Visio is obvious but feels like a straight jacket to me.
I liked netviz but it seems owned by CA and unsupported nowadays.

What do you use?

OmniGraffle is the better Visio.

rgds,

.m

5

To what end? The visio or 'presentation software' straightjackets
are common for customer-facing presentations. I strongly advise
automated solutions for real, day to day use.
- dot -> graphviz (http://www.nanog.org/mtg-0210/ppt/stephen.pdf)
_ tkined
- network-weathermap.com
- ...plenty more I don't have at my fingertips on evdo.

And just use xpaint/gimp for cleaning up images from those for any
internal documentation :slight_smile:

Cheers!

Joe

6

Agree fully, I use OmniGraffle extensively and have for a long time. It's worth mentioning that OG can export to Visio-XML format, so you don't lock yourself into the .graffle format forever.

Chris

7

I'd like to put a second request. I often want to very quickly
mock-up a diagram that I'm going to use for myself or for internal
purposes.

Is there any application that takes some kind of *simple* description
and produces a (possibly not so beautiful) picture? For example, I
might say something like:

  Router(rtr1) connects to vlan 100
  Router(rtr2) connects to Router(rtr1) via T1
  switch(sw1) connects to vlan100
  switch(sw2) connects to Router(rtr2)
  A few hosts connect to Switch(sw1)
  A few hosts connect to Switch(sw2)

8

The aforementioned graphviz program "dot" (and friends) will do exactly this.

http://www.graphviz.org/

There's a command-line version and a spiffy GUI version for the mac.

It's a great way to go. It may be unsurprising that it was an at&t project.

   -Dave

9

Hi,

Ross Vandegrift wrote:

Is there any application that takes some kind of *simple* description
and produces a (possibly not so beautiful) picture?

yes, Omnigraffle here as well. Can be simple AND beautiful.

rgds,

.m

10

Agreed. We use it for all our network and service diagrams.. probably because we're all Mac users! :smiley:

11

Thanks all for your input.
One thing that hits me is how different networks are documented.
Are there any best practice communicated (RFC/IETF)?

I like the idea of having one physical version showing cables and devices
(CDP/EDP/LLDP view pretty much) and one logical view showing IP subnets.
Many times I found *documented* networks where this is all combined making
it very unclear.
The hard part is to visually show what VLANs are active in each switch.

Thoughts?

/Tias

12

yWorks http://www.yworks.com/en/index.html worth a try, its yEd is free.

m

13

OmniGraffle is the better Visio.

Me three. We all use OmniGraffle. And Adobe Illustrator to create new
objects.

                                -Bill

14

You can also use Lan Surveyor from us here @SolarWinds. There's a light
version called "Lan Surveyor Express" that discovers the network (layer
2 and 3) and then draws the topology for you in Visio.

You can of course buy it from SolarWinds.Com but there's also a special
link that we use to give it away to partners. Feel free to download to
download and use that one (free):

http://www.solarwinds.com/register/registrationform.aspx?Program=583&c=7
0150000000E50d

Josh

15

Me four, except I'm too lazy to create new objects and just slurp them from
Graffletopia:
<http://graffletopia.com/categories/networks>

--chuck

16

I use Omnigraffle all the time. Check out graffletopia for new
stencils:

http://www.graffletopia.com/

(It's also available in the integrated search box in Omnigraffle.)

Also of note - OmniGraffle can import OmniOutliner files (among some
other things) and make a diagram out of the tree.

17

Isn't there something comparable, at the virtual level, that draws pictures
from RPSL descriptions?

18

OmniGraffle all the way

19

> Mathias Wolkert wrote:
>> I'd like to know what software people are using to document
networks.
>> Visio is obvious but feels like a straight jacket to me.
>> I liked netviz but it seems owned by CA and unsupported nowadays.
>> What do you use?
>
> OmniGraffle is the better Visio.

OmniGraffle appears to be Mac only. Anything for us Mac deficient people?

20

Concept Draw is compatible with Windows and Mac. UI is similar to Visio.

http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/