nanog mailing list archives
Re: Network diagram software
From: Malte von dem Hagen <mvh () hosteurope de>
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:11:17 +0100
Hej, Am 11.02.2009 19:13 Uhr, John Osmon schrieb:
On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 04:11:38PM +0100, Mathias Wolkert wrote: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.
Most networks need at least two diagrams: - a logical map showing network boundaries/collision domains/etc. (This is where VLANs get documented) - a physical map showing *how* things are connected. (This is where equipment and their interconnects are documented)
the actual needs strongly depend on the design of the network. If your network is segemented by many routers, it may even be sufficient to do a dozen or so traceroutes and parse the results ;-) If you run flat, switched networks with hundreds of switches but only few routers and possibly extreme heterogeneous subnetting in a multi-vendor environment, you do not get very far by parsing configs or "autodiscovering" the net. It becomes even more interesting if you run active layer 1 equipment like DWDM boxes or radio connections :-) Personally, I think most important is a clean documentation of Layers 1 and 2 AND the corresponding contact data for 3rd party sites/lines/equipment. These are the things you cannot get easily out of your network, and when experiencing failure on that level, you'll be happy to have this information on one single map. Always remember: Layer 3 is easy. Routing is easy. You have a lot of tools and deterministic protocols. Layers 1/2 are the wild jungle where you may see strange things happen and are partly blind and constrained. Combining the maps for Layers 1 and 2, by the way, is possible. Use colours, line types, and again geometric figures. Regards, .m
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Current thread:
- Re: Network diagram software, (continued)
- Re: Network diagram software Michael Hallgren (Feb 11)
- Re: Network diagram software Bill Woodcock (Feb 11)
- Re: Network diagram software chuck goolsbee (Feb 11)
- Re: Network diagram software Adam Fields (Feb 11)
- Re: Network diagram software Brian Feeny (Feb 11)
- Re: Network diagram software Joe Provo (Feb 11)
- Re: Network diagram software Ross Vandegrift (Feb 11)
- Re: Network diagram software David Andersen (Feb 11)
- Re: Network diagram software Mathias Wolkert (Feb 11)
- Re: Network diagram software John Osmon (Feb 11)
- Re: Network diagram software Malte von dem Hagen (Feb 11)
- Message not available
- Re: Network diagram software Tim Chown (Feb 12)
- Re: Network diagram software Randy Bush (Feb 12)
- Re: Network diagram software David Andersen (Feb 11)
- Re: Network diagram software Brad Fleming (Feb 11)
- RE: Network diagram software Stephens, Josh (Feb 11)
- RE: Network diagram software Howard C. Berkowitz (Feb 11)