[AusNOG] Diagramming Networks in 2022 - Should it be this hard?

[Etienne-Victor Depasquale]

Jason,

Last September (
https://mailman.nanog.org/pipermail/nanog/2021-September/thread.html), I
posted a similar question to NANOG.
The thread was titled "Telecommunications network drafting software".
You might find something helpful there.

I'll confess that ultimately, I resigned myself to:

(a) using Visio
(b) buying Visio templates (especially those for radio access networks)
(c) using basic shapes and labelling them, instead of endlessly chasing a
wild goose on the Internet.

Ultimately, my humble diagnosis is that we're on our own until someone
decides to take this up as a business venture.

Cheers,

Etienne

On Sun, Oct 9, 2022 at 2:30 AM Jason Leschnik <jason at leschnik.me> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> Frustration has gotten the better of me, hence the post. Sorry if this
> isn't 100% relevant, I thought about posting on Reddit but find sometimes
> the replies are a bit of a dumpster fire.
>
> We're using Visio and some very basic templating practices (common
> symbols, guidelines for link color/type & styles). But every time I jump
> into our diagrams, I'm always frustrated with how tedious it is to use
> Visio (possible lack of skill?) and how rigid the tool is. Moving a
> device/adding a new site, effectively means getting out the scissors and
> glue and spending an afternoon like an artisan redrawing and reflowing
> links. I understand there are other tools out there, draw.io/lucid which
> are better but still all take time and some artistic flare.
>
> Possibly this is due to a mix of how we're using connectors (some in
> our team are just reverting to using simple lines now to avoid the
> connector reflow madness). But things like labels on links, having to chase
> them around the page manually, and diagrams that are difficult to read
> because of lack of room. Surely we're doing it the hard way?
>
> Does anyone have examples of their "real world" diagrams (redacted of
> course!) to show how they do this better? All the Google-Fu I do on the
> subject just brings me to those "edgy" isometric Network diagrams that are
> used in marketing slideware.
>
> *tl;dr* looking for practical Network diagram styles so I can use some of
> the themes in our diagrams.
>
> Attached sample, moving anything around in this small area requires a few
> hours to rework everything. It shouldn't be this hard right?
>
> [image: image.png]
> Regards,
> Jason.
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>


-- 
Ing. Etienne-Victor Depasquale
Assistant Lecturer
Department of Communications & Computer Engineering
Faculty of Information & Communication Technology
University of Malta
Web. https://www.um.edu.mt/profile/etiennedepasquale
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