How create network diagrams?

For example to explain this network it is much easier to simply show the following diagram which was incomplete at the time of writing this post.


I'm a happy user of this:

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can you create the above diagram in that?

No. As the name implies it's all ASCII. But with a bit of creativity you can draw neat stuff, e.g.:

                 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────IPMI (apart VLAN)──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                 │                                                                                                                                                         │
                 │                                                            ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐                                  │
                 │                                                            │                                                         │                                  │
                 │  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐              │   ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │                                  │
                 │  │                                          │              │   │                                                  │  │                                  │
                 │  │   MikroTik RB5009UG+S+IN (Edge router)   │              │   │               ZyXEL XGS1250-12                   │  │                                  │
                 │  │                                          │              │   │                                                  │  │                                  │
                 │  │    (1x 10G SFP+, 1x 2,5 GbE*, 7x GbE)    │              │   │       (8x GbE, 3x 10 GbE*, 1x 10 Gb SFP+)        │  │                                  │
                 │  │                                          │              │   │                                                  │  │                                  │
                 │  │     1* 2  3  4  5  6  7  8  SFP+         │              │   │  1  2  3  4  5  6    7  8  9*    10*  11*  SFP+  │  │                                  │
                 │  └────────▲──┬──▲──▲──▲──▲──▲───▲───────────┘              │   └──▲──▲──▲──▲──▲─ ▲────▲──▲──▲──────▲────▲────┬────┘  │                                  │
                 │           │  │  │  │  │  │  │   │                          │      │  │  │  │  │  │    │  │  │      │    │    │       │                                  │
                 └───────────┘  │  │  │  │  │  │   └──────────────────────────┘      │  │  │  │  │  │    │  │  │      │    │    └───────┘                                  │
                                │  │  │  │  │  │                                     │  │  │  │  │  │    │  │  │      │    │                                               │
                                │  │  │  │  │  │                                    ┌┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴┐ ┌─┴──┴──┴──┐   │    │                                               │
┌───────────────────┐           │  │  │  │  │  │                                    │    Bureau 2    │ │ Bureau 1 │  Failover    ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  WAN uplink (ISP )◄───────────┘  │  │  │  │  │                                    │                │ │          │   │    │     │                                      │  │
└───────────────────┘              │  │  │  │  │                                    │     6x GbE     │ │ Ethernet │   │    │     │      Asrock Rack bestandsserver      │  │
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                    └────────────────┘ └──────────┘   │    │     │                                      │  │
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                                                      │    └─────┤ 10 GbE      (2x GbE standaard   IPMI ├──┘
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                                                      │          │              niet ingeplugd)         │
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                                                      └──────────┤ 10 GbE                               │
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                                                                 │              1 GbE  1 GbE            │
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                                                                 └──────────────────────────────────────┘
                                   │  │  │  │  │
                                   │  │  │  │  │
                                   │  │  │  │  │
                                   │  │  │  │  │
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                                 ┌────────────────────────────┐
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                                 │                            │
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                                 │   ZyXEL GS1900-8HP PoE+    │
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                                 │                            │
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                                 │   1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8   │
                                   │  │  │  │  │                                                 └───┬──┬──▲──▲──▲────────────┘
                   ┌───────────┐   │  │  │  │  │                                                     │  │  │  │  │
                   │           │   │  │  │  │  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │  │  │  │
                   │  Plotter  ├───┘  │  │  │        Link aggregation voor 2 Gbps uplink?               │  │  │  │
                   │           │      │  │  └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │  │  └─────────────────────────────┐
                   └───────────┘      │  │                                                                 │  │                                │
                                      │  │                                                                 │  └──────────────┐                 │
                                      │  │   ┌────────────────────────────┐                                │                 │                 │
                      ┌───────────┐   │  │   │                            │                        ┌───────┴───────┐ ┌───────┴───────┐  ┌──────┴────────┐
                      │           │   │  │   │  Dell Optiplex 3020 Micro  │                        │               │ │               │  │               │
                      │  Printer  ├───┘  └───┤                            │                        │ EAP615-Wall 1 │ │ EAP615-Wall 2 │  │ EAP615-Wall 3 │
                      │           │          │   Backup bestandsserver    │                        │               │ │               │  │               │
                      └───────────┘          │                            │                        │   Bureau 1    │ │   Bureau 2    │  │  Lunchruimte  │
                                             └────────────────────────────┘                        └───────────────┘ └───────────────┘  └───────────────┘

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kivio/ koffice (now calligra) wasn't too bad either, but a consistent symbol set is a (one of many) weak point; I usually shuffle between libreoffice draw and kivio for different parts of a diagram.

...but, both pen(cil) and paper and simple ASCII graphics tend to provide reasonable results much quicker.

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how about draw.io?

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Would LibreOffice Draw do this for you? Its similar to MS Visio...

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seems to do the trick. Will investigate further

Cisco Packet Tracer is FREE, you just need to create an acount.

there is also something free from Huawei : http://www.techspacekh.com/huawei-network-device-simulation-with-ensp/
search google for : Huawei eNSP

Both can be used to draw some network pictures, but also to simulate and validate the functioning

I did download the cisco packet tracer, but it requires booking a course.

@atux_null for the win. Follow the help section to find the Help About 20.0.4; follow that to GitHubs Release.


Download the no-installer and double click > Select Templet > Have fun.

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For an Open Source standalone app, Libreoffice Draw can be used for this if you don't mind a little effort.

you are wrong, you only need an account and it's free.

It didn't allow me to run without a course.

You can do nice things with Dia Dia Diagram Editor. It is GPL software running on linux and windows.

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Which sheets/icons were used in this diagram you shared?

draw.io is my go to for most engineering type drawings.

I just want to use something which is free and open source if that exists.

You can use Inkscape (free and open source), this one I did using Inkscape 1.2, so you can have an idea.

Here is the Inkscape svg file. Be aware that there is no "auto" nothing, you have to draw all this by yourself.

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Mermaid is great for diagrams in markdown style:
"Generation of diagram and flowchart from text in a similar manner as markdown"
See https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid

Github has also added mermaid support in markdown recently:
See https://github.blog/2022-02-14-include-diagrams-markdown-files-mermaid/

Online playground: https://mermaid-js.github.io/mermaid-live-editor

There is an open issue regarding network diagram support in mermaid: https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid/issues/1227

Alternatives:

i like to use xfig... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xfig
example:

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