Visio 2010 Network Discovery

Few diagramming tools are as versatile and well-known as Visio. Though the network discovery features of Visio 2000 were discontinued in the later editions, Visio 2010 can nevertheless be used with network device discovery tools like WhatsUp Gold’s WhatsConnected software to create network topology maps.

The network mapping software uses various layer3/Layer 2 techniques to discover and map the network. The maps can be exported to Visio 2010. Administrators can then use Visio 2010’s easy-to-use tools to enhance the map’s applications and capabilities.

Here are a few innovative Visio 2010 network discovery features, especially useful for network diagrams:

• Align Shapes tool: Automatically align a set of selected shapes horizontally/vertically to create a cleaner and de-cluttered look
• Dynamic Connectors: Connectors that automatically attach, and move along with the shapes avoids re-diagramming hassles in dynamically changing networks
• Store IP information: Use custom properties to store networking information about individual shapes including IP address, OS, software details, Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN) etc. Visio shapes are Smart Shape objects, and can store data within the shape itself. Network discovery and mapping software can leverage this capability, and automatically populate device-related information within the device shape.
• Custom network reports: Create property reports that show data contained in the shape’s custom properties
• Multiple pages and hyperlinks: These are extremely useful in depicting larger networks – start off with a boarder diagram (the backbone, perhaps) and go on into smaller chunks on each page, drilling down the details.

Tools like WhatsConnected network discovery and mapping tool, allow one-click integration with Visio 2010. WhatsConnected automatically discovers your network topology; maps your network, including routers, switches, hosts, physical and virtual servers, and the interconnections between them. And it also comes with documentation features that allow the maps to be easily exported to Visio. Network administrators can now leverage WhatsConnected’s auto discovery/ mapping features and Visio’s diagramming aspects concurrently in order to track historical changes in network architecture, and to ensure team-wide knowledge of network discovery and changes.