Server Fault is a question and answer site for system and network administrators. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
There are lots of Network Diagramming Software, but it doesn't satisfies me. In a reason that it's not free.
I need a Network Diagramming Software that can design both Logical and Physical, and it should be FREE or Open-Source. Anybody knows.
Thanks.
Dia is a such program. DiaCze is a windows only version packaged with icon for network diagramming (but you can extract content on a windows computer and copy it to a unix system).
Edit: I discovered Kivio today, a Visio like (but still in development)
Dia (http://projects.gnome.org/dia/) is the preeminent free opensource diagramming software. It's also pretty ugly.
If you're on a mac, I recommend Omnigraffle (http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/OmniGraffle/). It's my favorite diagramming software on any platform. It's neither free nor open source.
There are also online tools that actually look pretty good. My favorite so far is Gliffy: http://www.gliffy.com/
Your question doesn't specify you need a fancy GUI, so I'm going to suggest GraphViz (http://www.graphviz.org/)
With graphviz can define your nodes and connection in a text file and use the command line to generate the graph in a number of different output formats.
Its no Visio but it often does the job for me.
On linux I have used Dia. It is certainly the standard, but it is also ugly as sin. Lacking Visio, which is excellent for diagramming, I have used OpenOffice Draw. Since it is both free and open-source, I would recommend looking into it first.
YED Graph Editor should fulfill your needs. It is easy to use! Have a look at it.
Xfig is just about the best bit of FOSS diagram drawing kit out there. It's slightly uglier than visio, but plenty good.
Have you considered looking at something like The Dude, from Microtik?
It's free, but not free like Debian...and it runs on Windows (I run it in a VM). Useful tool for what it can do. Were you looking for something more like Cheops? I used to love that program but don't think it's been maintained in quite some time. I'd love to see someone pick that project back up and maintain it again.
The next version of Spiceworks (4) is supposed to include network mapping capability and it is free (Google ad supported) Not yet released but check them out to see if it would match what your looking for.
Cisco Network Assistant
I'm not sure if its free, or only free if you sign up for even the lowest level of Cisco support.
If anything, it will remind you what is on your network and what is connected to what. It needs some sort of hook to work, either the Cisco logins, or SNMP configured on the networking equipment.
Once it draws you a picture, you can move things around as you please. If anything, you can use it as a starting point in your other drawing package.
Dia and Xfig will do the job but they are ugly for sure and produce ugly diagrams.
If you wish to spend a bit of time to get nice looking stuff and you have some good taste, go for Inkscape http://www.inkscape.org/
It also comes with a rich set of freely usable cliparts from an online archive. Network objects are available.
http://www.networknotepad.com/
Network Notepad is a Freeware program for creating interactive network diagrams.
On *nix systems, I usually use Dia, despite its warts and ugliness.
On Windows, Inkscape is a really good choice.
An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.
Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development.
On Windows you also have CADE that is free.
CADE is a compact but powerful 2D vector editor for Windows. It includes basic Visio functionality and could be used to create diagrams, network diagrams, flowcharts, schemas, maps and so much more. You can use predefined blocks, primitive shapes, raster and vector images. The collection of blocks and it's attributes could be modified and extended. Working in CADE requires no particular drawing skills.
I haven't tried this. It is free as in free beer but may not be open source. Why not try google docs , it has a drawing component and collaboration facility.
There are various online tools capable of this. Diagramly, Cacoo, Lucidchart, Creately and Gliffy.
Check out my recent free addition to the network diagram tools arena: http://www.techexams.net/netpict
No catch, ads, etc. Just a free tool for simple Cisco style diagrams.
