Creating Network Diagrams

Chapter at a Glance

In this chapter, you will learn how to:
	Connect shapes in network diagrams.
	Store information with network shapes.
	Create network reports.

Organizations of any size can use network diagrams to plan, document, and troubleshoot network infrastructures. Using the Basic Network Diagram template in Microsoft Office Visio, you can diagram a wide variety of computer and network equipment and their physical and logical relationships. You can also store data, such as serial number, location, manufacturer, network name, product description, and so on, with the equipment shapes in a network diagram. You can then use that data to create your own network reports that you can store in spreadsheets or display in your network diagrams.

In this chapter, you create a diagram of the proposed network infrastructure for the tradeshow hosted by Wide World Importers. You add information to the network equipment shapes in the diagram, and then use that information to create a hardware report for the network.

Note

This chapter covers basic methods for manually entering shape data. Visio Professional 2007 provides new functionality and more advanced methods for integrating and visualizing data with the shapes in any Visio diagram. These methods are covered in Chapter 9, "Visualizing Data in Diagrams."

Do you need only a quick refresher on the topics in this chapter? See the Quick Reference entries on pages xxvxliii.

Important

Before you can use the practice files in this chapter, you need to install them from the book's companion CD to their default location. See "Using the Book's CD-ROM" on page xix for more information.