Network Documentation

Simplest way to describe it is to ask you to google it under the images section. (And no, i don't mean any disrespect by asking you to google it -- nowadays some people get offended with others ask them to google). I used MindJet's MindManager. An open source version is FreeMind.

Mind mapping is flexible in that you can map your network's configuration visually, rather than using an excel or word doc to write information down. You can arrange the elements in such a way to make them appear as actual network devices are connected together. as you need to add more configuration information, you can branch out more.

Again, it's easier to describe by having you look at pictures of it.

If you want, I can send you a mind map of my network via email.

I take no offense for the Google comment. I say the same to others. I was just looking for a short description as you have provided. I will look into this further. It sounds interesting - I visual over database.

I looked into freemind and it seems interesting. I was able to click on parts of the image and have them expand. It was not simply a static image. How does your mindmap work? I did not see any examples for computer networks.

Visio is nice for small networks, but as soon as automation requirements come into play, it falls short as you may find yourself relying on old drawings every time you open a Visio file or you may spend too much time documenting. Also it is important to take into account that non SNMP devices or things that cannot be discovered are a huge part of the Data Center Infrastructure, so relying on pure discovery will get you a partial view only.
Other alternatives are Opnet's Netmapper ( www.opnet.com ), netTerrain ( www.graphicalnetworks.com ).

I have been working as CIO for several years and documentation has been a week point many years. but this is probatly only happening in our company :roll: - documantation updating is always getting a low priority. A few years ago we started implementing some automatic documentation software. At the start we tried several OSS solutions in combination, but again there was too much "hands on". Now we use Docusnap 5.0 - offcouse this ain´t free, but now I dont have to worry. If you like see: www.docusnap.dk or www.docusnap.dk - and yes, I know the blokes that sell it - :wink: