Documentation..how do I make my Visio drawings?

Warning: I'm a Visio fanboy

Now, I'm going to preface this and say that there are tons of way for a person to make his or her drawings as long as it gets the idea across.  Because that's it...that's the reason for making drawings: To simplify an often complex idea so that a person can understand the how/why in another person's architecture.

There are a couple "types" of drawings people often make: Rack diagrams using stencils, icons, and "boxes" (my personal favorite).

I think all three have uses, but that all three have scenarios in which one might work better than another.  

Let's start with stencils!

Stencils are often a visual representation of the item that is being racked/installed.  Cisco provides their stencils here!  I find that stencils work well for cabling guides.  Using the example below, I have a pair of ASR 9Ks that were implemented and I used the (redacted) diagram below to ensure accurate cabling.  In instances where you have a dedicated DC team that handles the cabling..I often find it more intuitive than a "Device A Port X <---> Device B Port Y" list (even though I usually provide both).  I will more often than not exclude this diagram in any sort of deliverables unless it has been requested, as a cabling diagram does little to assist one's understanding of a technology.

Note: I sometimes like to highlight the port color to be the same as the physical link. 

Here's another example that's a bit different...

Icons...bleh..

I hate icons.  Everyone uses icons..they provide 0 information other than what the device is.  They're great for a SUPER high level view (AKA, I use icons if I need to show a network diagram to management).  I find that the best source of network icons to be Cisco's icon library powerpoint. 

Here are a couple examples of what you'll find in the powerpoint:

Note: Here is a HEAVILY redacted example that was presented to multiple companies and their management teams for the sake of understanding a project we were working on.  They don't care about our cabling and/or the types of equipment used..so we don't include them!

Boxes (my personal favorite!)

These are what I use for drawings that I'll be the one to use and share with the members of my team.  The goal of the boxes are to not only convey what the technology is supposed to be doing...but also to assist in troubleshooting should there be an issue.

I'll have to thank a co-worker at my previous job for introducing me to boxes...as I've found them to be invaluable!

The first thing when I'm creating a drawing is to come up with an approach.  My typical approach is to supply a drawing for a technology that includes a layer 1 (how its cabled), layer 2 (how it interacts with network switches), layer 3 (any routing going on), and lastly a logical diagram...as it is often not exactly intuitive in the previous drawings.

The diagrams i'll use in my box drawings are as follows:

Now, in addition to using these boxes and symbols, it is VERY important to include some sort of legend so one can identify what he or she is looking at!

Now...starting with layer 1! 

Here is an example of my L1 diagram I've setup for a DMVPN setup.  I typically hide the physical ports if the ports make up a port-channel.  Take note that the color of the links indicate if the link is L2 or L3.

Layer 2

Here is an example of my layer 2 setup in the same DMVPN setup.  The L2 links indicate that they are trunk ports and what L2 VLANs are allowed on that VLAN.  Furthermore, the <subinterface> indicator shows what sub-interface makes up the physical interface in the L1 diagram, as in this example there is a single physical port that is broken out into sub-interfaces.  Furthermore, if it is simply connected to a L2 switch access port..it's indicated.

Layer 3..heavily redacted again.

This is where I would include the IP addressing (heh, L3..).  As you can see this is also where I include my L2 VLAN containers.  Instead of saying "L2 VLAN," it would normally include the L2 instance that these devices share (using switches for port aggregation).  I also include my EIGRP, BGP, HSRP, VRFs, and redistribution information.  

Logical!

This is where I wrap all this information together in the previous L1, L2, and L3 drawings.  This is typically my 1000 foot view of the design.  From this one drawing could extrapolate a number of things: The tunnel that the spokes are using for primary connectivity, the types of devices that make up the architecture, the subnet mask lengths used by the remote spokes, etc.  It would make more sense if I didn't have to hide all the information.