Visio tip: illustrating abridged protocol stacks
When representing protocol stacks in a network diagram, you generally want to show only the bare minimum, especially if you want to maintain scale. For example, including the unidentified payload of Ethernet frame is unwieldy an conveys no notable information:
One of the stock Visio shapes can come in handy here. Open the Flowchart > Basic Flowchart Shapes stencil set and drag a copy of the Document shape onto the work area. This shape can be rotated and resized to provide a smooth tapered effect on our protocol stack:
Two copies can also be positioned face to face to create a nice bisection effect:
About the Author
Jeremy Stretch is a freelance networking consultant, instructor, and the maintainer of PacketLife.net. He currently lives in Fairfax, VA on the edge of the Washington, DC metro area. Although primarily an R&S guy, he likes to get into everything, and runs a free Cisco lab out of his basement for fun. You can contact him by email or follow him on Twitter.
Comments
@Chris: Well I'm hardly an authority on the "right" way to draw, but I do posts like this on occasion (see the blog archive for more). I also like Visio Guy for random Visio-specific tips.
Thanks for the feedback. Maybe I should do something about some kind of Network Visio Standard. Hmmmm, me thinkie bout it.
Thanks again, and Merry CHRISTmas.
This is a GREAT TOPIC, tips on proper VISIO network drawings. I know I have a hard time with my team, always all over the place as to what gets on a Visio...
Maybe start the topic or direct me/us to a good place for Visio samples etc...