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Diagramming Server Dependencies
I have been given the daunting (very messy) task to diagram our server dependencies. We are considering a dependency anything that makes a servers purpose run 100%.
We have numerous servers including, DB, Web, Application, File, etc. Some servers such as a web server will depend on another web server, 3 app servers, 2 DB servers, and 1 file server. Another web server may depend on some of the same resources as noted above. Some of the app servers above may depend on one another too. You see my drift as messy and very time consuming.
I have a nice segment of our server dependencies in visio now and wondering some things:
A. Is there a way to have the diagram auto sort itself to make the most visual experiance (eliminate tons of crossing lines)?
B. Is there a way to enter this stuff in an excel sheet and have it auto build the diagram? If there is, can you specify which specific stencil sets to use? We are using "Rack Mounted Servers" for Physical Servers and Servers (I think thats the other sets name) for Virtual Servers (the stock stencil sets provided by visio).
If you can think of a better way to diagram depencies any help appreciated. In this scenario all network related equipment will be left out and "assumed" running.
We have numerous servers including, DB, Web, Application, File, etc. Some servers such as a web server will depend on another web server, 3 app servers, 2 DB servers, and 1 file server. Another web server may depend on some of the same resources as noted above. Some of the app servers above may depend on one another too. You see my drift as messy and very time consuming.
I have a nice segment of our server dependencies in visio now and wondering some things:
A. Is there a way to have the diagram auto sort itself to make the most visual experiance (eliminate tons of crossing lines)?
B. Is there a way to enter this stuff in an excel sheet and have it auto build the diagram? If there is, can you specify which specific stencil sets to use? We are using "Rack Mounted Servers" for Physical Servers and Servers (I think thats the other sets name) for Virtual Servers (the stock stencil sets provided by visio).
If you can think of a better way to diagram depencies any help appreciated. In this scenario all network related equipment will be left out and "assumed" running.
ASKER
Scott thank you so much. Visio is just one of them programs that can be a friend of a systems admin.
I would like to know of resources to get code so I can do this through excel. Our business is growing very fast and keeping track of how our servers interact with one another is getting quite daunting.
I would like to know of resources to get code so I can do this through excel. Our business is growing very fast and keeping track of how our servers interact with one another is getting quite daunting.
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I know visio did have some minor limitations, but this put me on a better path to complete the task at hand.
I'm glad this got you pointed in the right direction. Please post additional questions if you need help as you get farther into building a solution.
A. Visio 2007 and 2003 have a "re-layout shapes" function (I don't recall about 2002 or 2000). It's on the Shape menu in Visio 2007and will rearrange some or all of your drawing according to the current layout setting. You can experiment with different layout settings also -- select Shape/Configure Layout... from the Visio main menu. Try different combinations using the Style and Direction dropdowns in the configure layout dialog.
I won't promise that the end result will be what you want but at least you can experiment with it. If you have the beta version of Visio 2010, you'll find that the re-layout function is even smarter and comes with live preview so you don't have to "undo" as often if you don't like the results. In addition, Visio 2010 includes an "Auto align and space" function that works pretty nicely.
B. You can enter your data in Excel and and use Visio's data linking feature to connect shapes to the data in the spreadsheet (Visio 2007 Pro or Visio 2010 Pro only). Visio won't automatically draw the picture for you but you can drag data objects onto an empty page and Visio will drop a shape of your choice then populate it with your data. You're just left to connect the new shapes.
If you do want to automatically create a drawing, it will require some code -- not as much as you might think, depending how sophisticated you want it to be, but code is required. If you're interested in pursuing this, let me know, and I can point you at several useful examples.
Scott