Is There an Open Standard for Network Maps?

mattski asks: "I am currently working on a project that generates network maps within a GUI, running on Solaris, which then needs to be exported somehow. What would you want to see as an export format for network maps and why? Take into account that the user must be able to manipulate the 'map' after it has been exported. I guess some options include XML or maybe even VRML but have you got any other thoughts?"

network maps

[seifried]

Well there are programs like visio which will do discovery and generate pretty maps, but they use strange formats. XML is a good candidate, you could define various network objects like hosts and links and then have a parser tie them together. Of course things may get "messy" if you have a complicated diagram, rendering it based on XML data could be difficult, whereas simply defining a picture looks nicer. The advantage of XML defined data is that automatically generating it would be relatively simple (feed in multiple traceroutes for example).

dia

[Jaeger]

I haven't used Visio, but Dia [lysator.liu.se] is a nice friendly gtk+/GPL package meant to be much like it. It exports to XML (gzipped by default), but I'm not actually sure how readable or writable its files are. It might be worth looking at.

Re:network maps

[mattski_d]

Thankyou for all of the posts guys/girls... After doing some preliminary investigation I think (for me at least) SVG is the best choice... what do you think? regards, Matt

good question, none that I know of :-(

[indaba]

This is a VERY good question, and I don't think that there is a positive answer - sorry.

As a network engineer/designer , over the years I've used lots of different network drawing tools and their associated file formats :

• Pen and paper , fax and photocopies ! - open but non manipulable
• Textpad/Wordpad (don't laugh !) - open and manipulable
• MS Word organisation chart editor - closed and non manipulable by non MS s/w
• MS PowerPoint - closed and non manipulable by non MS s/w
• NetViz closed and non manipulable by non Netviz s/w
• Visio - closed and non manipulable by non MS Visio s/w

Visio is easily the best of these, with Visio 2000 really working for me.

I always had a fear of losing my Netviz pictures as Netviz was/ is a relatively small company that might go under one day.

With MS buying Visio a few year back, that fear is now gone. I imported all my Netviz pictures in Visio.

Exporting: I can always export my pictures to .gif , jpeg or pdf's - but that's no good for further editing.

From a commercial viewpoint, I tend to export to .gif , jpeg or pdf's as I don't want people messing with the IP I've created.

In an ideal world, I would not use a closed source proprietary product to produce my work, but I don't see any viable alternatives at this moment.

cheers,

darren.

Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
Email : [e-mail] [mailto]
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse [geocities.com]

Cisco's Network Designer/Netformx

[anticypher]

CND was supposedly designed as an XML formatted network diagram tool. The idea was that the data picked up from autodiscovery could be manipulated into part numbers, and exported into ordering programs and accounting systems, and exchanged with network management systems. Cisco has been pushing hard to get into XML for communication between all their applications, with varying degrees of success. As one person at a conference said "It takes management only 2 seconds to make the decision to go with the latest buzzword (XML), but first implementation takes 2 years of hard work with plenty of resources. And if during those 2 years a new buzzword comes along, kiss most of that work goodbye".

I have no real understanding of the underlying technology, CND is just a tool that works. You might try googling [google.com], and digging around cisco [cisco.com] and netformx [netformx.com] sites for more info.

the AC

anarcti.ca

[little_fluffy_clouds]

I don't know about how open source this is, but antarcti.ca [antarcti.ca] can render computer networks into 2D or 3D maps. You might also want to check the slashdot story [slashdot.org] on this.

Consider SVG

[maggard]

The recently W3 endorsed SVG [w3.org] looks like an appropriate choice. XML-based it renders into vector graphics exactly of the sort most network maps consist of.

scotty works fine, and is freely available

[Cheeze]

Scotty [freshmeat.net] is what I used to use. it has automatic network discovery, snmp/tcp/icmp monitoring, and simple config files.

Network Notepad

[ted_nugent]

If you are in a Windows environment, this [freeserve.co.uk] freeware interactive network mapping tool looks very promising.