How to document computer networks

Abstract

Documenting networks is an essential tool for troubleshooting network problems. The documentation details a network's structure and context, serves as a reference and makes network management more effective. Complex network diagrams are hard to document and maintain and are not guaranteed to reflect reality. They contain many superficial icons (e.g., wall, screen and tower). Defining a single coherent network architecture and topology, similar to engineering schematics, has received great interest. We propose a fundamental approach for methodically specifying a network architecture using a diagramming method to conceptualize the network's structure. The method is called a thinging (abstract) machine, through which the network world is viewed as a single unifying element called the thing/machine (thimac), providing the ontology for modeling the network. To test its viability, the thinging-machine-based methodology was applied to an existing computer network to produce a single integrated, diagrammatic representation that incorporates communication, software and hardware. The resultant description shows a viable, coherent depiction that can replace the current methods.