Building a Simple Network Map with nomnoml
Avdi Grimm wrote an interesting post back in June, about using text to create simple diagrams. He highlighted a few different tools, but one stood out: nomnoml. I used UMLet a lot back in college, to create some mediocre user stories, which soured me on UML in general. I gave nomnoml a shot, though, and created this simple network diagram:
Check out the code that generated it, below:
#.adversary: visual=rhomb fill=red
#.cloud: visual=database
#.router: visual=ellipse
[<adversary>ENY]->[<cloud>Gray;space]
[<cloud>Gray;space]<->firewall[\|\|\|\|]
[\|\|\|\|]<->100.200.0.0/16[<router>✥]
[<router>✥]<->100.200.1.0/24[Subnet 1;↔]
[Subnet 1;↔]<->[M1_1]
[Subnet 1;↔]<->[M2_1]
[Subnet 1;↔]<->[M3_1]
[Subnet 1;↔]<->[M4_1]
[<router>✥]<->100.200.2.0/24[Subnet 2;↔]
[Subnet 2;↔]<->[M1_2]
[Subnet 2;↔]<->[M2_2]
[Subnet 2;↔]<->[M3_2]
[Subnet 2;↔]<->[M4_2]
[<router>✥]<->100.200.3.0/24[DMZ;↔]
[DMZ;↔]<->[Server]
[DMZ;↔]<->[Plex]
[DMZ;↔]<->[Pi]
[DMZ;↔]<->[Pi2]
Most people use PowerPoint for simple network diagrams, and Visio Studio for more complex ones, but I liked using nomnoml more than either of those. Next time I need to mock up something simple, I’ll go there first.