Network

Need Network Shapes? Fill Your Cup at the Visio Cafe!

June 21, 2009 By Visio Guy 15 Comments

Need 5000 FREE Visio network shapes? Or maybe just a couple of hundred? Well, if you do, you’ve come to the right place!

Today I’ll tell you about a wonderful resource for Visio network shapes called the Visio Cafe. They’ve got rack shapes, network shape, and auxiliary shapes that go along with network diagrams.

At last count, this site offers over 300MB of Visio networking madness, including 192 stencils which contain 4999 Visio network shapes. All of them for free!

Rate (Your) Network Diagram

June 15, 2009 By Visio Guy 6 Comments

rate-my-network-diagram Sometimes people ask me questions about network diagrams that aren’t so much about Visio as they are about how the diagrams should look.

A lot of people know that they need to create a network diagram, but they’re not sure which type to create, which shapes and symbols to use, or how to go about doing it.

If you are among these folks, or simply want to learn more about network documentation, you might be interested in a site that I’ve stumbled upon.

Rack Server Virtualization Add-in

April 14, 2009 By Visio Guy 10 Comments

A lot of Windows users do network-related stuff with Visio. And for you hard-working folks, life just got a bit easier!

Microsoft just released a nifty add-in for Visio 2007 Pro that lets you utilize rack-server data from Excel or from the user and create Visio diagrams that make analysis a snap.

Path Analysis in Visio

April 8, 2009 By Visio Guy 11 Comments

If you’re trying to take Visio to the next level by writing code for custom solutions, then you’ve likely run into some aspect of connections.

The well-commented VBA code (provided by guest-poster Al Edlund) which accompanies this article will help you make programmatic sense of the elemental stuff of connected Visio diagrams: connectors, connection points, OneD shapes, Connect and FromConnect.

You’ll also see how to produce connected diagrams, find out which shape is connected to which, and more importantly, do some path analysis to find the deeper meaning behind it all!

Amazon Kindle 2 Visio Network Shape

February 10, 2009 By Visio Guy 3 Comments

I think the time is overdue for another “vanity” Visio network shape.

And since Amazon.com has been making a lot of noise lately about its new Kindle 2 book reader, I’ve been inspired to oblige.

This version of the Kindle looks a lot more attractive than its predecessor, so I thought I’d preserve it for eternity in the form of a Visio network shape!

Crayon Network Shapes

August 11, 2008 By Visio Guy 11 Comments

Daily graphics have improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years. Visio comes with lots of attractive isometric and 3D network shapes. Office 2007’s Smart Art lets you make even the most boring info chunks jump off the page.

But sometimes this sophistication can be distracting. If your audience are newbies, complicated graphics can make your subject seem complicated.

One Visio Guy reader, Don Harris, decided to do something about it. Don recently approached me with a really nice set of network shapes that he calls: Crayon Network. He wanted to share his creation with other Visio fans, so I offered to wrap them in an article…

Visio 2007 Exchange Server Add-In

June 27, 2008 By Visio Guy 11 Comments

If you are an Exchange administrator, you might have worked with Exchange Management tools. And while you might enjoy the power and flexibility of these tools, you might be missing the ability to get a graphical overview of user mailbox details.

Now, I’m not an Exchange administrator, but I get the feeling that this thing is probably pretty cool for those of you who are…

Virtualization Visualization with Visio

May 27, 2008 By Visio Guy 11 Comments

Whether you are looking to conserve energy, optimize your hardware usage, or rapidly test a wide variety of software configurations, some sort of virtualization is surely in your future.

And if you are a Visio Guy or a Visio Gal, you’ll surely want to make a diagram to better see how your network’s hardware is set up.

I’ve been hopping around the net looking for (mostly-free) Visio-related resources for virtualization. Here’s what I found…

Cisco IP Telephone Shapes

March 27, 2008 By Visio Guy 10 Comments

One of our Visio Guy readers recently sent us some very well-drawn shapes for Cisco IP Telephone buttons. Let’s all send a warm thank you very much to Art Braune for adding to the quality and usefulness of this site!

Art told me he would send me a blurb, describing how he uses the shapes, but I thought I’d take a guess. After quickly Google-ing for Cisco IP Telephone, but without reading too much, I surmised that this thing is highly customizable. So it would make sense that IT departments would want to document how they had modified the phone, then send out a quick-reference card (or booklet) to company employees.

Apple iPhone Network Shape

March 23, 2008 By Visio Guy 22 Comments

I know, I know, you’re probably thinking what I’m thinking: I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person…

But that doesn’t mean we have to go without!

Yup! It’s time for another overdrawn Visio Network shape, like the Logitech VX Revolution Mouse Shape, the Thinkpad Network Shape. or the USB Stick Shape.

Since it’s Easter Sunday, and things are slow around here, I was in the mood to create something pretty. And of all the new gadgets on the market, few are prettier than the sensational Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod Touch.

So for you Apple fans who still use PCs, and for you die-hard Windows fans who appreciate a bit of sarcasm, please enjoy the Apple iPhone Visio Network Shape.

<haha> And NO, there won’t be a Mac Version of this shape… </haha>