When you have received a contract to provide technical support and maintenance service to a company, what is one of the first thing you would do to ease your life down the road? One thing I always do before I actually perform any maintenance services is to document the company’s network. This network diagram is going to aid you in solving networking issues.
What is a Network Diagram?
A network diagram is basically a drawing that describes how the network devices are connected together. It should be able to tell you what devices are on the network, how the devices are grouped (or subnetted), and how each of the devices are setup. The network diagram may include the following devices:
- workstations and PC
- printers, scanners, fax, etc
- routers, switches, hubs, etc
- DNS server, domain controller, file server, print server, email server, web server, proxy server etc.
- wireless devices such as laptops, PDA
- firewall
For each device on the network, you should at least write down its name, IP address, subnet mask, and the type of connection (e.g. 10BaseT) between two devices. I also like to have a separate file that documents the specifications of each device.
With a properly documented network, it is going to add more value to the service you provide to businesses and gives you more bargaining power on the price. I am going to show you my way of documenting a network later and discuss about some software that can aid you in creating a network diagram.
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