If you work with AWS at any scale, you will understand the benefits of accurate network documentation. Whether it's trying to get to grips with a network belonging to a new client, or getting a better understanding of exactly what you have running in your own cloud accounts, an accurate network topology diagram goes a long way to quickly understanding the state of play.

AWS cloud architecture can get complex fast. Once you rotate through a few engineers or external consultants how confident are you that someone within your organisation knows exactly what you have running in your cloud accounts and are those resources actually being used.

Having up to date diagrams can be invaluable when you want to know how your networks hang together or need to explain to stakeholders what you have running and why.

The problem with creating and maintaining network diagrams manually is finding the time to do it in the first place, which is never anyone's priority and then finding the time to update the diagrams when things change (which they invariably do) 

If you have worked with Microsoft Azure for any length of time, you will appreciate the value of great network topology diagrams. Azure network infrastructure diagrams provide a visual cue for better communication and understanding of your azure cloud infrastructure at all levels of your organisation, from management down to freshly onboarded engineers and consultants. But should you draw Azure diagrams yourself, or automate the process?

When you are building cloud based applications and networks on AWS, there are many compelling reasons why you would want to accurately diagram and document your AWS infrastructure. Knowing exactly what is running based on the actual resources configured in your AWS environments is probably the number one reason to use an automated AWS infrastructure diagram generator over manually drawing diagrams yourself using a drag and drop process.

When you work with AWS cloud architecture, you almost certainly understand the importance of documenting your AWS VPCs and container clusters using network architecture diagrams.

If you are building solutions on Microsoft Azure, at some point you'll want to draw some Azure architecture diagrams 

When you have accurate and up to date architecture diagrams on hand it enables you to visually explain your network infrastructure to both your engineering and operations team and also provide management with an easy to understand representation of what you are building and managing.

Accurate up to date diagrams also let you know that your network has been built in line with your design.

If you are onboarding new engineers, or engaging external consultants, you can bring them up to speed very quickly with a well laid out Azure network topology diagram.

The problem with traditional diagrams has always been the time it takes to draw them, which is why it's better to consider generating them instead. If you use manual drag and drop diagram software or drawing packages like Microsoft Visio the process can take forever which is why up to date Azure network topology diagrams are rarely on hand. Cloud engineers almost always don't have the time or motivation to sit down and draw Azure architecture diagrams. Who doesn't have far more important or pressing issues to work on.

This is where you can leverage Hava to help you create Azure diagrams.

If you are taking on a new client or development project, having access to infrastructure documentation is a massive advantage when trying to understand exactly what is running on your network. Come to think of it, with the complex nature of cloud consoles and network configurations you may be surprised at what you have running in your existing Azure infrastructure.

Back in the day our team provided expert cloud consulting services. When we took on a new client, diagramming the new client's infrastructure was always the first job in the process. It was always, without exception, time consuming, laborious but necessary in establishing exactly what was going on in the client's cloud accounts prior to starting work on improving or redesigning the network infrastructure.

When you work with Microsoft Azure, you no doubt appreciate the value of great network topology diagrams. Good network infrastructure diagrams provide a visual cue for better communication and understanding of your azure cloud infrastructure at all levels of your organisation, from management down to freshly onboarded engineers and consultants. But should you draw Azure diagrams yourself, or automate the process?

If you have been working with AWS cloud architecture for any length of time, you almost certainly understand the importance of documenting your AWS VPCs using network topology diagrams.

Identifying the resources and VPCs in your AWS account and which AWS regions they are deployed in can be a time consuming process that is often put off when there are more important jobs to be done. 

If you have been working with AWS infrastructure for any length of time, you understand the importance of documenting your AWS VPCs using network topology diagrams. They visually represent the construction of your AWS network, and can also speed up the on-boarding of new team members and external consultants. 

Knowing what regions your infrastructure is deployed in is essential when trying to establish what would happen if there is an outage in one particular AWS region. If us-east-1 drops out, can your application continue to function.

So having a diagram that clearly shows what regions host your VPCs and AWS resources is not a bad idea.