A CTO needs a clear line of sight to the networks and network resources they are responsible for, especially if they that infrastructure is cloud based.

Who is creating your cloud infrastructure diagrams in 2024?

When you are building cloud based infrastructure or are handed a new account or existing project to manage, the very first thing you are likely to ask yourself is what does the infrastructure look like? What resources are running? Where are they running? What does the security look like?

When you are deploying cloud infrastructure to AWS, Azure or GCP you typically want to validate that everything went according to plan.

If you are managing multiple cloud accounts or maybe hundreds or tens of thousands like a managed service provider (MSP), the ability to find particular resources or specific resource types can be difficult.

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?

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform, Pulumi, or other tools has become the industry standard for deploying and managing infrastructure in the cloud. And when documenting your infrastructure deployments, it is useful to always include a diagram so your peers can quickly understand the architecture of the IaC deployment.