Ive started using SmartDraw.coms SmartDraw 7 Suite to diagram my test networks at eWEEK Labs and have found the drawing tool does a good job of helping me track my test plans.
/zimages/2/28571.gifClick herefor a detailed look at eWEEK Labs test network and testing practices.
Although SmartDraw 7 doesnt integrate with some network tracking tools as easily as Microsofts Visio does, there are a lot of handy things that IT managers might want to look at in SmartDraw 7.
The $297 tool got a major refresh last month, including a cleaned-up user interface and a significant number of new drawing objects. (The basic version costs $198.) SmartDraw now comes with more than 60,000 symbols and images. By comparison, Visio Professional lists for $499.
But numbers aside, what I like best about SmartDraw is that shapes are much easier to work with, and network diagrams are easier to build and maintain than with Visio.
More information about SmartDraw 7 can be found at www.smartdraw.com.
/zimages/2/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, views and analysis on servers, switches and networking protocols for the enterprise and small businesses.