How to Draw Better AWS Diagrams
Considering Amazon Web Services (AWS) was the first player in the cloud industry, many of you probably already have plenty of resources deployed with this provider. What happens when you incrementally add new components to your AWS environment? It becomes messy.
Do you recognize yourself in the following statements?
- I do not have a clear picture of what is deployed in my AWS Accounts
- I have no clue what the dependencies between all the resources are
- I have lost control of the AWS Console access, so I am not certain what is changing in all my AWS Accounts
- I am far from having up-to-date AWS infrastructure diagrams and documentation
If so, do not feel bad, you are not alone! And that’s one of the reasons Cloudockit came to be.
Here is how Cloudockit will help you solve these issues.
Cloudockit Provides a Clear and Complete Overview of Your AWS Environment
Cloudockit reduces the burden of manually creating AWS topology diagrams that become obsolete after just a few weeks or even days. We will automatically scan all your AWS components and detect the dependencies. Then, Cloudockit will position all the shapes, add the properties on the shapes (like the number of cores for an EC2 Instance), and link all the shapes together.
It is a very difficult task to properly organize architecture diagrams automatically. Indeed, when we started Cloudockit, back in the days when it was Azure DocKit, we embarked on an ambitious quest to find the ideal way to present all the information. After many attempts, we concluded that there wasn’t a single best way to visualize your AWS cloud architecture in a diagram. Depending on the scenario, you may want to see one exhaustive diagram or a diagram with multiple tabs per resource group, or even many other combinations.
We addressed this problem by creating multiple diagrams in a .zip file for you to get all the views you might need.
AWS Global Diagram
This architecture diagram contains everything. While it is great to see all the elements and their relationships at a glance, it is hard to make sense of it all when you have a large AWS account.
AWS Diagram Per Resource Group
This file has one tab per resource group for you to easily see what is inside a resource group.
One of the drawbacks of this visualization is that it is harder to see dependencies across resource groups.
AWS Diagram Per Workload Type
This file has one tab per workload type (e.g.: EC2, S3, Elastic Beanstalk, VP, etc.), which provides a good visualization depending on who you are. Typically, an ITOps team will be more interested in the EC2 tab, whereas a DevOps team will be more interested in the Web Apps tab.
AWS Diagram Per Application
This is one of the most popular features among our users. AWS architects make extensive use of tags to organize their resources. They asked us to have the option to define which tag to use to group resources in Visio diagrams.
With a basic AWS architecture diagram organized per application, you can select a tag that matches your application grouping, or whatever grouping you like. Cloudockit will automatically generate one diagram per application.
Let Cloudockit automatically generate your AWS architecture diagrams. It will save you time and help you focus on cloud security!
Cloudockit’s Tailored Diagrams
With Cloudockit, you have the flexibility to customize your cloud architecture diagrams so that they only show what actually matters to you. You can customize the layout of your components based on the different types of dependencies and links detected in your cloud environments.
For novice cloud architects and IT admins, use the Tailored Diagrams templates to start building your AWS diagrams. Afterwards, you can start tailoring your architecture diagrams to better suit your needs and enable you to be more efficient in your work.
With Native Support of Visio, diagrams.net and Lucidchart, Cloudockit Lets You With Your AWS Diagram Tool of Choice
Cloudockit lets you generate your AWS architecture diagrams in 3 different diagramming tools; Visio, diagrams.net, and Lucidchart. This enables you to work from a diagramming tool that you prefer instead of learning how to use new software. This has plenty of advantages as you can modify the file as you want. One of the most common uses of Cloudockit’s AWS diagram generator is to visualize the existing environment to let you present your planned changes to a review board. This is where the option to modify the file generated by Cloudockit comes in handy.
In addition to existing diagramming tools, you also have the ability to generate your cloud diagrams as a PDF file. These files are not editable, however, they are great to share with external teams that do not have access to Visio, diagrams.net, or Lucidchart.
We Use the Latest Icons From Public Cloud Providers
To ensure your AWS diagram is up to the latest standards, Cloudockit uses the latest AWS icons when creating your diagrams. You can also access the newest icon library for free by clicking here!
Cloudockit’s AWS Diagram Generator Can be Scheduled for Up-to-Date Diagrams
Get the flexibility you need! In all 3 versions of Cloudockit (SaaS, Desktop and Container), you can easily set up scheduling and automation features to generate your technical reports and editable AWS architecture diagrams, store them in a drop-off location, and/or dispatch them among your team and management.
You can also run the scheduling by using a simple PowerShell script that you trigger yourself which enables you to include your own conditions and specificities.
See Red Flags Related to Compliance Rules Directly in Your Diagrams
Based on the rules you have selected, Cloudockit’s AWS cloud architecture diagrams are set to flag misconfigurations and issues that could compromise security. By clicking on a warning icon, you can quickly see which compliance rule is not met. See the example below.
To meet your company’s standards, Cloudockit’s compliance module enables you to also add custom compliance rules and security checks.
