Standard Set of Network Diagram Icons?

Cerebus asks: "I'm taking over administrative and management functions for a network, and one of the tasks is, of course, providing accurate diagrams for the whole shebang. In playing with various tools for this (Dia, Visio, Kvivio, xfig, tgif, etc). I've noticed that each package has it's own idea about what abstract icon to use for various devices (what Visio would call "logical" icons). While there is some overlap, the meaning attached to an icon is sometimes different between applications, and what's worse is that (using the example of Visio) the same application has multiple different icons for the same type of device! Is there any kind of standard for network diagram iconography? Should there be?"

Re:Maybe XML?

[Pascal Sartoretti]

No, XML is just a family of languages. You might however want to have a look at SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), a XML-based format for (surprinsigly) vector graphics. See also here [w3.org]

Drawing tools are beginning to be able to save also in SVG format. We may soon see open source tool that natively save data in SVG format...

Try this page at cisco

[biohazard99]

Cisco Icons [cisco.com], assuming you trust cisco.

Re:Try this page at cisco

[cnvogel]

Yes, many people know and understand what the Cisco-Icons (well... the standard icons, I don't think people easily recognize the "Router doing label-switching with integrated firewall and voice") mean.

But unfortunately the nice coloured ones are only available for Powerpoint and Visio.

Luckily Staroffice can open them :-), but I'm waiting for a dia or kivio version.

Already had this before....

[Cmdr. Marille]

Well,
(to the sound of the lumberjack song)
I'm a Karma whore, and I'm okay.
I post all night and karma whore all day
(/to the sound of the lumberjack song)
karma whoring deluxe link to previous post:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=21846&cid=2337 271 [slashdot.org]
the whole article:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/09/21/155425 5 [slashdot.org]

ISO

[VA Software]

The International Organization for Standardization [iso.org] deals with standards. Try

ISO 5807:1985

Information processing -- Documentation symbols and conventions for data, program and system flowcharts, program network charts and system resources charts

Looks like it will cost you $60 though.

TIA/EIA 606

[rakerman]

It's a bit more specifically about network cabling, but try TIA/EIA-606 [tiaonline.org]. "Administration Standard for the Telecommunications Infrastructure of Commercial Buildings". It's one of their top 10 selling standards :)
Anixter has a great reference guide [anixter.com] that covers the EIA/TIA cabling and labelling standards.

General Rules

[linuxbert]

i use visio, and generally when i do diagrams my icon set varies based on the idea im trying to express, and to whom.

generic device symbols (ie cylender with arrows represents a router, rectangle with aroows a switch) are good for use amoungst techies who want the layout and dont care about what the devices are.

i like to use specific product symbols for presentaion diagrams, and for less technical audiences because it helps people equate the icon to the green box in the rack. (ah, so thats how its conected..)