Cloud architecture diagram software

Cloud infrastructure architecture and application/software architecture diagram software is very important when designing and communicating the architecture of a new or existing infrastructure, whether that be cloud, on-prem or hybrid.

Microsoft Visio

Microsoft Visio is one of the leading software packages for data center diagram design. A Visio stencil is a collection of masters associated with a particular Microsoft Visio drawing type, or template. By default, stencils that open with a template are docked on the left side of the drawing window. You can open stencil (.vss) files independently of a template. Basically, a Stencil contains Shapes that are used to create a diagram.  The Shapes can range from simple flow chart boxes or lines to more complicated Shapes like Servers, Racks or anything else that needs to be represented in a graphical form. A list of all freely available Visio stencils can be found at: http://www.visiocafe.com/index.htm.

Other diagramming software

Besides Microsoft Visio, the following free software is available for data center diagram design:

  1. Draw.io: https://draw.io
  2. Edraw Max: https://www.edrawsoft.com/download-edrawmax.html
  3. Visual Paradigm Online: https://online.visual-paradigm.com/app/diagrams

The following site provides a good directory of infrastructure and application/software architecture diagramming tools.

https://softwarearchitecture.tools/

There are various diagramming tool categories, including the following:

  • Modelling tools
  • Code based tools (Diagrams-as-code)
  • Automated tools
  • Diagramming tools

These tools integrate with Infrastructure As Code (IaC) tools, such as Azure ARM and Terraform, to allow you to build infrastructure architecture diagrams via IaC code or to create/export IaC code after first visually designing your architecture. More features include git platform integration (e.g. github) and visual design of your CI/CD devops architecture.

Similarly, another good compilation of diagramming tools is available at https://blog.brainboard.co/top-20-alternatives-to-draw-io-diagrams-net-for-cloud-architecture-ccaf0a6edd97.

Azure architecture diagrams and Visio stencils

Azure cloud architecture diagrams can be found at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/browse/. There are Azure stencils available in Visio as well as in Draw.io for all Azure architecture diagram types. The official Microsoft Azure architecture icons are available at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/icons/. The following screenshot shows the available Azure stencils available out-of-the-box in Microsoft Visio 2021. Under Visio "Shapes" navigate to "More Shapes" and choose "Network".

Cloud architecture diagram software

Similar architecture icons and Visio stencils from Microsoft can be found for the following services:

Diagram and cloud icons for the major public cloud providers can be downloaded from the below locations: