Dia – The Diagram Creation Program

February 25, 2012 admin Software Reviews, 1

For the passed few months I have been looking for software to create network diagrams for my CCNA class at ITT Tech.  I actually found the answer by accident while searching through my Google Reader feeds.  What I found is a free, open-source software called Dia. The best part is that Dia runs on Linux, OSX, and Windows.

From the Dia web site:

Dia is roughly inspired by the commercial Windows program ‘Visio,’ though more geared towards informal diagrams for casual use. It can be used to draw many different kinds of diagrams. It currently has special objects to help draw entity relationship diagrams, UML diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and many other diagrams. It is also possible to add support for new shapes by writing simple XML files, using a subset of SVG to draw the shape.

It can load and save diagrams to a custom XML format (gzipped by default, to save space), can export diagrams to a number of formats, including EPS, SVG, XFIG, WMF and PNG, and can print diagrams (including ones that span multiple pages).

Program Screenshot:

After reading this I realized I now had an answer to a large problem in my Cisco CCNA class. I was unable to create network diagrams to summarize a networks implementation. The next screenshot is an exported PNG image directly form Dia of a network diagram I used in class.

For more information please visit the Dia Home Page.
For additional screenshots visit the Dia Screenshot Page.

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