Drawing network graphs with Ubuntu

An Ubuntu system doesn’t include many software with advanced functions to create graphs and diagrams connected with computer networks and that let the user to represent routers, switches, internet connections and access point.
Let’s then analyze the two solutions that have been adopted by the majority of the most advanced users.

Dia

Inspired by the well-known commercial software Visio (which is intended for Windows systems), Dia is an editor for diagrams, graphs and schemes of any kind. It supports UML diagrams, flowcharts, entity/relationship diagrams, network schemes and much more.
Other than its very efficient saving and print method for the results, Dia can export the diagrams to several formats, including EPS, SVG, XFIG, WMF and PNG.
Dia is compatible with Linux and Windows and it’s released under GPL license.

Installation is easy and fast to perform: type the following string in the terminal and – when requested – input the root password.

sudo apt-get install dia

As soon as the installation procedure is complete, the software will be accessible through the menu bar, by selecting:

Applications -> Graphics -> Dia

Network Notepad

A more valuable and specialized tool for the creation of network schemes is Network Notepad. This is a software for Windows, but it can be easily installed through Wine.
Seen the potential of the program, plus a decent graphics compartment, we hope that soon a native version for Linux will be released.