Every network requires some form of documentation for planning and administering the network. Typically, in smaller companies, the designers find out the methods to document by themselves. This means figuring out the software to use, what kind of diagrams to illustrate and how and what to exactly document. As there is a limited amount of information available about common practices of documentation, companies usually figure out their own methods that suit them the best. Without properly explaining these methods the results can lead to incoherent and varied documents with insufficient or improper information. This, among other things, can lead to increased costs when trying to fix a malfunctioning network with insufficient documents.

In this thesis, we are finding suitable software for network documentation. This software is then tested out in a simulated environment to find out the best practices for network documentation. Researching scientific references about network structures, models and documentation are used as a base to build the best practices on. The first chapters are emphasizing on the theory about networks and explaining the alternative software. Furthermore, the reasons for choosing specific software are explained with the help of an interview, among other things. This Master’s thesis was written for a target company and the decisions made were influenced by the requirements of the company. Comparison with Microsoft Visio was done as it is commonly used in the company for network documentation.

As the end result, a guiding principle was written for the chosen software. This guiding principle will serve as a common practice which to follow, in order to get coherent network documents. Additionally, it was noted that the new software will not replace every aspect of the old methods used. It brings something new and can improve upon the old system when used correctly.