Tag: software architecture

Multi Cloud Diagramming with PlantUML

Following on from the recent post GCP Templates for C4 Diagrams using PlantUML, cloud architects are often challenged with producing diagrams for architectures spanning multiple cloud providers, particularly as you elevate to enterprise level diagrams.

In this post, with the magic of !includeurl we have brought PlantUML template libraries together for AWS, Azure and GCP icon sets, allowing us to produce multi cloud C4 diagrams using PlantUML like this one:

Multi Cloud Architecture Diagram using PlantUML

Creating a multi cloud diagram is simple, start by adding the following include statements after the @startuml label in a new PlantUML C4 diagram:

Then add references to the required services from different providers…

Then include the predefined resources from your different cloud providers in your diagram as shown here (describing a client server application over a cloud to cloud VPN between Azure and GCP)…

Happy multi-cloud diagramming!

Full source code is available at:

https://github.com/gamma-data/plantuml-multi-cloud-diagrams

GCP Templates for C4 Diagrams using PlantUML

I am a believer in the mantra of “Everything-as-Code”, this includes diagrams and other architectural artefacts. Enter PlantUML…

PlantUML

PlantUML is an open-source tool which allows users to create UML diagrams from an intuitive DSL (Domain Specific Language). PlantUML is built on top of Graphviz and enables software architects and designers to use code to create Sequence Diagrams, Use Case Diagrams, Class Diagrams, State and Activity Diagrams and much more.

C4 Diagrams

PlantUML can be extended to support the C4 model for visualising software architecture. Which describes software in different layers including Context, Container, Component and Code diagrams.

GCP Architecture Diagramming using C4

PlantUML and C4 can be used to produce cloud architectures, there are official libraries available through PlantUML for Azure and AWS service icons, however these do not exist for GCP yet. There are several open source libraries available, however I have made an attempt to simplify the implementation.

The code below can be used to generate a C4 diagram describing a GCP architecture including official GCP service icons:

@startuml
!define GCPPuml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gamma-data/GCP-C4-PlantUML/master/templates

!includeurl GCPPuml/C4_Context.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/C4_Component.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/C4_Container.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/GCPC4Integration.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/GCPCommon.puml

!includeurl GCPPuml/Networking/CloudDNS.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/Networking/CloudLoadBalancing.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/Compute/ComputeEngine.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/Storage/CloudStorage.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/Databases/CloudSQL.puml

title Sample C4 Diagram with GCP Icons

Person(publisher, "Publisher")
System_Ext(device, "User")

Boundary(gcp,"gcp-project") {
  CloudDNS(dns, "Managed Zone", "Cloud DNS")
  CloudLoadBalancing(lb, "L7 Load Balancer", "Cloud Load Balancing")
  CloudStorage(bucket, "Static Content Bucket", "Cloud Storage")
  Boundary(region, "gcp-region") {
    Boundary(zonea, "zone a") {
      ComputeEngine(gcea, "Content Server", "Compute Engine")
      CloudSQL(csqla, "Dynamic Content", "Cloud SQL")
    }
    Boundary(zoneb, "zone b") {
      ComputeEngine(gceb, "Content Server", "Compute Engine")
      CloudSQL(csqlb, "Dynamic Content\n(Read Replica)", "Cloud SQL")
    }
  }
}

Rel(device, dns, "resolves name")
Rel(device, lb, "makes request")
Rel(lb, gcea, "routes request")
Rel(lb, gceb, "routes request")
Rel(gcea, bucket, "get static content")
Rel(gceb, bucket, "get static content")
Rel(gcea, csqla, "get dynamic content")
Rel(gceb, csqla, "get dynamic content")
Rel(csqla, csqlb, "replication")
Rel(publisher,bucket,"publish static content")

@enduml

The preceding code generates the diagram below:

Additional services can be added and used in your diagrams by adding them to your includes, such as:

!includeurl GCPPuml/DataAnalytics/BigQuery.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/DataAnalytics/CloudDataflow.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/AIandMachineLearning/AIHub.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/AIandMachineLearning/CloudAutoML.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/DeveloperTools/CloudBuild.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/HybridandMultiCloud/Stackdriver.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/InternetofThings/CloudIoTCore.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/Migration/TransferAppliance.puml
!includeurl GCPPuml/Security/CloudIAM.puml
' and more…

The complete template library is available at:

https://github.com/gamma-data/GCP-C4-PlantUML