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Applying Arrow Directions in Cloud Platform Architecture Diagrams
Arrow directions in architecture diagrams are more than theoretical accuracy—they provide practical guidance for system design and deployment. This article explores how to apply arrow directions in cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP, and demonstrates effective ways to represent jump hosts in architecture diagrams. Through real-world service examples, we’ll understand how arrows effectively indicate data flow and inter-service communication.
Arrow Applications in AWS, Azure, and GCP
When building systems on cloud platforms, clear arrow directions help us plan service interactions precisely. Here are typical examples of inter-service interactions:
AWS
- User requests to Amazon API Gateway: Shows how external requests enter the system through API Gateway.
- Data transfer from Amazon S3 to Amazon Redshift: Represents the process of transferring data from a data lake to a data warehouse.
- Amazon Lambda functions triggering Amazon DynamoDB operations: Demonstrates how serverless computing interacts with NoSQL databases.
Azure
- Azure Functions triggered by HTTP requests: Indicates how services respond to external web requests.
- Azure Blob Storage providing data to Azure Machine Learning services: Shows how machine learning models retrieve data from Blob Storage.
GCP
- Google Cloud Pub/Sub collecting events from Google Kubernetes Engine: Explains how containerized applications publish events to messaging systems.
- Google BigQuery executing queries on data from Google Cloud Storage: Demonstrates how data lakes support big data analytics.
Representing Jump Hosts in Architecture Diagrams
Jump hosts serve as secure intermediary access points to internal networks or services. Their representation in architecture diagrams needs to be clear without being overly complex. Here are some effective approaches:
- Use dedicated icons or colors: Assign a special icon or color to jump hosts and explain it in the legend. This allows readers to understand their role even without showing all connections.
- Draw representative connections: Select one or a few primary connections to illustrate how the jump host connects to other systems, and explain this choice in the legend or annotations.
- Add explanatory notes: Place brief annotations next to the jump host explaining how it serves as an access control point. This approach avoids visual clutter while providing sufficient information.
Conclusion
Applying arrow directions in architecture diagrams on cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP not only helps us clearly understand relationships between system components but also guides actual system design and deployment. Through effective representation methods, including handling special components like jump hosts, we can accurately convey system operation mechanisms while keeping architecture diagrams clear. As technology advances and cloud services expand, this visual communication method will become increasingly important. We hope this article helps you create and interpret architecture diagrams on cloud platforms.
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