What is Deployment Diagram

What is Deployment Diagram?

7-8 minutes

A UML deployment diagram is a diagram that shows the configuration of run time processing nodes and the components that live on them. Deployment diagrams is a kind of structure diagram used in modeling the physical aspects of an object-oriented system. They are often be used to model the static deployment view of a system (topology of the hardware).

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When to Use Deployment Diagram

• What existing systems will the newly added system need to interact or integrate with?
• How robust does system need to be (e.g., redundant hardware in case of a system failure)?
• What and who will connect to or interact with system, and how will they do it
• What middleware, including the operating system and communications approaches and protocols, will system use?
• What hardware and software will users directly interact with (PCs, network computers, browsers, etc.)? How will you monitor the system once deployed?
• How secure does the system needs to be (needs a firewall, physically secure hardware, etc.)?

Purpose of Deployment Diagrams

• They show the structure of the run-time system
• They capture the hardware that will be used to implement the system and the links between different items of hardware.
• They model physical hardware elements and the communication paths between them
• They can be used to plan the architecture of a system.
• They are also useful for Document the deployment of software components or nodes

Deployment Diagram at a Glance

Deployment diagrams are important for visualizing, specifying, and documenting embedded, client/server, and distributed systems and also for managing executable systems through forward and reverse engineering.

A deployment diagram is just a special kind of class diagram, which focuses on a system’s nodes. Graphically, a deployment diagram is a collection of vertices and arcs. Deployment diagrams commonly contain:

Nodes

• 3-D box represents a node, either software or hardware
• HW node can be signified with <<stereotype>>
• Connections between nodes are represented with a line, with optional<<stereotype>>
• Nodes can reside within a node

Other Notations

• Dependency
• Association relationships.
• May also contain notes and constraints.