EtherChannel / Port-Channel Stencil for Microsoft Visio

A free, data-driven Visio stencil for drawing Cisco-style EtherChannel / port-channel bundles: parallel links wrapped in the classic oval, with interface labels, port-channel names, VLANs and native VLAN driven entirely by Shape Data. No manual line-drawing, no groups that fall apart when you move them.

If you have ever searched for an "EtherChannel Visio stencil" or a "port-channel Visio shape" and found forum answers saying such a stencil does not exist, this repository is the answer.

Download

Grab EtherChannel.vssx from the latest release (or from the repository root) and drop it into your My Shapes folder:

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Shapes\

Restart Visio, then open it via Shapes > More Shapes > My Shapes > EtherChannel. The .vssx format requires desktop Visio 2013 or newer.

Features

One shape, fully driven by Shape Data and the right-click menu:

• 2 to 8 parallel links selected from Shape Data or the right-click menu. Link 1 is the top line, numbering goes top-down. Unused links (and their data fields) hide themselves.
• Classic oval bundle marker that scales with the shape.
• Per-link interface labels on both ends (for example Fa4/2 on side A, Fa0/17 on side B), each bound to its own Shape Data field.
• Separate port-channel interface per side (Port-channel side A / Port-channel side B). The label above the oval shows Po1 when both sides match, or Po11 <-> Po12 when they differ.
• VLANs on trunk, Native VLAN and Description shown below the bundle. Each label hides itself when its field is empty; the whole info block is OFF by default and toggled via right-click.
• Right-click toggles for interface labels and the VLAN/native/description block.
• Connection points at both ends of every link, so you can glue the bundle to switch shapes and it stays glued when you move things around.
• First click selects the whole group (Shape Data at hand), so you do not accidentally enter text-edit mode.

Screenshots

Right-click: link count + label toggles	Shape Data: all fields in one place
Number of links: fixed list 2-8	The shape stays one clean object

More examples: plain bundle, single Po label.

Usage

1. Drag the EtherChannel master onto the page.
2. Right-click to set the number of links (2-8).
3. Fill in Shape Data: port-channel interfaces for side A and B, member interfaces per link, VLANs, native VLAN, description.
4. Right-click to toggle Show interface labels and Show VLANs / native / description as needed.
5. Glue switch shapes to the connection points at the link ends.

Build from source

The stencil is generated by a VBA macro: src/EtherChannel_builder.bas. To rebuild or customize it (colors, sizes, defaults, more links):

1. Open desktop Visio (Professional / Plan 2, macros enabled).
2. Alt+F11 > File > Import File... > select EtherChannel_builder.bas.
3. Place the cursor in BuildEtherChannelStencil and press F5.
4. The stencil is saved to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Shapes\EtherChannel.vssx.

The macro is only needed to build the stencil. Using the .vssx itself does not require macros.

Requests and updates

• Missing something (HSRP pairs, vPC, stack cables, other bundle styles)? Open an issue. Further stencils will be built based on actual demand.
• Want to know when something new lands here? Watch (releases only) or star the repository. No email, no sign-up.

License

MIT. Free for personal and commercial use. If it saves you an afternoon of fighting with Visio, a star is appreciated.

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Built by Przemyslaw 'Snow' Snowacki, network engineer. More free tools for network engineers: NetDevOps Micro-Tools.