Hardware deployment

[mikewhit]

The Deployment diagram specifically states that Nodes are 'processing elements'.

However, for documentation purposes, I would like to explicitly include some of the other hardware environment in a diagram (IO capability, attached peripherals), as diagram elements, rather than just as fields within the node. As embedded nodes, probably.

Any other/better suggestions ?

[TrtnJohn]

I agree, deployment models are really just containers.  They don't show the associative relationships you are looking form.  What I think you might be describing is a Domain Model.  A Domain Model is a class diagram that contains all of the sub-systems and actors of your system.  Each association is named and describes how they relate.  For example:

User  ---- Types on ---> Keyboard

Just as in any association, the model can also show multiplicity.

[mikewhit]

I have found a couple of approximate examples in Realtime UML (Douglass) fig 2.17 and fig 8.18, and associated text.

[TrtnJohn]

Craig Larman has posted his whole chapter on Domain Models from his book Applying UML and Patterns on his site.  This may also apply to your problem:

http://www.craiglarman.com/book_applying_2nd/10-domain%20model.pdf