UML diagram for application architecture?

Question

i'm trying to map my whole application in a UML diagram and i wonder what diagram type i should use.

im not doing this in class level, rather from a bird eye's perspective.

1. single application object (patterns: singleton)(examples: CodeIgniter application) that composes
2. multiple module objects (patterns: singleton, facades)(examples: guestbook, addressbook) that compose
3. multiple low level stand alone objects (examples: mysql mapper, doctrine mapper) that compose
4. various 3rd and in-house libraries (examples: doctrine, solr, xml-parser)

what UML diagram is suited for this kind of overview presentation?

thanks

Answer 1

I would think a package diagram would be ideal for a situation like this.

Answer 2

Sounds like you're looking for component diagrams.

From http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/dec04/bell/

The component diagram's main purpose is to show the structural relationships between the components of a system.

Answer 3

One way would be to do several alternative diagrams and just link them together, it might not be good to include all aspects to one... My favourite is the unorthodox activity diagram (content over "appearance"). But as this blog entry says: to whom are you talking with that diagram?