diagram that shows the configuration of run-time processing nodes and the components, processes, and objects that live on them. Components represent run-time manifestations of code units. See: component diagrams.

In the Unified Modeling Language, a deployment diagram serves to model the hardware used in system implementations, the components deployed on the hardware, and the associations between those components. The elements used in deployment diagrams are nodes (shown as a cube), components (shown as a rectangular box, with two rectangles protruding from the left side) and associations.