remain unchanged, which requires the support of fat Layer 2. Large-scale networks are difficult to arrange: As the network scale expands and data centers are distributed in different geographical locations, VMS must be created and migrated in any place and its network attributes such as IP address, gateway, etc.Waste of bandwidth: In order to prevent loops, the STP protocol is usually run between the aggregation layer and the access layer, so that only one uplink of the access switch actually carries traffic, and other uplinks will be blocked (such as The dotted line in the figure), resulting in a waste of bandwidth.Disadvantages of Traditional Three-Tier Network Architecture It can be a Layer 2 or Layer 3 switch.Ĭore Layer: The core switch provides high-speed forwarding of packets in and out of the data center, and provides connectivity for multiple Layer 2 local area networks (VLANs).The core switch provides a resilient Layer 3 network for the entire network. The figure shows the typical topology of the traditional three-layer network architecture:Īccess Layer: Access switches are usually located on Top of the Rack, so they are also referred to as ToR (Top of Rack) switches, which physically connect to servers.Īggregation layer: An aggregation switch connects to access switches under the same Layer 2 network (VLAN) and provides other services, such as firewall, SSL offload,and network analysis,etc. What is Traditional Three-Tier Network Architecture So what is a leaf-spine network architecture? What are its advantages? How to build hyper-scale leaf-spine architecture? This article will focus on everything you need to know about leaf-spine network architecture. Therefore, a new network topology architecture - Leaf-spine structure is born in data center. East-west traffic has gradually become the mainstream mode in data centers. However, with the rapid growth of new applications and data volume, the scale of data centers keeps expanding, and the requirements for network architecture are also increasing. The traditional data center computing network consists of an access layer, an aggregation layer, and a core layer, with north-south traffic as the mainstay.Traditional network structures have supported various types of data centers for a long time. The leaf layer includes Layer 2 switches (leaf switches) for connecting servers and storage devices the spine layer includes Layer 3 switches (spine switches) for routing and forwarding, which is the backbone of the network.

L eaf-spine network architecture is composed of a leaf layer and a spine layer.

Tor switch in fully connected topolofy