Spine definition
Not using STP minimizes latency and potential bottlenecks for the spine-leaf architecture. Although STP has redundant paths between switches, only one can be activated at a time, which means paths can become oversubscribed. Spine-leaf is meant for east-west traffic and doesn't use the STP protocol. Connections are made through the spine layer, enabling a single hop between leaves and minimizing latency and bottlenecks. Three-tier architectures also use the Spanning Tree Protocol ( STP).Ĭonversely, the spine-leaf architecture uses just the two spine and leaf layers to create a two-layer topology. Access switches connect to servers and storage devices while the aggregation layer brings together access layer traffic and provides a redundant connection to the access layer.
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The core layer interconnects data center aggregation modules while connecting to the core of a network. They consist of a core, the aggregation/distribution layer and access layer. Traditional architectures typically have a three-tier network that handles north-south traffic. A comparison in structure between a spine-leaf and three-tier architecture. The biggest differences between spine-leaf and traditional architecture are the number of network layers and the traffic involved. How does a spine-leaf architecture differ from traditional three-tier architecture? Switches in a spine-leaf architecture can also help in scaling, as multiple switches can be used in a data center switching architecture. Spine switches have high port density and form the core of the architecture. Spine-leaf minimizes latency and bottlenecks because each payload only has to travel to a spine switch and to another leaf switch to reach its endpoint. (The only exception is when the other server is on the same leaf.) No matter which leaf switch a server is connected to, it must cross the same number of devices every time it connects to another server. They connect directly to the spine.Įvery leaf switch in a spine-leaf architecture connects to every switch in the network fabric. Servers and storage connect to leaf switches and consist of access switches that aggregate traffic from servers.
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Leaf switches connect to spine switches and mesh into the spine, forming the access layer that delivers network connection points for servers. The two-tier topology is composed of the following: East-west traffic flows transfer data packets from server to server within a data center. This two-layer full-mesh network topology was designed as an alternative to three-tier architectures and is suitable for modern data centers that experience more east-west network traffic than north-south or switch-to-switch traffic. A spine-leaf architecture helps data center networks reduce network latency and hop count and improve network efficiency. Spine-leaf, or leaf-spine, is a two-layer network topology composed of spine and leaf switches.