One port on each NIC is used for private network connection, and one is for public. Each server is equipped with at least two dual-port NICs. In both – the private and the public networks. In, each layer – leaf, spine, and core – is redundant. Unlike that, 元 fabric is active/active and utilizes all available paths concurrently while remaining stable and avoiding loops within the network. The problem is when something goes wrong, you can’t be sure that the standby path is reliable. This means there is an active/standby redundancy. Traditional L2 networks are built using the spanning-tree protocol, which utilizes only a single “best path” chosen from all available paths. 元 fabric is the only way to achieve true redundancy.

元 fabric with two-tier leaf-spine network topology is vendor-independent, reliable, error-proof, scalable, and suits modern data center environment better than L2-based solutions. The spine aggregates traffic from the leaf layer and connects directly into the network core.

The leaf layer aggregates traffic from servers and connects directly into the spine. Every switch in the leaf layer is connected to each of the top-tier switches (spine layer) in a full-mesh topology providing a 3-hop connection between any two servers. Both private and public networks are 元 fabrics with two-tier leaf-spine network topology.Ī leaf-spine topology is a data center network architecture that consists of two switching layers - a spine and a leaf. Servers are connected to the lower-tier switches (leaf layer). Our servers are connected to three different networks – the public network (Internet), a private network, and an out-of-band management network.

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