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2.6.1. Physical and Logical Topologies
Common Topologies:
| Topology | Description | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Star | Central device connects all nodes | Simple management, easy troubleshooting | Central device is single point of failure |
| Mesh | Every node connects to every other | Maximum redundancy | Expensive, complex (n(n-1)/2 links) |
| Ring | Each node connects to two neighbors | Predictable performance | Single break disrupts entire ring |
| Bus | All nodes share single cable | Simple, cheap | Cable break affects all; collision domain |
| Hub-and-spoke | Satellites connect through central hub | Efficient for north-south traffic | Hub is bottleneck; suboptimal for east-west |
| Hybrid | Combination of topologies | Flexible | Complex design |
Spine-and-Leaf Architecture:
Modern data centers use spine-and-leaf for consistent latency and high bandwidth. Every leaf connects to every spine—traffic between any two servers traverses exactly one leaf, one spine, one leaf:
Why spine-leaf? Traditional three-tier (core-distribution-access) was designed for north-south traffic (clients to servers). Modern applications generate mostly east-west traffic (server to server, microservices). Spine-leaf provides consistent 2-hop latency for any server-to-server communication.
Written byAlvin Varughese
Founder•15 professional certifications