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SDN > SDN Resources > What is a Data Center Fabric?

What is a Data Center Fabric?

The data center fabric, generically, is the layout of how the computing, networking, and software components of a data center work together to deliver IT services. It is also the name of Facebook’s specific data center plan called “data center fabric.”

The challenge in building large data center fabrics, whether it’s Facebook’s or other large data centers, is that it must scale as one logical, high-performance entity. This requires the ability to plug in modular elements and be able to “scale-out” in rapid fashions as new resources and networking elements are needed.

Different Architectures for Different Folks

A fabric itself, derived from switching technology, is the layout of how connections are made in a matrix of switches and servers. The term fabric comes from the crisscross nature of a networking fabric. When data centers become larger, this matrix of connections becomes larger, with many different architectural approaches.

Modern data centers are for more complex than legacy corporate IT networks and the network architectures are constantly evolving, depending on the size of the data center and the applications. The basic nature of the fabric, however, is how all of the servers and switches are connected to one another and communicate through networking hardware and software.

One of the basic problems in any data center is the total number of connections, how the traffic is flowing, and the most efficient way to connect the different elements. This poses challenge on a hardware level as well as the physical cabling and conceptual level. It’s important to know how the data center applications will interact with one another and how much data will be exchanged in which patterns.

For example, many of the connections may end up just managing other switches, or sending traffic back and forth between servers. The promise of software-defined networking (SDN) technology is that it will be intelligent enough to figure out traffic patterns and how to best connect a network to handle these changing traffic patterns.

Facebook’s data center fabric design

Facebook’s data center fabric design

4 Fabric Switches

A data-center fabric switch typically connects ToR switches which sit on top of racks of servers. This is known as the “Leaf-Spine” architecture. Source: Facebook.

Scaling to New Levels

Many terms are applied to the different pieces of a data center fabric, including Facebook’s, which may include a top-of-rack (ToR) switch which manages other switches in the rack and then connects to a larger device, a spine switch, which connects out to metro networks, or “aggregation points.” This layout, known as “leaf-spine,” eliminated a layer of switches in between, which are more common in older enterprise networking designs.

The common theme is that as data center traffic gets funneled into the network, it gradually works its way into larger and larger pieces of equipment to a backbone of sorts – either the company’s own large global optical network, or that of a service provider. Much traffic in a data center may not actually leave the data center at all. This is known as “east-west” traffic, which consists of applications and servers talking to one another inside the data center – or to adjacent data centers – rather than “north-south” traffic which is making its way into an optical backbone to go some place far away.

The largest data center fabrics, including Facebook’s, are becoming even more modular and scaleable to accommodate the massive requirements of today’s data center, especially for “webscale” architectures. The new data center fabric must take into account how to handle terabits of data and ever-increasing connectivity needs.

Additional Data Center Fabric Resources:

What are 40G Switches?

What are Spine Switches?

What are Leaf Switches?

What is Network Switching Fabric?

What is a Cisco Nexus Switch?

What is Cisco ACI?

What are Arista Switches?

Facebook’s Pod People Debut New Data Center Fabric

Facebook’s Data Center Fabric

Facebook’s New Data Center is Bad News for Cisco

SDxCentral 2017 Next Gen Data Center Networking Report

SDxCentral 2017 Network Virtualization Report: SDN Controllers, Cloud Networking and More

SDxCentral 2015 SDN & NFV Market Size and Forecast Report

Mini Reports: Inside Facebook Wedge and Inside Google’s Data Center

LinkedIn Built Its ‘Pigeon’ Switch to Peer Into Networking Chips

Big Switch, Facebook, & NTT to Demo an Open Source Switch OS

What is Facebook’s Wedge?

At Sigcomm, Google Gives a Tour of Its Home-Grown Network

Resources

  • SD-WAN Resources
    • What is Software-Defined WAN (or SD-WAN or SDWAN)?
    • The Essentials of SD-WAN Architecture: Advantages and Options
    • SD-WAN as a Service Using Orchestration
    • What is Hybrid WAN and Why Does it Matter?
    • What’s the Difference Between Hybrid WAN and SD-WAN
    • What is SDN-WAN and Why Does it Matter?
    • What is SD-WAN as a Service?
    • What is iWAN and Why Does It Matter?
    • What is the Difference Between SD-WAN and iWAN?
    • SD-WAN vs. MPLS: The Pros and Cons of Both Technologies
    • Riverbed SD-WAN Offers Different Options
    • What Is CloudGenix’s SD-WAN Approach?
    • What Is AT&T’s SD-WAN Approach?
    • Versa’s SD-WAN Combines Networking and Security
    • Nuage’s SD-WAN Uses a Single Network Policy Framework
    • What is Citrix’s SD-WAN Product?
    • What Is Cisco’s SD-WAN Approach?
    • What Is Juniper’s SD-WAN Approach?
    • Silver Peak’s SD-WAN Solution Targets Enterprises
    • What is Verizon’s SD-WAN Approach?
    • What Is VeloCloud’s SD-WAN Approach?
    • What Is Viptela’s SD-WAN Approach?
    • 2017 SD-WAN and Virtual Edge Report – Download
  • MEC Resources
    • What Is Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC)?
  • Containers Resources
    • Inside the Linux Container Ecosystem Report – Download
    • What are Containers?
    • How Does Container Networking Work?
    • Containers vs VMs: Which is better in the Data Center?
    • What is Docker Container? Part 1: The Docker Open Source Project
    • What is Docker Container? Part 2: How Docker Containers Work
    • What Is Docker Security & How Do You Use It?
    • What is the Docker Platform and Container Components?
    • What is CoreOS Flannel?
  • SDN Resources
    • What is Software Defined Networking (SDN)? Definition
    • Software-Defined Networking Tutorial – The Basics
    • Why SDN or NFV Now?
    • What are SDN Northbound APIs (and SDN Rest APIs)?
    • What are SDN Southbound APIs?
    • What is Open SDN?
    • What is the OpenDaylight Project (ODL)?
    • What is OpenFlow?
    • Who is the Open Networking Foundation (ONF)?
    • What are SDN Controllers?
    • SDN, NFV, and Network Virtualization Define The Wave of New IP Infrastructure
    • Understanding the SDN Architecture – SDN Control Plane & SDN Data Plane
    • What’s a Software-defined Data Center?
    • What is SDN-WAN and Why Does it Matter?
    • SDN Webinar Videos, Presentations, and Demos
    • What is SDN Orchestration (SDN Policy Orchestration)?
    • 2015 SDN & NFV Market Size and Forecast Report
    • What is the Brocade SDN Controller (BSC)?
    • What is Cisco APIC? Part 2 of Cisco ACI Definition
    • What is Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)? Part 3
    • What is a Cisco XNC (Extensible Network Controller)?
    • What is a Floodlight Controller?
    • What is the Juniper Contrail Controller?
    • What is the NEC OpenFlow ProgrammableFlow Controller?
    • What is an OpenDaylight Controller?
    • What is an OpenFlow Controller?
    • What is Ryu Controller?
    • What is Cyan Blue Planet?
    • What is Nuage Networks VSC?
    • What is the Software Driven Cloud Networking?
    • SDN Controller Comparison Part 1: SDN Controller Vendors (SDN Controller Companies)
  • Network Virtualization Resources
    • What is Network Virtualization?
    • What is Overlay Networking (SDN Overlay)?
    • What is Network Automation With Network Virtualization?
    • What is Virtual Networking?
    • What is Network Service Chaining?
    • What are Network Overlays?
    • What is Networking as a Service or NaaS?
    • What is a VXLAN?
    • What is Network Service Chaining?
    • What Is Network Automation With Network Virtualization?
    • Business Agility Drives Network Virtualization Demand
    • What Is Open Virtual Network (OVN)?
    • How Does Micro-Segmentation Help Security?
    • What is Juniper Networks Network Virtualization?
    • What is NEC Network Virtualization?
    • What is Nuage Network Virtualization?
    • What is Cisco Network Virtualization?
    • How Does Micro-Segmentation Help Security?
  • NFV Resources
    • What is Network Functions Virtualization (NFV)?
    • What is a Virtual Network Function or VNF?
    • What is an NFV POC?
    • Which is Better – SDN or NFV?
    • How Does ETSI NFV Operate?
    • What is ETSI ISG NFV?
    • What is OPNFV or Open Platform for NFV Project?
    • What is NFV MANO?
    • What’s CloudNFV?
    • What’s NFV Software?
    • What’s in an NFV Cloud?
    • What’s a Virtual Router (vRouter)?
    • What is an NFV Strategy?
    • An Overview of NFV Elements
    • What is an NFV Data Center?
    • NFV Webinar Videos, Presentations, and Demos
    • What is an NFV OpenStack?
    • What is an NFV Orchestration?
    • What is an NFV Orchestrator (NFVO)?
    • What is Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM)?
    • What is a VNF Manager (VNFM)?
  • Cloud Resources
    • What is the Cloud?
    • What is Private Cloud? The Benefits and the Providers
    • What is Hybrid Cloud? A Scalable and Customizable Computing Solution
    • What is Software Defined Everything – Part 1: Definition of SDx
    • Software Defined Everything Part 2: Cloud Infrastructure
    • Software Defined Everything Part 3: SDx infrastructure
    • Software Defined Everything Part 4: SDx Infrastructure Buyers
    • Software Defined Everything Part 5: SDx Use Cases
    • Software Defined Everything Part 6: Infrastructure Attributes
    • Software Defined Everything Part 7: Infrastructure Form Factors & Delivery Models
    • Software Defined Everything Part 8: Succeeding in an SDx World
    • What are Cloud Service Providers?
    • Introduction to Cloud Infrastructure
    • What is Software-Defined Storage?
    • What is Software Defined Compute?
    • What is Storage Virtualization?
    • What is KVM?
    • What is Cloud Networking or Cloud Based Networking?
    • What is the Definition of IEEE Intercloud?
  • Security Resources
    • 2017 SDx Infrastructure Security Report – Download
    • SDN Security – Challenges Implementing SDN Network Security in SDN Environments
    • What is Security Virtualization?
    • What is Cloud-Based Security?
    • Data Security Regulations
    • How to Deliver Data Center Security via Network Virtualization
    • The Top Cloud Security Tools for Threat Monitoring & Threat Protection
    • Future of Virtual Security: Micro-Segmentation & Visibility
  • Open Source Resources
    • What is OpenStack Networking?
    • What is OpenStack Neutron?
    • What is Open vSwitch (OVS)?
    • What is Open vSwitch Database or OVSDB?
    • What is KVM?
    • What Is Mirantis OpenStack?
  • White Box Resources
    • What is White Box Switching & White Box Switches (& are they SDN Switches)?
    • What is a Data Center Fabric?
    • What is a Networking Switch Fabric?
    • What Are 40G Switches?
    • What is a Cisco Nexus Switch?
    • What Is Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (or Cisco ACI or Cisco SDN)? Part 1
    • What are Leaf Switches?
    • What is a Spine Switch?
  • DevOps Resources
    • SDN Automation, Programmability, and Programmable Networks
  • Cisco Resources
    • What is Cisco OpenFlow?
    • What is Cisco OpFlex?
    • What is the Cisco ONE Controller?
    • What is Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI)? Part 1
    • What is Cisco APIC? Part 2
    • What is the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)? Part 3
    • What is Cisco onePK?
    • What is a Cisco Nexus Switch?
    • What is a Cisco XNC (Extensible Network Controller)?
    • What is Cisco Network Virtualization?
    • What Is Cisco’s SD-WAN Approach?
    • Cisco Data Center Channel
  • VMware Resources
    • What is VMware NSX and VMware SDN?
    • What is VMware Network Virtualization?
  • Arista Networks Resources
    • What are Arista Switches?

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