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Difficulty: MediumNetwork Topology Architectures

A network infrastructure team must select a topology for a new data center hosting microservices workloads that generate intensive East-West traffic between virtualized servers. The design requires consistent deterministic latency, equal-cost multi-pathing (ECMP) across all available links, and exactly two Layer 3 forwarding hops between any two leaf nodes. Which network topology architecture best satisfies these technical requirements?

  1. Spine-Leaf (Clos) architectureAnswer
  2. B
    Traditional three-tier campus architecture
  3. C
    Single-tier SOHO router topology
  4. D
    Host-based Type 2 hypervisor overlay topology

Answer

Spine-Leaf (Clos) architecture
The correct answer describes a Spine-Leaf (Clos) architecture. In a two-tier Spine-Leaf topology, leaf switches connect to end systems and to every spine switch, ensuring that any leaf switch can communicate with any other leaf switch via a single spine switch (two network hops). By running Layer 3 routing between spine and leaf nodes, all inter-spine links remain active and carry traffic simultaneously using Equal-Cost Multi-Pathing (ECMP), providing deterministic low latency ideal for East-West data center workloads.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the workload traffic pattern and performance requirements.
Microservices require heavy East-West (server-to-server) communication demanding predictable, low latency and high bandwidth.
Traditional hierarchical networks route traffic north-south through core/distribution layers, causing sub-optimal pathing and latency variance.
2
Evaluate topological hop counts and path redundancy features.
A Spine-Leaf fabric guarantees that any leaf switch is connected directly to every spine switch, resulting in exactly two network hops between any pair of leaf switches.
This full mesh between leaf and spine switches enables routing protocols to utilize all paths simultaneously using Equal-Cost Multi-Pathing (ECMP).

Key Concept

Spine-Leaf (Clos) Topology Characteristics
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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Topics

Network Topology Architectures

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