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Difficulty: MediumNetwork Topology Architectures

A network administrator is migrating a medium-sized enterprise campus from a traditional Cisco three-tier architecture (Access, Distribution, Core) to a two-tier collapsed core architecture. Which statement accurately describes the architectural shift in responsibilities resulting from this topology change?

  1. The core switches combine high-speed backbone switching with distribution-layer functions such as inter-VLAN routing, security policy enforcement, and QoS boundary control.Answer
  2. B
    Layer 2 access layer switches take over the responsibility of terminating broadcast domains natively at user switchports without needing default gateways.
  3. C
    Inter-switch trunk connections between access switches and collapsed core switches should be configured with Spanning Tree PortFast to accelerate core topology convergence.
  4. D
    Virtual machine switching in the enterprise data center must migrate to Type 2 hypervisors to allow the collapsed core layer to route virtual network traffic.

Answer

The core switches combine high-speed backbone switching with distribution-layer functions such as inter-VLAN routing, security policy enforcement, and QoS boundary control.
In a two-tier collapsed core enterprise design, the traditional distribution and core layers are merged into a single switch tier. Consequently, the collapsed core switches must handle both high-speed packet transport (core function) and policy/routing enforcement such as inter-VLAN routing, ACLs, and QoS boundaries (distribution function).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the traditional Cisco Three-Tier hierarchy roles
Access layer provides end-node connectivity; Distribution layer provides routing, ACL policy enforcement, and VLAN aggregation; Core layer provides high-speed backbone transport.
Understanding individual tier responsibilities is necessary to evaluate topology consolidation.
2
Evaluate the effect of collapsing the distribution layer into the core layer
The physical distribution tier is eliminated, and its functional boundaries (inter-VLAN routing, filtering, security policies) are merged into the core devices.
A two-tier collapsed core design saves cost and reduces latency in smaller enterprise environments while combining distribution and core roles into a single switch tier.

Key Concept

Two-Tier Collapsed Core Topology Functions
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Network Topology Architectures

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