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Difficulty: Very hardNetwork Topologies and Types

An enterprise architecture team is designing a multi-tier connectivity infrastructure for a financial firm with the following requirements:

1. Inside the primary data center, high-density server racks require predictable, non-blocking east-west traffic handling with Layer 3 Equal-Cost Multi-Pathing (ECMP) routing rather than traditional Layer 2 loop-prevention protocols.
2. The link connecting the primary data center to a hot disaster recovery facility located 35 miles (56 km) away utilizes leased optical fiber spanning the metropolitan region.
3. Dynamic site-to-site VPN tunnels link 50 regional branch offices, enabling direct spoke-to-spoke encrypted communications across public internet connections on demand without hairpinning through the core data center.

Which combination of physical network topologies and network scope classifications correctly identifies the internal data center topology, the inter-site interconnect type, and the branch overlay WAN topology?

  1. Data Center: Spine-Leaf physical topology (LAN); Inter-site Link: Metropolitan Area Network (MAN); Branch Network: Dynamic full-mesh logical overlay (WAN)Answer
  2. B
    Data Center: Bus physical topology (LAN); Inter-site Link: Local Area Network (LAN); Branch Network: Storage Area Network (SAN) overlay
  3. C
    Data Center: Ring physical topology (CAN); Inter-site Link: Personal Area Network (PAN); Branch Network: Campus Area Network (CAN) overlay
  4. D
    Data Center: Star physical topology (SAN); Inter-site Link: Wide Area Network (WAN); Branch Network: Point-to-point star physical overlay (MAN)

Answer

The combination specifying Spine-Leaf physical topology for the data center LAN, Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) for the 35-mile inter-site link, and Dynamic full-mesh logical overlay for the branch WAN.
Spine-Leaf (Clos) physical topology provides deterministic non-blocking Layer 3 ECMP routing for east-west server traffic in modern data centers. A 35-mile connection across a city falls into the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) geographical footprint. Dynamic, on-demand spoke-to-spoke VPN links establish a logical full-mesh overlay over the physical WAN.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze Data Center East-West Traffic Requirements
Identified Spine-Leaf (Clos) topology operating at Layer 3 with ECMP.
Traditional three-tier star topologies with Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) block redundant paths, limiting bandwidth. Spine-Leaf ensures every leaf switch connects to every spine switch, offering predictable two-hop latency and full utilization of parallel Layer 3 links.
2
Determine Geographical Scope of Inter-site Facility Link
Categorized 35-mile fiber link as a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN).
LANs are confined to a single building or immediate local site (< 1 km). WANs span broad national/global boundaries. A 35-mile link spanning a single metropolitan region fits the precise definition of a MAN.
3
Evaluate Branch Site-to-Site VPN Overlay Topology
Identified dynamic spoke-to-spoke tunnel mesh as a logical full-mesh WAN overlay.
Direct spoke-to-spoke communication without backhauling (hairpinning) through a central hub switch/router forms a logical full-mesh network, regardless of the underlying physical internet transport.

Key Concept

Physical vs. Logical Topologies and Geographical Network Scope Classifications
Estimated Time:2m 30s
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Topics

Network Topologies and Types

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