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Difficulty: Very hardNetwork Topologies and Types

An enterprise infrastructure team is revising its architecture standards across multi-site and data center environments. Match each network topology or geographic network type on the left to its corresponding architectural specification or operational behavior on the right.

  • Full Mesh TopologyProvides maximum physical fault tolerance by establishing n(n−1)/2n(n-1)/2 point-to-point links, incurring high deployment cost and port density requirements.
  • Storage Area Network (SAN)Utilizes specialized block-level communication protocols such as Fibre Channel or iSCSI to connect server hosts directly to shared consolidation storage arrays.
  • Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)Covers a geographic scope spanning a municipality or urban district, typically using dark fiber rings or Metro Ethernet backbones between regional sites.
  • Spine-and-Leaf ArchitectureEnsures deterministic, low-latency east-west traffic inside data centers by interconnecting every access switch directly to every core backbone switch.

Answer

Full Mesh Topology matches with the specification requiring n(n−1)/2n(n-1)/2 connections for full redundancy; Storage Area Network (SAN) matches with specialized block-level storage protocols like Fibre Channel and iSCSI; Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) matches with municipal geographic scope using dark fiber/Metro Ethernet; Spine-and-Leaf Architecture matches with low-latency two-tier data center east-west routing.
Full Mesh Topology uses n(n−1)/2n(n-1)/2 connections to deliver complete fault tolerance. Storage Area Networks (SANs) deliver high-speed block storage access via iSCSI or Fibre Channel. Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) serve city-wide geographic areas. Spine-and-Leaf architectures provide predictable, low-latency interconnectivity for east-west data center communications.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the physical redundancy formula for network nodes.
The link calculation n(n−1)/2n(n-1)/2 is unique to a physical Full Mesh topology.
Every device maintains a dedicated connection to every other device.
2
Evaluate specialized network types focused on block-level storage.
Storage Area Network (SAN) isolates high-speed storage traffic using iSCSI or Fibre Channel.
SANs differ from general LAN networks by providing direct block storage access.
3
Categorize networks by geographic scope.
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) defines municipal site interconnection spanning a city.
MAN scale sits between local/campus networks (LAN/CAN) and broad geographical regions (WAN).
4
Examine modern data center fabric designs.
Spine-and-Leaf topology guarantees fixed two-hop latency for east-west traffic.
Leaf switches connect directly to all spine switches without inter-leaf connections.

Key Concept

Network Topologies and Types
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Topics

Network Topologies and Types

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