Switched fabric or switching fabric is a
network topology
Network topology is the arrangement of the elements ( links, nodes, etc.) of a communication network. Network topology can be used to define or describe the arrangement of various types of telecommunication networks, including command and contro ...
in which network
nodes
In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a Vertex (graph theory), vertex).
Node may refer to:
In mathematics
*Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph
*Vertex (geometry), a point where two ...
interconnect via one or more
network switch
A network switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, and, by the IEEE, MAC bridge) is networking hardware that connects devices on a computer network by using packet switching to receive and forward data to the destination device.
A netw ...
es (particularly
crossbar switch
In electronics and telecommunications, a crossbar switch (cross-point switch, matrix switch) is a collection of switches arranged in a matrix configuration. A crossbar switch has multiple input and output lines that form a crossed pattern of int ...
es). Because a switched fabric network spreads
network traffic Network traffic or data traffic is the amount of data moving across a network at a given point of time. Network data in computer networks is mostly encapsulated in network packets, which provide the load in the network. Network traffic is the main c ...
across multiple physical links, it yields higher total
throughput
Network throughput (or just throughput, when in context) refers to the rate of message delivery over a communication channel, such as Ethernet or packet radio, in a communication network. The data that these messages contain may be delivered ov ...
than
broadcast networks, such as the early
10BASE5
10BASE5 (also known as thick Ethernet or thicknet) was the first commercially available variant of Ethernet. The technology was standardized in 1982 as IEEE 802.3. 10BASE5 uses a thick and stiff coaxial cable up to in length. Up to 100 stati ...
version of
Ethernet
Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...
and most
wireless networks
A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes.
Wireless networking is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and business installations avoid the costly process of introducing c ...
such as
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
.
The generation of high-speed
serial data interconnects that appeared in 2001–2004 which provided
point-to-point connectivity between processor and
peripheral
A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...
devices are sometimes referred to as fabrics; however, they lack features such as a
message-passing
In computer science, message passing is a technique for invoking behavior (i.e., running a program) on a computer. The invoking program sends a message to a process (which may be an actor or object) and relies on that process and its supporting ...
protocol. For example,
HyperTransport
HyperTransport (HT), formerly known as Lightning Data Transport, is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low- latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2 ...
, the computer processor interconnect technology, continues to maintain a
processor bus focus even after adopting a higher speed physical layer. Similarly,
PCI Express
PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common ...
is just a serial version of PCI; it adheres to PCI's host/peripheral load/store
direct memory access
Direct memory access (DMA) is a feature of computer systems and allows certain hardware subsystems to access main system memory independently of the central processing unit (CPU).
Without DMA, when the CPU is using programmed input/output, it is t ...
(DMA)-based architecture on top of a serial physical and link layer.
Fibre Channel
In the
Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel (FC) is a high-speed data transfer protocol providing in-order, lossless delivery of raw block data. Fibre Channel is primarily used to connect computer data storage to servers in storage area networks (SAN) in commercial data cen ...
''Switched Fabric'' (''FC-SW-6'') topology, devices are connected to each other through one or more
Fibre Channel switch
In the computer storage field, a Fibre Channel switch is a network switch compatible with the Fibre Channel (FC) protocol. It allows the creation of a Fibre Channel fabric, that is the core component of a storage area network (SAN). The fabric i ...
es. While this topology has the best
scalability
Scalability is the property of a system to handle a growing amount of work by adding resources to the system.
In an economic context, a scalable business model implies that a company can increase sales given increased resources. For example, a ...
of the three FC topologies (the other two are
Arbitrated Loop
The arbitrated loop, also known as FC-AL, is a Fibre Channel topology in which devices are connected in a one-way loop fashion in a ring topology. Historically it was a lower-cost alternative to a fabric topology. It allowed connection of man ...
and
point-to-point), it is the only one requiring switches, which are costly hardware devices.
Visibility among devices (called ''nodes'') in a fabric is typically controlled with
Fibre Channel zoning
In storage networking, Fibre Channel zoning is the partitioning of a Fibre Channel fabric into smaller subsets to restrict interference, add security, and to simplify management. While a SAN makes available several devices and/or ports to a sin ...
.
Multiple switches in a fabric usually form a
mesh network
A mesh network is a local area network topology in which the infrastructure nodes (i.e. bridges, switches, and other infrastructure devices) connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other nodes as possible and cooperate wit ...
, with devices being on the "edges" ("leaves") of the mesh. Most Fibre Channel network designs employ two separate fabrics for
redundancy. The two fabrics share the edge nodes (devices), but are otherwise unconnected. One of the advantages of such setup is capability of
failover
Failover is switching to a redundant or standby computer server, system, hardware component or network upon the failure or abnormal termination of the previously active application, server, system, hardware component, or network in a computer net ...
, meaning that in case one link breaks or a fabric goes out of order,
datagram
A datagram is a basic transfer unit associated with a packet-switched network. Datagrams are typically structured in header and payload sections. Datagrams provide a connectionless communication service across a packet-switched network. The del ...
s can be sent via the second fabric.
The fabric topology allows the connection of up to the theoretical maximum of about 16 million devices, limited only by the available address space (2
24).
239 domains * 256 areas * 256 ports = 15,663,104
See also
*
Clos network
In the field of telecommunications, a Clos network is a kind of multistage circuit-switching network which represents a theoretical idealization of practical, multistage switching systems. It was invented by Edson Erwin in 1938 and first formalized ...
*
Fabric Application Interface Standard
ANSI INCITS 432-2007: Information technology - Fabric Application Interface Standard or FAIS is an application programming interface framework for implementing storage applications in a storage area network. FAIS is defined by Technical Committ ...
*
InfiniBand
InfiniBand (IB) is a computer networking communications standard used in high-performance computing that features very high throughput and very low latency. It is used for data interconnect both among and within computers. InfiniBand is also used ...
*
Network traffic control
In computer networking, network traffic control is the process of managing, controlling or reducing the network traffic, particularly Internet bandwidth, e.g. by the network scheduler.M. Noormohammadpour, C. S. Raghavendra"Datacenter Traffic Con ...
*
RapidIO
The RapidIO architecture is a high-performance packet-switched electrical connection technology. RapidIO supports messaging, read/write and cache coherency semantics. Based on industry-standard electrical specifications such as those for Ethern ...
*
VPX
VPX (Virtual Path Cross-Connect), also known as VITA 46, refers to a set of standards for connecting components of a computer (known as a computer bus), commonly used by defense contractors.
Some are ANSI standards such as ANSI/VITA 46.0–2019.
...
References
External links
What is a Switch Fabric
{{Network topologies
Fibre Channel
Network topology