Isn’t it magical how cloud services deliver critical data and apps at all times from anywhere?
There’s no cloud without a data center, a dedicated physical facility that stores, processes, and disseminates data and applications to centralize organizational information technology (IT) operations. It ensures operational continuity by storing proprietary assets.
Data center design relies on multiple physical and network-based devices, including firewalls, storage systems, routers, switches, and application delivery controllers. Data center networking solutions interconnect these devices and data center infrastructure nodes to facilitate data transmission. Without them, data center devices can’t communicate with each other or external networks.
Data center networking integrates multiple networking resources—load balancing, switching, analytics, and routing—to store and process data and applications. It connects data center infrastructure equipment and nodes for easy data transmission via the Internet or a network.
A data center network (DCN) connects a data center’s computing and storage units to achieve optimum performance. While some businesses still use on-premise data center networks and physical servers, many are moving to cloud-native environments.
A data center must connect all that data living across multiple sites, data centers, public clouds, private clouds, hybrid clouds, and virtual private clouds. This is where data center networking comes in. Modern data center networks use full-stack networking and security virtualization to ensure robust security and centralized management.
Data center networking is key to creating a stable, reliable, scalable, and secure network infrastructure. DCN ensures the infrastructure meets evolving organizational network communication needs while supporting cloud computing and virtualization. Moreover, enterprise data center networking solutions improve with operational consistency, automation, and security – all key to delivering data and application services.
Data center networking is crucial because it also:
Data center networking solutions support users’ and applications’ changing demands and automate traditionally manual and error-prone provisioning tasks for network services. They create a digital link between data center devices and keep the organizational IT infrastructure environment secure.
DCN platforms also manage application decommissioning while complying with de-provisioning policies. As a result, companies can easily prevent stale policies from affecting compliance, connectivity, and security.
Network, server, and storage infrastructure provide data services and manage data center resources to DCN solutions. For example, smooth data traffic transition across on-premise devices, public clouds, or colocation centers is only possible with switches and routers. Data center networking tools manage all data center infrastructure resources to ensure data service delivery meets service level agreements (SLAs). These solutions also help businesses monitor, diagnose, and fix servers and storage or network devices.
Let's look at the data center networking architecture components that data center networks manage to deliver business-critical services.
A campus network supports users and their devices. A data center network helps a business network infrastructure process data for applications and devices. A network operations center (NOC) makes it possible for IT managers to monitor and control a communications network.
A campus network or campus area network (CAN) connects multiple local area networks (LANs) within a limited geographical area. Universities, warehouses, and corporate offices use CAN for easy file sharing, access to the internet, and data transmission. Since the data never leaves these networks, users experience lower latency and high availability while sending and receiving data. Campus networks also let you control network resources efficiently.
A data center network interconnects servers, firewalls, and other physical and virtual devices to process data exchange at ultra-low latency. Unlike campus networks, data center networks follow a lossless queueing policy to prevent devices from crashing.
A network operations center (NOC) or network management center is a centralized location that an IT team uses to monitor network health and performance and prevent network disruptions or failures. NOC monitors infrastructure, firewalls, wireless systems, and network devices for detecting and resolving issues as they emerge.
Data center networks use physical and wireless connections to interconnect servers, nodes, and other devices. Based on cloud data center architecture (how data centers connect servers, switches, and cabling infrastructure), data center design falls under one of the three categories: three-tier, fat tree, and DCell.
A three-tier data center network design is the most common architecture in data centers. It consists of three network switch layers: core, aggregation, and access. The core layer features advanced routing capabilities and enables data centers to connect to the internet. The aggregation or distribution layer manages uplinks from the access layer along with firewalls and load balancing. The access layer is the lowest level in the three-tier network model. It contains traditional top-of-rack (TOR) switches that connect client nodes to the network and deliver data packets to end-user devices.
So how does a three-tier network work?
First, a packet reaches the core layer and gets routed via distribution switches. The distribution layer then forwards the packet to the access layer, which connects the servers. Packets experience increased latency as they go through three physical hops. Add server-to-server traffic to it, and the number of hops increases even more. Three-tier networks are ideal for north-to-south traffic but suffer from dropped packets and buffer overruns during intra-data center traffic.
Three-tier data center networks also introduced spanning-tree protocol (STP) configuration to prevent looping. Looping actually happens often in a network topology when data exchange occurs on a LAN with redundant paths. Spanning-tree failure can result in continuous looping.
The upper tiers in a three-tier architecture use expensive and power-hungry enterprise-level network equipment. These tiers remain overcrowded due to increasing cloud computing demands. As a result, three-tier data center network designs suffer from fault tolerance, scalability, cross-sectional bandwidth, and energy efficiency.
Fat tree data center networks address the problems of three-tier network designs.
CIos topology is a multistage switching, non-blocking architecture that minimizes port number requirements in an interconnected network. Fat tree DCNs use it to solve cross-section and oversubscription bandwidth issues of three-tier networks. CIos topology enables fat tree networks to deploy additional network switches for accessing core and aggregate layers.
The main difference between fat tree topology and others is that a fat tree network features an equal number of links that connect a switch to its parent switch and lower-layer switches. The topology consists of k pods, each with (k/2) servers, access layer switches, and aggregate layer switches. Each pod also includes (k/2) core switches that link to one aggregated layer switch. The maximum number of pods in a fat tree DCN equals the number of ports in each switch, which causes scalability issues.
Tree-based network structures proved insufficient for scalability. These networks couldn’t keep up with increasing network bandwidth usage of high-bandwidth activities and the MapReduce algorithm, a programming model that processes huge amounts of data by dividing it into manageable chunks. As a result, the DCell network structure came into existence in 2008.
DCell-based DCNs use server-centric, hybrid, fault-tolerant, scalable DCell structures to address rack, server, and link failures. DCell connects one data center server to others with its recursive structure. This interconnection between servers using mini-switches prevents single network bandwidth bottlenecks. No one has to spend more on expensive routers or core switches any longer.
DCell 0 is the building block of a DCell network architecture. It includes n servers and a commodity network switch that connects to the server. A DCell 1 cell connects many of the DCell 0 blocks, DCell 2 cell connects DCell 1 blocks, and so on. Because of its scalable design, a four-level DCell with six servers in Cell 0 can hold up to 3.26 million servers.
DCell also uses a directional flow routing (DFR) algorithm to even distribute traffic among DCell links and servers. As a result, you can minimize the single point of failure that a normal tree structure often experiences.
Other well-known data center networks include Camcube, JellyFish, FiConn, and BCube.
Data center networks rely on data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software for efficient network management. DCIM sets guidelines for managing data center devices and associated infrastructure. Further, you get 360° visibility into data center networking configuration, components, and dependencies. Consider monitoring the following areas for efficient DCN management.
Visualizing a data center network helps you spot and resolve network performance issues with capacity additions and troubleshooting. Below are some common data center network visualization methods for quick issue drill-down and resolution.
Data center networking solutions improve scalability and accelerate service delivery. They feature root-cause identification and integrated analytics capabilities essential for connecting security, routing, and switching devices. Below are some benefits you can realize with data center networking.
Choosing the right data center networking solution is critical for seamless data flow between IT assets and data centers. Explore the top tools that help create stable connections among infrastructural assets.
To be included in this category, the software product must:
*Below are the top five leading data center networking solutions from G2’s Fall 2024 Grid® Report. Some reviews may be edited for clarity.
VMware NSX connects apps across data centers, containers, and multi-cloud environments with full-stack network and security virtualization.
“VMware NSX Data Center is the perfect solution for all networking needs across and in data centers running multiple cloud technologies. Its compatibility with the leading cloud technologies makes it the best on the market.”
- VMware NSX Review, Siddhant R.
“Redundancy and its flexibility to scale.”
- VMware NSX Review, Ronald T.
ManageEngine OpManager features network monitoring capabilities essential for managing networks, tracking firewalls, and analyzing bandwidth.
“It helps identify servers’ or systems’ health-related issues in the organization. I liked the threshold calculation and network monitor most in this tool. It’s easy to deploy on systems.”
- ManageEngine OpManager Review, Surekha K.
“ManageEngine OpManager is a bolted together kludge of a solution. The components don't seem to work with each other and have different ways of doing similar tasks like adding credentials. This made the care and feeding of the tool more laborious than any labor it might have saved.”
- ManageEngine OpManager Review, Benjamin S.
Although Nvidia Virtual GPU is not primarily a networking tool, it plays a crucial role in the allocation and utilization of resources within a data center network, influencing traffic patterns, workload distribution, and overall network performance.
“Before, I had to have a dedicated GPU per VM, which wasted space and system resources; now, I am able to share GPU between guests. This allows my business to save money.”
- Nvidia Virtual GPU Review, Gopi Y.
“One potential downside of it is the complexity involved in initial setup and configuration, which may require specialized knowledge and careful planning to optimize performance for specific use cases. Another would be the licensing costs.”
- Nvidia Virtual GPU Review, Lokesh G.
Arista Networks offers data-driven cloud networking solutions to help companies build robust, high-performance network designs that serve public, private, and hybrid clouds.
“We are using Arista Network Switches and Wireless Solution. The best thing about the product is that they have zero-touch deployment, is easy to manage, and is very effective. Also, Arista Networks’ support is comparatively good.”
- Arista Networks Review, Mayur S.
“Link failures could be minimized, and service could be improved.”
- Arista Networks Review, Mahendra M.
Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) has significantly transformed data center networking by providing a more flexible, scalable, and application-centric approach. It addresses many of the challenges associated with traditional network management like complexity, manual configuration, and lack of application-level optimization, making it a popular choice for organizations seeking to modernize their data centers.
“Cisco ACI enables automated provisioning and orchestration of network services, reducing manual configuration errors. It is also designed to scale efficiently, allowing you to grow your data center network as needed without major disruptions.”
- Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Review, Rafiq J.
“One potential drawback of Cisco ACI can be its initial complexity in setup and configuration, which may require significant expertise. Additionally, licensing costs and the need for compatible hardware can be limiting factors for some organizations. Ongoing maintenance and updates may also pose challenges.”
- Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Review, Attilio V.
A data center network acts as a central nervous system, connecting data center infrastructure and devices. Its ability to facilitate seamless information exchange is key to processing and delivering business-critical information. Choosing the right tool means your data center is more reliable, scalable, and flexible.
Check out why you should consider converting energy-consuming data centers into green data centers.
This article was originally published in 2023. It has been updated with new information.
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