Network Architecture: How Companies benefit from modern data centers

Network Architecture: Whether big data or artificial intelligence, new topics on digitization keep companies on their toes. Only recently has there been a change in the direction of flexible open source solutions. And there are several good reasons for this: In addition to the significantly lower costs, standards-based protocols promote agility and innovation.

• How important are factors such as automation and modularity in the data center?
• The automation of the network architecture simplifies handling from design to regular review.
• Service failures in the data center pose a significant threat to customer satisfaction.

It is not uncommon for scalable and agile data centers to be decisive for competition today. And even when it comes to meeting the increasing demands on corporate sustainability, they play a role that should not be underestimated. However, if you want to take advantage of the head start provided by a modern data center, you have to ask yourself a few questions about the network architecture in advance.

A look into the future is always required: How effective are automation and modularity already today? And could they be an indispensable part of my business model tomorrow?.

Network Architecture: Agile Open Source Solutions

Classically closed network architectures were the standard for a long time. Only recently has there been a change in the direction of flexible open source solutions. And there are several good reasons for this: In addition to the significantly lower costs, standards-based protocols promote agility and innovation. While companies used to be tied to specialized specialists and designs, open architectures can react flexibly to changing circumstances and requirements.

Network Architecture: Easy Testing Through Automation

Flexibility and speed are significant when it comes to configuration changes. But manual system adjustments, in particular, are all too often a lengthy process and the source of numerous errors and malfunctions. This not only jeopardizes the functionality of the network but can also lead to unnoticed security gaps.

Automation can help here. It simplifies and accelerates the handling from the design to the regular review. At best, the system repairs itself. They enable embedding in automation engines without conflicting with manufacturer-specific APIs. A uniform, hardware-independent network operating system (NOS) also simplifies the path to an automated data center enormously.

Network Architecture: Self-Service Is A Must

The desire for easy handling is by no means limited to the operator. Anyone who deals with network automation should also think about the user perspective from the start. Because no matter if administrator or customer: For the majority, self-manageable networks on a public cloud basis have long been a must. The best solution for letting users set up their segmented networks is a Linux NOS. Its native Linux modules and APIs make it ideal for orchestration.

No matter when, no matter where, no matter how: Service failures have never posed a greater risk to customer satisfaction. To prevent massive financial losses and damage to the image, a sophisticated risk management system is required. The foundation stone for this is already being laid in the data center.

Network Architecture: Redundant Connections With Leaf Switches

With the help of upstream, redundant leaf switches at the computing nodes, an organization is prepared for an emergency. Because even online giants like Google are not spared from failures. The key to success is to establish redundant connections between the individual leaf switches and the spine switches. With this principle, so-called Equal Cost Multi pathing (ECMP), all paths are used. Data streams are forwarded in parallel. This means that companies do not risk downtime even if individual switches need to be replaced or new ones added.

The risk of failures is exceptionally high when there are network changes. But here, too, companies have the opportunity to take preventive action: the previous simulation of upgrades and other system adjustments reduces the risk of downtimes and SLA violations many times over. This enables you to identify possible malfunctions and other undesirable consequences before the actual commissioning.

Segmentation: Overriding Spatial Constraints

The need for quick adjustments affects the network architecture—the essential catchphrase is modular portability. Using EVPN segmentation of tenant traffic in the data center, spatial boundaries can also be easily overcome. Individual components can be moved flexibly within the data center or relocated to others.

This is how the data center grows with the company

The most crucial criterion for future-proof network architectures is scalability. leaf-spine topologies are the ideal basis for this: by adding additional leaf-spine pods or setting up new levels, you can expand the capacities of your data center without limits and at low cost – horizontally and vertically. In conjunction with the physical topology, EVPN also ensures maximum modularity. Disaggregated models provide a remedy for problems with port density and speed. They allow hardware components to be exchanged in a modular manner and enable the automation of NOS and network provisioning.

Network Architecture: High Demands On The Data Centre

The requirements for modern data centers are pretty high. Because they do much more than provide a functioning IT infrastructure and network architecture, first and foremost, they should be understood today as a driver of growth, innovation and customer satisfaction – and that in organizations of all kinds. Anyone who wants to keep their company growth-oriented in the future will sooner or later not get past modern data center networking and its most important issues. Because agility, scalability and automation not only contribute to sometimes enormous cost savings. With the proper planning, you will above all make your company fit to react flexibly, quickly and confidently to a wide variety of challenges.

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