Networking Concepts and Technology: A Designer's Resource

Network Architecture and Availability

One of the first items to consider for network availability is the architecture itself. Network architectures fall into two basic categories: flat and multi-level.

• A flat architecture is composed of a multi-layer switch that performs multiple switching functions in one physical network device. This implies that a packet will traverse fewer network switching devices when communicating from the client to the server. This results in higher availability.

• A multi-level architecture is composed of multiple small switches where each switch performs one or two switching functions. This implies that a packet will traverse more network switching devices when communicating from the client to the server. This results ...