0

We don't really have 1000 computers. I'm asking this question just because my brain is blocked here.

If I put a number of, say 1000, computer on a L2 Ethernet. Since most of L2 switch has only maybe 24 ports. So I have to connect L2 switches and computes as a tree structure, computers are as leaf. With this method, will the root switch be a throughput bottleneck?

Considering a cloud compute center, it usually has thousands of computers. What's the normal way they build network of huge number of computers?

TieDad
  • 274
  • 5
  • 13
  • You usually use higher throughput core switches (10gbps if nodes use 1gbps) and usually you don't do this on L2, but rather split it into L3, that is far more manageable. – Fox Apr 23 '13 at 09:21

1 Answers1

4

For large networks, you need to setup some hierarchy like in the following image.

enter image description here

It becomes impractical to have large number of computers in the same L2 domain. You need to use subnets, VLANs, routers and/or higher layer switches. One clear disadvantage of having too many computers is the same subnet is the increase of broadcast traffic (same broadcast domain).

Khaled
  • 36,533
  • 8
  • 72
  • 99