Devices in FabricPath Topologies
Question
Which two options describe devices as they operate in FabricPath topologies? (Choose two.)
Answers
Explanations
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A. B. C. D.AB.
FabricPath is a technology that enables the creation of a Layer 2 multipath network fabric. It uses IS-IS as its control protocol and builds a loop-free, VLAN-based Ethernet fabric that is similar to a spanning-tree network. FabricPath provides high bandwidth and scalability, and it can also offer traffic engineering and load balancing capabilities.
There are two types of devices in FabricPath topologies: Edge (or leaf) devices and Spine devices.
Edge (or Leaf) Devices: These devices have ports that are connected to classic Ethernet devices (servers, firewalls, router ports, and so on) and ports that are connected to the FabricPath cloud (or FabricPath ports). Edge devices are able to map a MAC address to the destination switch ID.
The FabricPath edge devices are the devices that connect to the endpoints, such as servers, firewalls, and routers, and are also connected to the FabricPath cloud. They are responsible for encapsulating and decapsulating the Ethernet frames that are forwarded across the FabricPath network. Edge devices use MAC-in-MAC encapsulation to forward frames across the FabricPath network, and they maintain a MAC address table that maps MAC addresses to destination switch IDs.
Spine Devices: These devices exclusively interconnect edge devices. Spine devices switch exclusively based on the destination switch ID.
The FabricPath spine devices are the devices that exclusively interconnect the FabricPath edge devices. They are responsible for forwarding frames across the FabricPath network based on the destination switch ID. Spine devices do not learn MAC addresses and do not maintain a MAC address table. Instead, they forward frames based on the destination switch ID, which is encapsulated in the FabricPath header. This enables FabricPath to provide load balancing and traffic engineering capabilities.
To summarize, edge devices are responsible for encapsulating and decapsulating Ethernet frames, maintaining a MAC address table, and mapping MAC addresses to destination switch IDs. Spine devices are responsible for forwarding frames based on the destination switch ID, and they do not maintain a MAC address table.
