Brocade Network OS Administrator’s Guide v4.1.1 - Manual (Page 29)

The following shows an example of a data center with a classic hierarchical Ethernet architecture and
the same data center with a Brocade VCS Fabric architecture. The Brocade VCS Fabric architecture
provides a simpler core-edge topology and is easily scalable as you add more server racks.
FIGURE 1 Comparison of classic Ethernet and Brocade VCS Fabric architectures
Automation
Resilience is a foundational attribute of Brocade Fibre Channel storage networks and resilience is also
a requirement in modern data centers with clustered applications and demanding compute Service-
Level Agreements (SLAs). In developing its VCS Fabric technology, Brocade naturally carried over this
core characteristic to its Ethernet fabric design.
In traditional Ethernet networks running STP, only 50 percent of the links are active; the rest (shown as
dotted lines in the following figure) act as backups in case the primary connection fails.
When you connect two or more Brocade VCS Fabric mode-enabled switches they form an Ethernet
fabric (provided the two switches have a unique RBridge ID and same VCS ID), as shown below.
Automation
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