At first glance, the network inside a modern AI factory can look very similar to a traditional data center network. You’ll see BGP, ECMP, high-radix switches, Clos fabrics, and, in many Ethernet environments, familiar technologies like EVPN-VXLAN.

That may sound a lot like the data center networks we’ve been building for years, and in many ways, it is. The difference is not that AI suddenly replaces traditional data center networking with something completely new. Instead, AI changes what the network is being asked to do. 

In other words, technical differences with design and configuration aside, the real difference to understand is the actual goal of the network. 

Continue reading “How AI Factories Change Data Center Networking” →

EVPN-VXLAN can seem unnecessarily complicated until you stop looking at all the individual protocols and start following a packet through the network. 

IRB, or Integrated Routing and Bridging, allows a leaf switch to provide both layer 2 bridging within a subnet and layer 3 routing between subnets. In an EVPN-VXLAN fabric, there are two primary ways we can do that known as asymmetric and symmetric IRB.

So, to understand symmetric IRB and how it compares to asymmetric IRB, let’s do a packet walk through an EVPN-VXLAN fabric.

Continue reading “Understanding Asymmetric and Symmetric IRB in EVPN-VXLAN Fabrics” →