Understanding North-South and East-West Traffic Flows

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Questions and Answers

What is the primary function of a storage area network (SAN) in a traditional data center?

To manage north-south traffic in the data center
To configure edge routers and firewalls
To provide a centralized bank of mass storage for individual systems (correct)
To monitor east-west traffic between systems

What type of traffic is characterized by data moving between systems within the data center?

Northbound traffic
East-west traffic (correct)
Southbound traffic
North-south traffic

Which of the following devices are involved in north-south traffic?

Internal firewalls and storage devices
Edge routers, edge firewalls, and load balancers (correct)
Internal routers and switches
Tape backups and hard drives

What is the primary purpose of a boot drive in a data center?

To boot the operating system (B) Signup and view all the answers

What type of traffic is characterized by data leaving and entering the data center?

North-south traffic (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following devices are involved in east-west traffic?

Internal routers, internal firewalls, and switches (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of a hard drive in a traditional data center?

To store large amounts of data (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to describe data moving into and out of the data center?

North-south traffic (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary goal of a data center in terms of high availability?

To ensure the right data to the right host at the right time, without ever dropping or failing (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to describe the concept of sharing the effort among two or more systems to enable a process to work?

Load Balancing (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to describe a group of servers connected together to appear as a single logical device?

Clustering (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the benefit of using multipathing in a SAN?

To provide high availability and redundancy in the SAN (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to describe a network architecture that uses software-defined networking?

Spine-and-Leaf Architecture (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of special-purpose load balancers?

To apportion the work among multiple servers (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term used to describe the concept of providing critical systems with high availability and redundancy?

High Availability (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary benefit of using clustering in a data center?

To provide high availability and redundancy (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of a central location in a growing organization?

To contain an organization's single data center (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of branch offices in a growing organization?

They store very little data (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is a key difference between traditional data centers and modern data centers?

The use of virtualization and software-defined networking (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary role of a server in a modern data center?

To serve as a hypervisor, running multiple virtual servers (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary benefit of software-defined networking in a modern data center?

Far more flexible and powerful data center architectures (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of monolithic devices in traditional data centers?

They are designed to perform a single job (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary difference between on-premises data centers and colocation data centers?

The location of the data center (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is a key consideration for organizations with branch offices and a central data center?

Ensuring remote connections to the central data center are secure (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of a physical network diagram?

To map out the physical aspects of the data center (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main function of the wiring room in a data center?

To serve as the wiring focal point for all devices on that floor (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of the network operations center (NOC)?

To maintain the applications and systems housed in the data center (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the area in the server farm where heat can be dissipated away from the servers?

Hot aisle (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the air conditioning units in a data center?

To pump cold air into the cold aisles (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the documentation that includes the dimensions and locations of rooms, racks, and other components in a data center?

Floor plan (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the raised floor in a data center?

To conceal the cabling and wiring (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the tool used to create physical network diagrams?

All of the above (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main purpose of the MDF in the data center?

To enable connection to the outside world (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is included in the detailed rack diagram for each rack?

The location and make and model of each component, along with other documentation (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the rack diagram in Figure 16-15?

To document the components and their details (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the difference between the MDF and IDF?

MDF provides connectivity to the outside world, while IDF provides network connectivity within each floor (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the logical network diagrams?

To show the connectivity among devices in the network (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is included in the MDF documentation?

The rack layout and connections, as well as the demarc connection and patch panels (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the upper-level floor plan?

To show the telecommunications room and main distribution frame (C) Signup and view all the answers

What type of documentation accompanies the MDF racks?

Further documentation that includes firmware versions, service and upgrade records, and more (D) Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Data Center Traffic Flows

North-South traffic: data moving into and out of the data center
Northbound traffic: leaves the data center
Southbound traffic: enters the data center
Network devices involved in north-south traffic: edge routers, edge firewalls, and load balancers
East-West traffic: data moving between systems within the data center
Network devices involved in east-west traffic: internal routers, internal firewalls, and switches

Data Storage

Data storage: where data rests in a data center
Mass storage devices: hard drives, tape backups, and solid-state drives (SSDs)
Storage area network (SAN): connects individual systems to a centralized bank of mass storage

The Modern Data Center

Introduction of virtualization and software-defined networking changed the data center
Virtualization: physical servers running multiple virtual servers
Software-defined networking (SDN): interconnections that once used dedicated switches
High availability (HA) in the data center: ensuring critical systems have high availability

High Availability

Load balancing: sharing effort among multiple systems to enable a process to work
Redundancy: ensuring critical systems have multiple components
Facilities and infrastructure support: providing reliable power, cooling, and connectivity

Physical Network Diagrams

Physical network diagrams: map out physical aspects of the data center
Tools used for layout: Microsoft Visio, Wondershare Edraw, and diagrams.net
Floor plans: include dimensions and locations of rooms, racks, hot and cold aisles, and more
Rack diagrams: detailed diagrams of each rack with component information
MDF/IDF documentation: detailed documentation of main distribution frame and intermediate distribution frames

Logical Network Diagrams

Logical network diagrams: show the connectivity among devices in the network
Essential network documentation: includes logical network diagrams, line drawings, and more

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Description

Learn about the different types of traffic flows in a data center, including north-south traffic that moves into and out of the center, and east-west traffic that moves within the center.