Project · Network
Two data centres, one network
Core routing stretched across two sites: the existing Catalyst switches stay, the new server room gets a Cisco Nexus core.
- 24/7 monitoring on contract
- One team, the whole stack
- Response without a queue
Topology
Two sites, one network
The network ran across two data centres at once. We stretched the core routing between them: the working Cisco Catalyst switches stayed in the old site, while the new server room got a core built on Cisco Nexus.
Hardware that worked stayed where it was. The new environment could go live without replacing the entire core in one move, usually the most expensive and riskiest part of a change like this.
The link
Layer two over fibre
A fibre link ties the two sites together, and we carried layer 2 across it. Dozens of servers spread over both locations therefore run on one network rather than two separate ones.
That topology has a price: the core on both sites has to be designed and operated as a single whole, because a change on one side affects the other. So the order of work and the conditions for rolling back are agreed up front, not mid-change.
Technology
What it runs on
A Cisco-based core, tied together by a fibre link between the sites.
Cisco Catalyst
The existing core in the old site, still in production.
Cisco Nexus
The new core layer in the new server room.
Fibre link
Layer 2 carried between the two sites.