network·Clos (1953) folded-Clos / spine-leaf fabric·datacenter, it·complexity 2/3·since v0.6.0
Spine-leaf data-center fabric
A folded-Clos data-center fabric — two spine switches, four leaf switches fully meshed to the spines automatically, and servers attached to their leaves at 25G.
For the data-center architect
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Scenario
A data-center architect wants the fabric drawn without hand-typing every spine-to-leaf cable. In layout: spine-leaf mode you declare the spines and leaves, and the engine auto-meshes every leaf to every spine — here that's 2 × 4 = 8 generated links — leaving you to add only the host attachments.
What the diagram shows
spines:/leaves:declare the two fabric rows. The devices don't need a separatekindline — spines become L3 switches, leaves become switches.- Auto-mesh — every spine↔leaf link is generated; you never type them. Add or remove a leaf and the mesh updates.
- Host attachments —
lf1 -- h1 : 25Ghangs a server below its leaf at 25 Gbps.
Annotation key
| Element | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Top row | Spine switches |
| Middle row | Leaf switches (fully meshed to spines) |
| Bottom row | Hosts, under their leaf |
This is the modern east-west fabric; for a traditional north-south campus use layout: tiered with tier: bands instead.