State of the art of data centre network technologies - Case: comparison between ethernet fabric solutions

Abstract

The goal of this Master's thesis is to present the state of the art of the data centre network environment, together with the most recent solutions adopted and the current trends in the realization of data centre networks.

The focus of the thesis is on the different Ethernet Fabric solutions proposed in the recent years comparing the standard solutions (TRILL and SPB) from the standardization boards (IETF and IEEE), the proposals from the research field (Portland, SEATTLE, VL2, improvements to TRILL), and the alternatives proposed by the vendors (FabricPath from Cisco, VLC form Brocade and QFabric from Juniper).

Several experts for different companies were interviewed to gather insights and to better understand the current and future technologies adopted in data centres.

From the interviews and the further comparison work emerges that, at the moment, several proprietary solutions are available and that companies willing to build a data centre easily face a vendor lock-in risk due to the several proprietary solutions available. This is why it is needed to carefully evaluate the needs of a company before deciding to adopt one of the solutions and understand if the benefits from a given proprietary solution are worth risking the lock-in. In general a company that already utilizes proprietary solutions from a single vendor might find easier to stick to that vendor, while typically it might be a better choice to stick to open standards until a unified solution is defined and published by the standardization boards.