Episode 74: Spine-and-Leaf Architecture — Flattening the Network

This episode introduces spine-and-leaf architecture, a design commonly used in modern data centers. In this model, all leaf switches connect to every spine switch, creating a consistent and predictable path between devices. Unlike three-tiered designs, spine-and-leaf provides a flatter, more scalable structure with equal-cost multipath routing. The exam includes this architecture because of its increasing role in cloud and high-performance computing environments.

The discussion expands with practical use cases, such as supporting east–west traffic between servers in a data center or enabling high-bandwidth applications like virtualization clusters. Troubleshooting examples include identifying failed spine connections, ensuring equal-cost paths are used, and diagnosing oversubscription at the leaf level. By understanding spine-and-leaf, you’ll be prepared to answer exam questions and support scalable, high-capacity designs in real-world networks. Produced by BareMetalCyber.com, where you’ll find more cyber audio courses, books, and information to strengthen your certification path.