Tor (Top of Rack) access is a common way of routing from server to switch or switch to switch. The Tor switch can be either an access layer switch, an aggregation layer switch, or a core layer switch. The Tor switch is called an access layer switch when it sits on top of the server cabinet and acts as a connector between the server and the core or sink layer switch, is called the convergence layer or the core layer switch.
The difference between a Tor switch and a regular switch
Application Environment
Tor switches are mainly used in industries with high security requirements, such as government, finance, data center, and so on. They are mainly used in network convergence, data center server access and other scenarios. But the network management and security performance of the common switch are not strong.
Performance and stability
Tor switch is a new generation of multi-service High Performance Ethernet switch based on domestic CPU and domestic switch chip. L2/L3 layer switch service can provide high performance L2/L3 layer switch service from chip to hardware to software, which is safe, controllable, stable and reliable. The common switch has few functions and its stability is not guaranteed.
Operating System
The Tor switch architecture is similar to Arista’s Eos, which is mature and stable. The hardware platform is compatible with both x86 and PowerPC CPU systems and supports the full Enterprise/Data Center/Metro Ethernet features, including basic L2/L3/ACL/QoS/Security, NVGRE/VXLAN, and open RPC API. But the common switch is mainly for the purpose of satisfying the interconnection and interworking, and does not have the diversified operating system.
Cache technique
Tor switch changes the way of out-port cache of common switch system, adopts distributed cache structure, cache is much bigger than common switch, the capacity of cache can be more than 1G, but common switch can only reach 2 ~ 4m. For the capacity of 200 ms burst per port at 10000 Mbps, the large cache can still guarantee the network to forward zero packet loss in case of burst traffic.
Equipment capacity
The common switch can not realize the accurate identification and control of the data, and can not achieve fast response and zero packet loss in the case of big data, and can not guarantee the continuity of the data. TOR40G/100G switches are already on the market, with the popularity of 40G and 100G and the commercial use of 40G and 100G, in order to meet the data center of high-density applications.
Number of ports
General Switch port number is generally 24-48, generally for gigabit port or 100 megabit port, or with 10 megabit uplink capacity. Mainly with access to user data or convergence of some access layer switch data, backplane bandwidth is relatively small. The port density of Tor switch is very high, it can be used with Ethernet port and optical port, the port transmission rate can reach 100G, access layer, convergence layer and core layer can be used, the bandwidth of backplane is much higher than that of common switch, generally as the main backup.
Conclusion
Tor switch technology is for the new generation of data centers, cloud data centers and other large-scale network construction services. Based on these new network technologies, can make the network transmission based on Switch Technology get better development. However, the network structure of the data center has changed a lot in recent years. The two-layer network structure, which is represented by the backbone network topology, is becoming the new favorite of the data center. Fortunately, the Tor switch can still act as a leaf switch in the leaf structure, connecting to the backbone switch, achieving the perfect transition of the network structure from three to two layers.