> Hello,
> This may seem like a trivial question but I could not get a
> convincing
> answer any where so I had to ask. I have a cluster with all the nodes
> directly connected to a Cisco Catalyst 3500 switch.
> Everything runs fine.
> However, how do I know what topology the switch itself is
> using? Basically I
> want to test the cluster with different topoligies like ring, mesh,
> hypercube. Is there anyway I could do that using the switch?
> Thank you.
Hubs have one read bus and one write bus and only one pair of ports can use
those busses at a time.
eg. for a 4 port hub
1 talks to 2
and then
3 talks to 4
and then
2 talks to 3
and then
1 talks to 4
and then
2 talks to 4
and then
3 talks to 4
Switches connect every port with their own read bus and their own write bus.
Each write bus is connected to every read bus via tri-state switches:
- on
- off
- high impedance (not listening and not talking)
so lots of pairs of ports can talk at once
eg. for a 4 port switch
1 talks to 2, while 3 talks to 4
and then
2 talks to 3, while 1 talks to 4
and then
2 talks to 4
and then
3 talks to 4
I don't know what that sort of link is called but that's how switches link up.
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