Question 13 - JN0-480 discussion

In the case of IP Clos data center five-stage fabric design, the super spines are the devices that provide the highest level of aggregation in the network. They have two main roles:

Super spines are used to interconnect two different data center pods. A pod is a cluster of leaf and spine devices that form a 3-stage Clos topology. A 5-stage Clos topology consists of multiple pods that are connected by the super spines. This allows for scaling the network to support more devices and bandwidth.

Super spines connect to all spine devices within the five-stage architecture. The spine devices are the devices that provide the second level of aggregation in the network. They connect to the leaf devices, which are the devices that provide access to the end hosts. The super spines connect to all the spine devices in the network, regardless of which pod they belong to. This provides any-to-any connectivity between the pods and enables optimal routing and load balancing.

The following two statements are incorrect in this scenario:

Super spines are used to connect leaf nodes within a data center pod. This is not true, because the leaf nodes are connected to the spine nodes within the same pod. The super spines do not connect to the leaf nodes directly, but only through the spine nodes.

Super spines are always connected to an external data center gateway. This is not true, because the super spines are not necessarily involved in the external connectivity of the data center. The external data center gateway is a device that provides the connection to the outside network, such as the Internet or another data center. The external data center gateway can be connected to the super spines, the spine nodes, or the leaf nodes, depending on the design and the requirements of the network.

5-stage Clos Architecture --- Apstra 3.3.0 documentation

5-Stage Clos Architecture | Juniper Networks

Extreme Fabric Automation Administration Guide