Core Design - Step 3: Port Count - Dell Active Fabric Manager Deployment Manual

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When you specify the name of the distributed core,Dell Fabric Manager automatically names the nodes (spines and
leaves) in the distributed core with the core name as the prefix. For example, if the name of the core is EastCore,
the node names assigned are EastCore-Spine-1 and EastCore-Leaf1.
2. (Optional) Enter the description of the distributed core.
There is no character restriction. The length of the description can be between 1 and 128 characters.
3. Select the core type from the Core Type pull-down menu.
For guidelines about selecting the core type, see
4. Select the interlink over-subscription rate that is appropriate for your deployment from the interlink over-
subscription ratio pull-down menu.
The interlink over-subscription rate varies the maximum number of available interconnect links. The ratio you
specify depends on the bandwidth, throughput, and available edge port requirements. The interlink over-
subscription does not come off the edge port downlinks. As you increase the interlink over-subscription ratio:
– The total number of ports for the uplinks and downlinks increase.
– The total number interconnect links from the leaves to the spines decrease.
– The maximum number of available ports increases.
Use the 1:1 interlink over-subscription rate for the non-blocking, line rate between the leaves and spines. Use this
option when you require a lot of bandwidth and not a lot of ports.
After entering the basic core design information, the Core Design Wizard displays a list of requirements to build the
core in the Requirements based on core type and oversubscription section at the bottom right of the screen.
5. Click Next to go to the Port Count screen.
Core Design – Step 3: Port Count
Use the Port Count screen to enter the number of edge port uplinks and downlinks required for the initial deployment
and future expansion.
This screen displays the following information:
• Available Ports—Displays the maximum available ports based on the selected core type and interlink over-
subscription rate in the Core Name and Type screen. This a read only field.
• Total Planned Ports—Displays the total number of ports for all the current and future uplinks and downlinks on
the leaves.
• Remaining Available Ports—Displays the difference of available ports and total planned ports. This is a read-
only field.
• Uplinks—Each uplink connects to a WAN, which typically connects to a ISP. The minimum number of current
and future uplinks is 2 (one uplink is for redundancy) and the maximum is 32.
• Downlinks—The sum of downlink ports (current + future) should be minimum of 2 but not exceed the maximum
available ports (available ports – (current + future uplink ports)).
When designing the distributed core, it is important to determine the future needs of the distributed core so that you can
later expand it as the data center grows. After you finalized the core design, you cannot change it. As a result, make
sure you enter the future requirements for the edge (leaf switch) ports in the Number of additional edge ports for future
expansion area during the core design phase.
Designing a Distributed Core.
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