METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO A SWITCH FABRIC SYSTEM HAVING A MULTI-HOP DISTRIBUTED CONTROL PLANE AND A SINGLE-HOP DATA PLANE

摘要

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a compute device to communicate with a network control entity at each access switch from a set of access switches that define a portion of a data plane having a switch fabric coupling as hierarchical peers each access switch from the set of access switches. The compute device is operable to define a portion of a control plane that includes the network control entities from the set of access switches such that the compute device is hierarchically removed from the network control entities from the set of access switches. The compute device is operable to receive forwarding-state information from a first access switch from the set of access switches. The compute device to send the forwarding-state information to a second access switch from the set of access switches.