A physical network is a network formed by connecting different physical network devices, such as hosts, switches, and routers, through network cables. In an ACOS physical network, physical devices include physical NICs, physical network ports, and physical switches.
A physical NIC (Network Interface Card) is a hardware device used to connect a physical host to other hosts or network devices. A physical NIC can receive and send data, enabling the host to communicate with other devices over the network.
Based on supported rates, physical NICs are commonly classified as 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 25 Gbps, and 100 Gbps NICs. Different rates indicate different NIC capability levels.
Mainstream physical NIC vendors include Intel, Mellanox, Broadcom, and Huawei.
A physical network port is a network interface provided by a physical NIC and used to connect other physical hosts or network devices. Depending on the NIC specifications, one physical NIC can provide one or more physical network ports to connect multiple devices and improve overall network availability. For example, a physical NIC with a total bandwidth of 50 Gbps can provide one 50 Gbps network port or two 25 Gbps network ports.
A physical switch is a network device used to connect multiple devices, such as computers, wireless access points, printers, and servers. A switch can receive network data from each device and forward the data to the destination device, enabling connected devices to share information and communicate properly.
By function and connection layer, switches can be classified into access switches, aggregation switches, and core switches.
Access switch
An access switch is directly connected to hosts and provides network access points for the hosts. It is commonly used for Layer 2 network connectivity.
Aggregation switch
An aggregation switch is used to connect access switches to core switches. It aggregates data from access switches to core switches.
Core switch
A core switch is the hub of a network. It processes a large amount of network traffic from aggregation switches and ensures communication across the entire network.
The switches described in this document are all access switches. Physical hosts communicate with each other by connecting to switches.
Depending on the capabilities of different switch types, multiple connection modes are supported between servers and switches. The most common mode is point-to-point direct connection between a server and a switch. If a switch supports virtualization technologies, high availability connection modes such as stacking or M-LAG (Multichassis Link Aggregation Group) are also supported.
Stacking
Stacking connects multiple switches through stacking cables so that the switches logically become one switch and participate in data forwarding as a whole.
M-LAG
M-LAG is a mechanism for implementing link aggregation across devices. By aggregating links between one device and two other devices across devices, M-LAG improves link reliability from the board level to the device level.
Physical switch capabilities and configurations vary by vendor, and capabilities also vary across different models from the same vendor. For details, see the product manuals of the physical switch vendors.
