A Highly Scalable and Fault-Tolerant Topology for Data Center Networks

As the demand for cloud services and data-intensive applications continues to surge, the design of efficient and reliable data center network (DCN) topologies has become increasingly critical. However, traditional DCNs often face challenges of limited scalability, insufficient fault tolerance, and high communication latency. To address these issues, we introduce SFDC, a novel recursive and modular server-centric network topology. SFDC is built on a hierarchical element-layer structure that enables the construction of highly scalable and fault-tolerant networks. The modular design of SFDC supports flexible expansion, allowing for the integration of servers with varying network interface card (NIC) configurations without requiring significant redesigns. Furthermore, SFDC's design effectively mitigates the growth of network diameter, ensuring low latency even at massive scales. We also propose a routing algorithm, SFRouting, which leverages SFDC's hierarchical structure to efficiently compute unicast paths, while minimizing routing complexity and enhancing data transmission efficiency. Additionally, we present a multipath routing scheme based on disjoint path construction, which ensures robust communication by providing alternative paths in case of node or link failures, thus enhancing network fault tolerance. Experimental results demonstrate that SFDC outperforms existing DCN topologies such as BCube, DCell, and HS-DCell, exhibiting superior scalability, reduced network diameter, and enhanced fault tolerance while maintaining low latency and stable performance.