Can I use a CORE switch as an ACCESS Layer 2 switch?
The end goal is to connect all servers through at least a 10Gb network.
The servers each have high volumes of data that will be transferring back and forth to and from each other. Slower networks and internet access are not in the picture.
The data transfer is strictly between the servers that would be connected to the CORE switch.
Each of the motherboards in said servers will have a 10Gb card connected to the PCIe slot.
I have a managed 3500 series Cisco switch that only has 4 10Gb uplink ports and the rest are 1Gb. I think I might have purchased this switch due to my lack of knowledge and requirements. The 1Gb ports are not useful for y use case. I would like ALL ports to be as fast as possible. In fact, if I can go beyond the 10Gb mark, I would (40Gb/s, 100Gb/s, etc…) but for simplicity and in order to move one baby step at a time, I would like to know if I can hookup my servers to a CORE switch with all SFP+ 10Gb/s ports as indicated in the diagram. Thanks
EDIT
Thanks for the comments…I think I will stop at 10Gb/s if my goal is to move the data from Motherboard-1 to the RAM in Motherboard-2 as SATA 3 does not go beyond 6Gb/s and the real bottleneck is in HDD/SSD anyway so it would make no sense to invest in higher than 10Gb/s.
Best Answer
The labels "core switch" and "access switch" which some vendors put on certain switch models are just suggestions for where in your network architecture they might be most useful. There is no technical reason against connecting servers or even clients directly to an all 10G switch even if it is sold as a "core switch". Nor is there a technical reason against using a switch sold as an "access switch" in a core switch position if it satisfies your bandwidth needs.