FAQ Friday

Oxide switch, there are two of them in each rack, based on Intel Tofino. Importantly, they run P4, a high-level language that allows us to construct how packets are parsed and operated upon in the switch.

We’ve done our own switch operating system. Each of those switches is then connected to each sled via the cabled backplane.

So each sled has got two network connections on it, one to each switch. The switches also then participate in the management network.

We’ve got 2 x 100 GbE going to each of these compute sleds. Then the switch itself is, of course, connected to the outside world.

So we’ve got QSFP ports coming out the front of the switch, and they will route you up through the patch panel into your broader network.

That’s the Oxide switch. Thanks, and see you next time!