Determining the availability of a four-node network

Determining the availability of a four-node network

I have a four-node network in a ring. I have determined the availability of each one of the four connections, but I don't know how determine the availability of the whole network. Can you help?

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It's difficult to answer this question without more information. My suggestion would be to make sure your "ring" has at least two data paths. You can use the example of a normal SONET network to help you. You can refer to: http://www.sonet.com/docs/faq.htm for more information. If this is a Fibre Channel network, then make sure there are at least two interswitch links (ISL) between the switches, or create a "fully meshed fabric" such as below.

Chris

Read Greg Schulz' answer to this question.

This was first published in October 2004