A network system for a data center is described in which a switch fabric provides full mesh interconnectivity such that any servers may communicate packet data to any other of the servers using any of a number of parallel data paths. Moreover, according to the techniques described herein, edge-positioned access nodes, optical permutation devices and core switches of the switch fabric may be configured and arranged in a way such that the parallel data paths provide single L2/L3 hop, full mesh interconnections between any pairwise combination of the access nodes, even in massive data centers having tens of thousands of servers.

A station for use in a field network between at least one field device and a central unit, includes a module carrier and exchangeable pluggable modules thereon, wherein at least one of the exchangeable pluggable modules is designed as a switch module to which the at least one field device is connectable, and wherein optionally, in addition, at least one of the exchangeable pluggable modules is designed as a power supply module, the at least one switch module comprises at least one APL Ethernet port and/or at least one SPE Ethernet port for connecting the at least one field device. Further, a switch module is exchangeably pluggable in a module carrier to which one or more field devices is connectable.

A station for use in a field network between at least one field device and a central unit, includes a module carrier and exchangeable pluggable modules thereon, wherein at least one of the exchangeable pluggable modules is designed as a switch module to which the at least one field device is connectable, and wherein optionally, in addition, at least one of the exchangeable pluggable modules is designed as a power supply module, the at least one switch module comprises at least one APL Ethernet port and/or at least one SPE Ethernet port for connecting the at least one field device. Further, a switch module is exchangeably pluggable in a module carrier to which one or more field devices is connectable.

In some embodiments, a system can include an arbiter device, a first client device and a second client device configured as parts of a coupled set, and a wireless network architecture. The wireless network architecture can communicatively couple the arbiter device, the first device, and the second device. The arbiter device can be configured to receive a switch arbiter message from the first client device, determine that the coupled set includes the first client device and the second client device, and based on the determination, forward the switch arbiter message to the second client device.

In some embodiments, a system can include an arbiter device, a first client device and a second client device configured as parts of a coupled set, and a wireless network architecture. The wireless network architecture can communicatively couple the arbiter device, the first device, and the second device. The arbiter device can be configured to receive a switch arbiter message from the first client device, determine that the coupled set includes the first client device and the second client device, and based on the determination, forward the switch arbiter message to the second client device.

A networking device including a plurality of client ports arranged for communicating with a plurality of clients, a service port arranged for communicating with a machine arranged to communicate with the plurality of clients, and networking componentry arranged to communicate electromagnetic communications between the plurality of client ports and the service port.

A network system for a data center is described in which a switch fabric may provide full mesh interconnectivity such that any servers may communicate packet data to any other of the servers using any of a number of parallel data paths. Moreover, according to the techniques described herein, edge-positioned access nodes, optical permutation devices and core switches of the switch fabric may be configured and arranged in a way such that the parallel data paths provide single L2/L3 hop, full mesh interconnections between any pairwise combination of the access nodes, even in massive data centers having tens of thousands of servers. The plurality of optical permutation devices permute communications across the optical ports based on wavelength so as to provide, in some cases, full-mesh optical connectivity between edge-facing ports and core-facing ports.

An example network manager receives, from a conductor switch of a switch stack, an active configuration. The network manager determines, based on the active configuration, switch model types for a plurality of switches of the switch stack. The network manager determines, based on the switch model types and the active configuration, a number of ports of the plurality of switches of the switch stack and a current configuration of each port of each switch of the switch stack. The network manager updates a device configuration element of a network management user interface to display the current configuration of each port of each switch of the switch stack in a manner that indicates that the switch stack is a single logical switch.

An example network manager receives, from a conductor switch of a switch stack, an active configuration. The network manager determines, based on the active configuration, switch model types for a plurality of switches of the switch stack. The network manager determines, based on the switch model types and the active configuration, a number of ports of the plurality of switches of the switch stack and a current configuration of each port of each switch of the switch stack. The network manager updates a device configuration element of a network management user interface to display the current configuration of each port of each switch of the switch stack in a manner that indicates that the switch stack is a single logical switch.

A method for data integrity check in a network device of a computer network. The network device includes a communication module and a monitoring module. The monitoring module receives (a) the same data being received by a communication module from an input port of the network device, and (b) the same data the communication module transmits towards output port/s of the network device. The monitoring module (i) derives, after receiving the same R-data as the communication module, a sub-tuple of the R-data, a R-data sub-tuple, wherein the R-data sub-tuple includes m of the n data elements of the n-tuple of R-data, wherein m>0 and m<n, (ii) stores, after deriving the R-data sub-tuple, only the R-data sub-tuple, (iii) derives, after receiving the T-data corresponding to the R-data, a sub-tuple of the T-data, a T-data sub-tuple, and (iv) compares the stored R-data sub-tuple with the T-data sub-tuple, and (v) executes at least one specified/specifiable action, if the comparison determines the R-data sub-tuple and T-data sub-tuple are not identical.