Engineers debate oversubscribed versus non-oversubscribed spine capacity for the civic Clos. What does fabric oversubscription measure in this architecture discussion?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Oversubscription is just spine horsepower versus the sum of the leaf on-ramps pointing at those spines. If every leaf can push more than the spines can swallow together, you chose an oversubscribed design on purpose—or by accident. Count bandwidth, not blocked STP ports.
Full Explanation
Oversubscription ratio compares available spine (or fabric) bandwidth to the aggregate demand from leaf uplinks. Non-oversubscribed designs provision enough spine capacity for the sum of those uplinks under the intended traffic model. STP port state, VRF counts, and dual-homing limits are unrelated metrics. Architecture math for Clos capacity starts with uplink versus spine bandwidth.