5/17/2021 Top of the Rack vs End of the Row | Blogs La Salle | Campus Barcelona

Follow La Salle BCN: (https://es.linkedin.com/company/la-

(https://twitter.com/lasallebcn?
salle-
lang=es)
(https:/
bcn)
/www.facebook.com/LaSalleBCN)
(https:/
(https:/
/www.youtube.com/user/BesLaSalle)
(https:/
/www.instagram.com/lasallebcn)
/www. ickr.com/photos/beslasalle)

EN

(https://blogs.salleurl.edu/en)

THINKING ABOUT DATA CENTER SOLUTIONS

(/EN/DATA-CENTER)
Engineers from La Salle-URL share the latest news and projects in the
eld of network solutions in telematic engineering.

18 March 2019 | Posted by carlota.pares

TOP OF THE RACK VS END OF THE ROW

A close examination and comparison of two popular data center physical designs,
“Top of the Rack”, and “End of the Row”

https://blogs.salleurl.edu/en/top-rack-vs-end-row 1/8
5/17/2021 Top of the Rack vs End of the Row | Blogs La Salle | Campus Barcelona

Top of Rack (ToR) and End of Row (EoR) are two common infrastructure designs for data centers. In
this post, we will mainly discuss the differences between these two approaches.

In the Top of Rack design, servers connect to one or two Ethernet switches installed inside the rack
so that all copper cabling for servers stays within the rack (from the server to the rack
switch).  Therefore, there is no need for an expensive infrastructure of copper cabling running
between racks and throughout the data center. The Ethernet switch links the rack to the data center
network with ber running directly from the rack to a common aggregation area. 

Each rack can be treated and managed like an individual and modular unit within the data center.
Any network upgrades or issues with the rack switches will generally only affect the servers within
that rack, not an entire row of servers. Given that servers connect  with very short copper cables
within the rack, there is more exibility and options in terms of what that cable is and how fast of a
connection it can support.

One signi cant drawback of the Top of Rack design is the increased management domain. In a large
data center with many racks, a Top of Rack design can quickly become a management burden by
adding many switches to the data center that are each individually managed. These switches
demand higher port densities in the aggregation switches, even if there is a single connection to each
redundant aggregation switch. The more ports you have in aggregation switches, the more likely you
are to face potential scalability constraints.

https://blogs.salleurl.edu/en/top-rack-vs-end-row 2/8
5/17/2021 Top of the Rack vs End of the Row | Blogs La Salle | Campus Barcelona

In the End of Row  design, each server in individual racks is required to connect to a common
aggregation switch directly, without connecting to individual switches in each rack.  Racks are
typically lined up side by side in a row and a rack or cabinet is placed at either end of the servers
row for the purpose of providing network connectivity to those servers. For a redundant design, there
might be two bundles of copper to each rack, each running to opposite End of Row network racks. 

The End of Row network switch is typically a modular chassis-based platform that supports
hundreds of server connections. Typically there are redundant supervisor engines, power supplies,
and overall better high availability characteristics than typically found in a Top of Rack switch. 

Unlike Top of Rack  where each rack is its own managed unit, with  End of Row  the entire row of
servers is treated like one pod within the data center. Network upgrades or issues at the End of
Row switch can be service impacting to the entire row of servers, but, on the other hand, there are
fewer switches to manage compared to a Top of Rack design.

https://blogs.salleurl.edu/en/top-rack-vs-end-row 3/8
5/17/2021 Top of the Rack vs End of the Row | Blogs La Salle | Campus Barcelona

The one thing all of the above designs have in common is that they each link to a common
aggregation area with ber. Some pods may employ End of Row copper cabling, while another pod
may employ top of rack ber, with each pod linking to the common aggregation area with ber. This
allows for exibility in the design choices made as the data center grows, pod by pod.

Top of Rack and  End of Row data center designs are both common deployments for data center
architecture. Considering that each type has bene ts and drawbacks, you cannot tell which one is
best, just which one is the most suitable.

Share

ADD NEW COMMENT

Your name

Comment

https://blogs.salleurl.edu/en/top-rack-vs-end-row 4/8
5/17/2021 Top of the Rack vs End of the Row | Blogs La Salle | Campus Barcelona

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated
spam submissions.

Math question * 3 + 7 =

Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.

SAVE

LAST POSTS

13 May 2021
New storage solutions from IBM (/en/new-storage-solutions-ibm)

(/en/new-
storage-
solutions-
ibm)

13 May 2021
VMs vs Containers (/en/vms-vs-containers)

(/en/vms-
vs-
containers)

https://blogs.salleurl.edu/en/top-rack-vs-end-row 5/8
5/17/2021 Top of the Rack vs End of the Row | Blogs La Salle | Campus Barcelona

06 May 2021
Underlay routing protocols for data centers (/en/underlay-routing-protocols-data-centers)

(/en/underlay-
routing-
protocols-
data-
centers)

06 May 2021
Cost of a Data Center (/en/cost-data-center)

(/en/cost-
data-
center)

04 May 2021
Energy consumption of a data center (/en/energy-consumption-data-center)

(/en/energy-
consumption-
data-
center)

PROMINENT

The URL, the sixth best performing university in Spain according to the Ranking CYD
(https://www.salleurl.edu/en/url-sixth-best-performing-university-spain-according-
ranking-cyd)
(/en/url-
sixth-
best-
performing-
university-
spain-
according-
ranking-
cyd)

https://blogs.salleurl.edu/en/top-rack-vs-end-row 6/8
5/17/2021 Top of the Rack vs End of the Row | Blogs La Salle | Campus Barcelona

La Salle-URL and Casa Asia organize an international conference on technology and

business (https://www.salleurl.edu/en/la-salle-url-and-casa-asia-organize-international-
conference-technology-and-business)
(/en/la-
salle-url-
and-casa-
asia-
organize-
international-
conference-
technology-
and-
business)

See All News (https://www.salleurl.edu/en/noticies)

Sant Joan de La Salle street, 42 nd

08022 Barcelona
Spain
Tel. (+34) 932902400 (TEL:+34932902400)

EDUCATION (HTTPS://WWW.SALLEURL.EDU/EN/EDUCATION)

ADMISSIONS (HTTPS://WWW.SALLEURL.EDU/EN/ADMISSIONS)

CAMPUS (HTTPS://WWW.SALLEURL.EDU/EN/CAMPUS)

RESEARCH (HTTPS://WWW.SALLEURL.EDU/EN/RESEARCH)

UNIVERSITY AND BUSINESS (HTTPS://WWW.SALLEURL.EDU/EN/UNIVERSIDAD-Y-EMPRESA)

LA SALLE (HTTPS://WWW.SALLEURL.EDU/EN/LA-SALLE)

INFORMATION (HTTPS://WWW.SALLEURL.EDU/EN/INFORMATION)

https://blogs.salleurl.edu/en/top-rack-vs-end-row 7/8
5/17/2021 Top of the Rack vs End of the Row | Blogs La Salle | Campus Barcelona

Help
La Salle Directory (https://www.salleurl.edu/en/la-salle/la-salle-directory)

Map and Facilities (https://www.salleurl.edu/en/getting-there)

Accessibility (https://www.salleurl.edu/en/accessibility-statement)

Follow La Salle BCN

(https://es.linkedin.com/company/la-
(https://twitter.com/lasallebcn?
salle-
lang=es)
(https:/
bcn)
/www.facebook.com/LaSalleBCN)
(https:/
(https:/
/www.youtube.com/user/BesLaSalle)
(https:/
/www.instagram.com/lasallebcn)
/www. ickr.com/photos/beslasalle)

Member of Accreditations

© 2021 La Salle Campus Barcelona - URL | Legal notice (https://www.salleurl.edu/en/la-salle/legal-

information/legal-notice-funitec-website) | Privacy policy (https://www.salleurl.edu/en/la-salle/legal-
information/privacy-policy) | Cookies policy (https://www.salleurl.edu/en/la-salle/legal-
information/cookies-policy)

https://blogs.salleurl.edu/en/top-rack-vs-end-row 8/8