This flow is typically routed through a centralized firewall, making it a natural inspection point. North south traffic enters the data center through an edge, traverses core and distribution layers, and reaches a final server before exiting back to the user or another external service.
Data Center Traffic Design Evolution: Navigating East-West vs. North-South Flows
Traditional oversubscribed network fabrics, where multiple ports share a single uplink, can introduce jitter and delay that degrade user experience. As applications scale and communicate more frequently with their peers, this internal chatter often constitutes the majority of total bandwidth usage, challenging legacy designs built primarily for perimeter security.
Traditionally, network design prioritized north south traffic, which moves in and out of the data center to and from external users on the internet. In contrast, east west traffic never leaves the internal fabric; it moves horizontally between virtual machines, bare metal servers, storage arrays, and other services.
Data Center Traffic Design Evolution: Shaping East West vs North South Flows
Defining the Directional Flow The terms north south and east west serve as metaphors for the pathways data takes. East west versus north south network traffic describes the directional flow of data within a data center, a distinction that fundamentally influences architecture, security, and performance strategies.
More About East west vs north south network traffic
Looking at East west vs north south network traffic from another angle can help expand the discussion and give readers a second clear paragraph under the same section.
More perspective on East west vs north south network traffic can make the topic easier to follow by connecting earlier points with a few simple takeaways.
