Reducing impact of a switch failure in a switch fabric via switch cards

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

• in a server system comprising a midplane, one or more server cards coupled with the midplane, and one or more switch cards coupled with the midplane, wherein the one or more server cards are operatively connected to the one or more switch cards, wherein the midplane comprises a fabric interconnect for a switch fabric, wherein each switch card comprises one or more switch modules, wherein each switch module is configured to switch network traffic for at least one of the one or more server cards, wherein each server card is hot-swappable from the midplane, and wherein each switch card is hot-swappable from the midplane, detecting that a first switch module of a first switch card has failed;
• and
• upon detecting that the first switch module of the first switch card has failed, switching network traffic for the one or more server cards by a second switch module that is included in one of the first switch card and a second switch card.