Methods and apparatus related to a virtual multi-hop network topology emulated within a data center

An apparatus, comprising:

• a switch fabric;
• a first edge device operatively coupled to an edge of the switch fabric and having a plurality of ports;
• and
• a second edge device operatively coupled to the edge of the switch fabric and having a plurality of ports, the switch fabric defining a plurality of single-hop paths between the first edge device and the second edge device,
• the first edge device configured to send to a peripheral processing device operatively coupled to the first edge device information representing a virtual multi-hop path network topology including the first edge device, the second edge device and a non-edge device,
• the information representing a virtual multi-hop path network topology including routing emulation information, the routing emulation information configured to emulate the virtual multi-hop network topology on a single-hop network topology,
• the first edge device configured to receive a data packet from the peripheral processing device based on the information and a routing protocol associated with the virtual multi-hop network topology, the first edge device configured to send the data packet to the second edge device via a single-hop path from the plurality of single-hop paths.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a switch fabric configured to be operatively coupled to a first edge device having a plurality of ports and a second edge device having a plurality of ports, the switch fabric defining a plurality of single-hop paths between the first edge device and the second edge device,
• the switch fabric configured such that the first edge device sends to a peripheral processing device operatively coupled to the first edge device a representation of a mapping of a portion of the plurality of ports of the first edge device and a portion of the plurality of ports of the second edge device to a plurality of ports included in a non-edge device represented within a virtual multi-hop network topology,
• the representation of the mapping including routing emulation information, the routing emulation information configured to emulate the virtual multi-hop network topology on a single-hop network topology,
• the switch fabric configured such that the first edge device receives a data packet from the peripheral processing device based on the representation of the mapping and a routing protocol associated with the virtual multi-hop network topology and sends the data packet to the second edge device via a single-hop path from the plurality of single-hop paths.