Re-Architect a Stockholm Cloud Provider's Network for AI Training
Overview
What this challenge is about.
Design a leaf-spine fabric for a cloud AI network, choose a routing protocol, and validate it in Containerlab to earn a verifiable certificate.
The scenario
Nordhavn Cloud is a Tier-2 Stockholm cloud provider that rents GPU capacity to Nordic AI startups; its legacy three-tier network was built for ordinary web traffic, not the dense server-to-server data movement that distributed model training produces.
The Brief
What you'll do, and what you'll demonstrate.
Design a leaf-spine datacenter fabric that handles AI-training east-west traffic, justify the routing-protocol choice from measured traffic, and prove it on a simulation before the rack purchase is approved.
Earning criteria — what you'll demonstrate
- Size a non-blocking leaf-spine Clos fabric from real throughput and oversubscription requirements
- Translate measured traffic characteristics into a defensible routing-protocol decision
- Build and operate a multi-node routing simulation with Containerlab and FRRouting
- Quantify path load-balancing and failure convergence with reproducible measurements
- Communicate an infrastructure architecture decision clearly enough for sign-off without follow-up
Program Fit
Where this fits in your program.
Sharpens the same skills your degree expects you to demonstrate.
Aligned coursework coming soon.
Skills
Skills you'll demonstrate.
Each one shows up on your verified credential.
- Data Center Networking
Apply data center networking to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Bgp
Apply bgp to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Evpn Vxlan
Apply evpn vxlan to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Ecmp
Apply ecmp to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Network Simulation
Apply network simulation to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Documentation
Apply documentation to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
Careers
Career paths this challenge builds toward
Completing this challenge demonstrates skills that transfer directly to these roles:
Datacenter Network Architect
This challenge mirrors the architect's core task: sizing a leaf-spine fabric to real workload requirements, choosing routing protocols on evidence, and producing sign-off-ready documentation that an organization can commit capital against.
This challenge sharpens
- data-center-networking
- evpn-vxlan
- documentation
Network Reliability Engineer
Proving convergence under failure and validating load-balancing on a simulation is exactly the reliability-engineering work of guaranteeing a fabric behaves predictably in production before it carries live AI-training traffic.
This challenge sharpens
- ecmp
- network-simulation
- bgp
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
Building GPU-rack network capacity from requirements to validated design connects directly to the infrastructure-engineering role of standing up and defending the physical and routing foundations that cloud GPU services depend on.
This challenge sharpens
- data-center-networking
- bgp
- network-simulation