[zeromq-dev] Possible to Build Actual N-to-N Topology?

[Martin Sustrik]

On 01/26/2012 11:13 AM, Michael Craig wrote:
> In a bunch of the marketing copy, ZeroMQ claims to handle N-to-N
> topologies. Is this actually true? It would seem not, since one side of
> a Push/Pull or Pub/Sub topology has to bind (which only one node can
> do). The closest I can figure out is an N-to-1-to-N topology with some
> kind of router in the middle. Does ZeroMQ actually provide some way to
> eliminate that single point of failure in the middle?

You can have a device in a middle or you can use multicast which boils 
down to using network switch as a device in the middle.

A solution to eliminate SPoFs that's used quite often in environments 
with high reliability requirements is to have 2 network switches and 2 
NICs in each box (each NIC is connected to each switch). That kind of 
setup, combined with each 0MQ endpoint being connected to all the other 
0MQ endpoints does the job.

It's of course a nightmare to manage, but sometimes the reliability 
requirements are so high you want to go that way.

Martin