FBOSS: Building switch software at scale and in the open

This post introduces FBOSS (Facebook open switching system), an open-source switch software designed for large-scale, rapidly growing networks. It details FBOSS's lean, modular architecture, which strips away unnecessary components and leverages an 'deploy early and iterate' approach for easier implementation, maintenance, and updates. The post highlights FBOSS's role in scaling Facebook's data center deployments by 30x over two years, enabling agile responses to new developments such as IPv6 implementation and the Fabric Aggregator. The authors share their experiences and challenges using FBOSS in the Facebook network, encouraging further research and development in open and streamlined infrastructure design.