US Patent 7983194 Method and system for multi level switch configuration

Switch systems and method to configure switch systems are disclosed. A switch system includes a first leaf module and a first spine module. The first leaf module includes a plurality of internal ports and external ports. The first spine module includes a plurality of ports. A midplane is configured couple each of the internal port of first leaf module to a port of a first spine module such that a subset of internal ports of the first leaf module are always coupled to a known subset of first spine module. Other switch systems and methods to configure switch systems are disclosed.