The scenario
PC-A (10.0.0.10), PC-B (10.0.0.11), PC-C (10.0.0.12) and Server (10.0.0.13, a web server on TCP port 80) are each cabled to Core-Switch, all on 10.0.0.0/24. This is a star: every path between any two devices runs through the centre. In this lab you fail two different things, first the Server's cable and then the switch itself, and compare how much of the network each one takes down.
What you will work out
Understand what a single point of failure is, how to spot one in a star topology, and what removing it really takes.
Why this matters
Finding single points of failure is everyday work for network engineers and anyone running a service people depend on. Cloud providers split regions into availability zones for the same reason: so that one failed building, power feed or switch does not take everything with it. Before trusting a design, walk every path and ask what happens if each device and each cable on it fails.
Running it
One Switch Dies, Everything Dies opens on a canvas, already wired and addressed. Trace a packet through it hop by hop, or run the same topology live on real Linux network namespaces. How the two modes differ.
Open One Switch Dies, Everything Dies
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