Datacenters are typically configured to support multiple users. Any suitable combination of the users may utilize a datacenter at any particular point in time. To support the wide variety of possible combinations of users, a datacenter will often employ a number of switches and/or routers, which are networking devices that forward data packets. A router is connected to two or more data lines from different networks. A network switch connects data lines from a single network. A data packet is typically forwarded through one or more switches/routers until it reaches its destination.
The switch or routers in a datacenter can malfunction and require replacement. Due to the critical nature of the switches/routers to the datacenter's services, it is desirable to minimize the time it takes to replace a switch or router so as to minimize associated disruption to datacenter users. Unfortunately, a switch or router typically interfaces with many input/output lines (e.g., data lines), thereby complicating the task of replacing a malfunctioning switch or router.