Home > Storage > ObjectScale and ECS > Product Documentation > Dell ECS: Networking Best Practices > Conclusion
ECS supports specific network hardware and configurations plus customer variations and requirements. The switches used as part of the ECS hardware infrastructure provide the backbone for the ECS communication paths to the customer network, node-to-node communication, and node- and cluster-wide management. It is a best practice to architect ECS networking to be reliable, highly available, and performant. There are tools to help with planning, monitoring, and diagnosing of the ECS network. Customers are encouraged to work closely with Dell Technologies personnel to assist in providing the optimal ECS network configuration to meet their requirements.