A method for establishing a partitioned fabric network is described. The method includes establishing a fabric network including a plurality of border nodes to couple the fabric network to one or more external data networks and a plurality of edge nodes to couple to the fabric network to one or more hosts. The method further includes defining a plurality of partitions of the fabric network. The method further includes registering each of the plurality of partitions with a corresponding one of the plurality of border nodes and with each of the plurality of edge nodes.