vSphere Networking Challenges and Solutions

Discusses some networking challenges created by the adoption of virtualization in the data center and how to solve those challenges

Transcript

1. vSphere Networking Challenges and Solutions How VMware vSphere is shaping the direction of the networking industry Scott Lowe, VCDX 39 / CTO, VMware Affinity Team, EMC vExpert, Author, Blogger, Geek http://blog.scottlowe.org / Twitter: @scott_lowe
2. Before we start • Get involved! • Ask questions—this is your time and I want you to get the most out of it • If you use Twitter, feel free to tweet about today’s session (use hashtag #NMVMUG) • This presentation will be made available online after the event
3. • Setting the stage • Traffic consolidation • Network management and troubleshooting • VLANs and expanding L2 domains • Stretched VLANs • Multi-tenancy and increased scale Agenda
4. • The introduction of server virtualization into the data center is changing the face of data center networking • While server virtualization provides a great number of benefits, it also introduces some challenges • These challenges are apparent in a number of areas, including networking • So what are the challenges, and how is the industry responding? Setting the Stage
5. • There are now multiple OS instances and multiple traffic types contending for bandwidth • There is new virtualization-specific traffic (vMotion, FT) • This requires new tools to help manage contention • Network I/O Control (at the vSphere layer) • QoS (at the network layer) • Virtualization-integrated switching solutions (more on that in a bit) Traffic Consolidation
6. • Established network vendors are driving higher bandwidth standards (40 GE and 100 GE products recently introduced) • Some new and upcoming vendors are using alternate technologies (consider Xsigo’s use of InfiniBand, for example) Traffic Consolidation (continued)
7. • Movement of the access layer into the hypervisor means a loss of visibility, control, and (in some cases) functionality • VMware has added functionality to distributed vSwitches to help with some of this (NetFlow, port mirroring) • Other solutions exist • Hypervisor bypass (think Cisco VIC, SR-IOV) • More full-featured virtual switch (think Nexus 1000V) Network Management and Troubleshooting
8. • Physical systems now need access to multiple VLANs • VLANs must be provisioned to every physical host that might run a workload on that VLAN • Required in order to support vMotion • This results in very large L2 (broadcast) domains • Large L2 domains generally not recommended by network architects VLANs and Expanding L2 Domains
9. • Some switch vendors address this through vCenter integration and dynamic VLAN pruning • In the long term, new technologies are being developed • An example is Edge Virtual Bridging (EVB), standardized as 802.1Qbg • EVB allows VLANs to be provisioned (and deprovisioned) dynamically as needed VLANs and Expanding L2 Domains (continued)
10. • The desire to do long-distance vMotion means L2 domains stretched over distance • A variety of technologies exist to enable stretched VLANs: • Ethernet over MPLS (EoMPLS) • Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) • Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) • Stretched VLANs also affect Layer 3 routing behaviors, driving the need for technologies like LISP Stretched VLANs
11. • The 12-bit VLAN address space isn’t big enough • Hybrid cloud solutions means individual customers need to be properly separated and segregated • This drives the development of new protocols • Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) • Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation (NVGRE) • Stateless Transport Tunneling (STT) Multi-Tenancy and Increased Scale
12. Questions & Answers
13. Thank You