Book Image

VMware NSX Network Essentials

By : sreejith c
Book Image

VMware NSX Network Essentials

By: sreejith c

Overview of this book

VMware NSX is at the forefront of the software-defined networking revolution. It makes it even easier for organizations to unlock the full benefits of a software-defined data center – scalability, flexibility – while adding in vital security and automation features to keep any sysadmin happy. Software alone won’t power your business – with NSX you can use it more effectively than ever before, optimizing your resources and reducing costs. Getting started should be easy – this guide makes sure it is. It takes you through the core components of NSX, demonstrating how to set it up, customize it within your current network architecture. You’ll learn the principles of effective design, as well as some things you may need to take into consideration when you’re creating your virtual networks. We’ll also show you how to construct and maintain virtual networks, and how to deal with any tricky situations and failures. By the end, you’ll be confident you can deliver, scale and secure an exemplary virtualized network with NSX.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
VMware NSX Network Essentials
Credits
Foreword
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface

A VXLAN overview


VXLAN is a technology developed by vendors such as Arista, VMware, Cisco, and Broadcom. Each of these VXLAN networks is called a logical switch (virtual wires in vCloud network security solution) and they are identified by a 24-bit segment-ID. In this way, customers can create up to 16 million VXLAN networks. Virtual Tunnel End Points (VTEPs) are the endpoints that encapsulate and de-encapsulate the VXLAN frames. Let's understand a few key terminologies in VXLAN; and we will discuss VXLAN frames after that:

  • VXLAN VIB: VXLAN VIB or VMkernel modules are pushed to an underlying hypervisor during ESXi host preparation from NSX Manager.

  • Vmknic adapter: Virtual adapter is responsible for sending ARP, DHCP, and multicast join messages. Yes, there would be an IP assigned (static/dynamic) to vmknic from the VTEP IP pool, which is one of the prerequisites for VXLAN configuration. NSX supports multiple VXLAN vmknics per host for uplink load balancing features.

  • VXLAN port group: VXLAN...