An Introduction to Network Virtualization

Thomas Kraus, VMware

Eric Lopez, VMware

NET5516

#NET5516

2

Agenda

Objectives

Network Virtualization

VMware NSX

• System Architecture

• Use Cases

Whiteboard

Conclusion

3

Session Objectives

•Discuss what Network Virtualization is and what the

technical and business benefits are.

•Provide foundational knowledge on NSX architecture and

system components.

• Illustrate the flow of data communication between two

hypervisors in an NSX environment.

• Illustrate the relationships between physical and logical

components in an NSX deployment

4

Agenda

Objectives

Network Virtualization

VMware NSX

• System Architecture

• Use Cases

Whiteboard

Conclusion

5

Forces Driving Change

What do cloud consumers want?

The ability to deploy applications at scale and with little pre-planning

provisioning speed and efficiency

The mobility to move workloads between different geographies and providers

investment protection and choice

The flexibility to create more diverse architectures in a self service manner

rich L3 – L7 network services

6

The Software Defined Data Center

Physical Infrastructure

Software Defined Data Center Two Software Defined Data Center One

Infrastructure Abstraction Layer

7

Compute Virtualization Abstraction Layer

The Network Is a Barrier to Software Defined Data Center

Physical Infrastructure

• Provisioning is slow

• Placement is limited

• Mobility is limited

• Hardware dependent

• Operationally intensive

Software Defined Data Center One

8

The Solution – Virtualize the Network

Physical Infrastructure

Compute Virtualization Abstraction Layer

• Programmatic provisioning

• Place any workload anywhere

• Move any workload anywhere

• Decoupled from hardware

• Operationally efficient

Network Virtualization Abstraction Layer

Software Defined Data Center One

• Provisioning is slow

• Placement is limited

• Mobility is limited

• Hardware dependent

• Operationally intensive

9

What Is a Virtual Network?

General Purpose Server Hardware

Server Hypervisor

Requirement: x86

Virtual

Machine

Virtual

Machine

Virtual

Machine

Application Application Application

x86 Environment

Decoupled

Hardware

Software

General Purpose Networking Hardware

Network Hypervisor

Requirement: IP Transport

Virtual

Network

Virtual

Network

Virtual

Network

Workload Workload Workload

L2, L3, L4-7 Network Services

10

Network Virtualization Must…

1. Decouple

Physical

Virtual

2. Reproduce 3. Automate

Network

Operations

Cloud

Operations

Hardware

independence

Operational benefits

of virtualization No change to network

from end host perspective

Virtual

Physical

11

Agenda

Objectives

Network Virtualization

VMware NSX

• System Architecture

• Use Cases

Whiteboard

Conclusion

12

VMware NSX

NSX API

Data

Plane

• Leverages programmatic web-services API

to define logical networks

• Single point of configuration & management

for the system, across 1,000s of edge

switching devices

Controller Cluster

OVS / NVS

NSX Manager

• Clustered App runs on x86 servers

• Controls & manages 1,000s of edge

switching devices

• Does not sit in data path

• Open vSwitch(OVS) is a VMware led open

source project

• NSX vSwitch(NVS) is a software vSwitch in ESXi kernel

• Switch software designed for remote control and tunneling installed in Hypervisors, NSX Gateways or HW VTEP devices

Management

Plane

Control

Plane

13

L2

L3

Virtual Network

L2

Open vSwitch

NSX Gateway

VMware NSX - How it works

VM VM

vSphere vSphere KVM XenServer

vSwitch vSwitch vSwitch vSwitch

HW

SW

Controller Cluster

API

VLAN

NSX Manager

HW Partner

VTEP Device

CMP

VLAN

VLAN

14

NSX Tunneling – Overlay Networks

NSX Controller Cluster establishes an overlay network

Multiple tunneling protocols including STT, GRE, VXLAN

Packets encapsulated with Logical Switch info

Payload IP L2 Payload IP L2

L2 IP TCP STT Payload IP L2 L2 IP TCP STT Payload IP L2

VM VM VM VM

Open vSwitch / NVS

Physical Network

Hypervisor

15

Where Are Virtual Networks?

Hypervisor Hypervisor Hypervisor Hypervisor

Open vSwitch Open vSwitch Open vSwitch Open vSwitch

VM VM VM VM VM VM VM

VM VM VM VM VM VM VM

Virtual Network Virtual Network

Logical Network State

Transport Network State &

Controller Cluster

16

Agenda

Objectives

Network Virtualization

VMware NSX

• System Architecture

• Use Cases

Whiteboard

Conclusion

17

Ph

ysic

al

Ne

two

rk

Gen 2 or

SP Cloud

Cloud HV1

Cloud HV2

Cloud HV3

Logical Network

Top Use Cases

LAN

WAN

MAN

VLAN 9

L2 Gateway

Remote Datacenter/Pod

64.10.10.11

VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

Logical

L2

Switch

VLAN 9

VM

VM

VM VM

1. Automated

Network

Provisioning

2. Inter Rack or

Inter DC

Connectivity

3. P-to-V and

V-to-V

Migration

4. Burst or Migrate

Enterprise to Cloud

VM

VM

VM

An

imate

d S

lide

18

Agenda

Objectives

Network Virtualization

VMware NSX

• System Architecture

• Use Cases

Whiteboard

Conclusion

19

Whiteboard Session – Physical Hypervisor

HV1

E3 E2 E1 E0

IP Fabric

HV2

E0 E1 E2 E3

ESXi KVM

Cust B

VM2

Cust A

VM2

Cust B

VM1

Cust A

VM1

172.16.20.11 172.16.30.11

192.168.1.11 192.168.1.11 192.168.1.12 192.168.1.12

NSX Controller

Cluster

NSX vSwitch Open vSwitch

21

Gateway Services - Component Relationships

Transport

Network

Management

Network

WAN

Customer

Network

Customer

Network

Logical Switch 2

Logical Switch 3

Logical Switch 1 CA-VM1

CA-VM2

CB-VM1

CB-VM2

CB-VM3

WAN

CB-BM1

CB-BM1

Virtual Network

Physical Network

NSX

Gateway

NSX

Gateway

NSX OVS

CA

VM2

CB

VM2

Hypervisor

NSX OVS

CA

VM2 CB

VM2

Hypervisor

CB

VM3

Customer A

Logical Router

Customer B

Logical Router

L2 GWS

L3 GWS

22

Session Takeaways

Network Virtualization is the key to building a distributed, highly

scalable, and feature rich Software Defined Datacenter.

Most tunneling mechanisms or protocols are similar in function

and are only ONE component of Network Virtualization.

A viable Network Virtualization solution HAS to provide a minimum

set of functionality.

• Abstraction – Decoupling of Guest Virtual Machines from Physical Network

especially from an addressing perspective.

• Reproduction – Ability for a Guest Virtual Machine to operate without knowing

its leveraging Network Virtualization.

• Automation - A RESTful API for Network Virtualization and an Orchestration

or Automation tool that can programmatically integrate with Compute and

Network Virtualization Layer.

23

Recommended Sessions & Labs

NET5184 - Designing Your Next Generation Datacenter for Network

Virtualization

NET5716 – Advanced NSX Architecture

NET5266 – Bringing Network Virtualization to VMware

Environments with NSX

NET5270 – Virtualized Network Services Model with NSX

SEC5582 – Multi-site Deployments with VMware NSX

You can actually build the configuration demonstrated in the

whiteboard in the lab HOL-SDC-1319

Visit us at the VMware booth to see NSX in action

Follow us on Twitter and tell us what you thought

• Tkrausjr

• #NET5516

THANK YOU

An Introduction to Network Virtualization

Thomas Kraus, VMware

Eric Lopez, VMware

NET5516

#NET5516

27

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