Virtualization with Layer 2 over Layer 3
IT organizations must transform to meet the increasingly complex challenges in data center networking. Virtualization and software-defined data center (SDDC) in hyperconverged services are key components for today's data centers.
IT organizations making this transformation must interconnect their data centers. Virtualization and other high-value services are creating the need for logically connected, geographically isolated data centers. Dell Technologies has the infrastructure architectures to facilitate these requirements.
With Dell SmartFabric OS10 operating system, Dell introduces a networking solution in virtualization with two popular VLAN tunneling technologies: virtual extensive LAN (VXLAN) and generic routing encapsulation (GRE).
The solution of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN) for VXLAN uses Dell PowerSwitches and PowerEdge servers. BGP EVPN for VXLAN serves as a network virtualization overlay to extend Layer 2 connectivity across the data centers, which simplifies the deployment of virtualization and provides benefits such as vMotion, vSAN, and overall efficient resource sharing.
Figure 1. BGP EVPN for VXLAN network diagram overview
GRE is an IP encapsulation protocol that transports IP packets over a network in a point-to-point interconnection between two branches by tunneling any Layer 3 protocol, including IP.
With BGP EVPN VXLAN and GRE, any organization can interconnect their data centers across public internet in a secure (encrypted) manner. For example, data centers can securely connect over a local connection network—even if they are geographically distant or in different countries. The following figure illustrates that changing the infrastructure to leverage the existing Dell products portfolio on the production environment (VxRail, PowerStore, and PowerFlex) does not impact performance.
Figure 2. Data center interconnection over public internet with BGP EVPN for VXLAN and GRE tunneling
BGP EVPN for VXLAN and GRE tunneling provides the following benefits:
- Increases scalability in virtualized cloud environments
- Optimizes existing infrastructure with virtualization, scalability, flexibility, and mobility across data centers
- Maintains the security of the data center
Contact Dell Technologies for more details on this solution. Dell Technologies is excited to partner with you to deliver high-value services for your business.
Resources
For more information, refer to the following sections of the VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail Multirack Deployment Using BGP EVPN Configuration and Deployment Guide: