Dell EMC Configuration Guide for the S4048T–ON System 9.14.2.4

Components of VXLAN network

Network Virtualization Platform (NVP) Controller

NVP Controller is the network controller for managing cloud components. The OVSDB protocol is the protocol used for communication between VTEPs and the controller. The top-level functions of NVP are:

• Provide a GUI for creating service gateways.

• Manage the VTEPs.:

  • Binds Port and VLAN

  • Install VTEP tunnels

• Distribute the VTEPs to MAC binding to all relevant VTEPs.

• Provide an interface for cloud orchestration in cloud data center management.

VTEP (VXLAN Tunnel End Point)

VTEPs work as the open vSwitch running on the hypervisor on a virtualized server or as the VXLAN Gateway or as the Service Node (SN) that is responsible for flooding. The VTEPs are responsible for encapsulation and decapsulation of VXLAN headers.

NOTE

Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol version 1.2 is supported for secure connection between the controller and the Dell hardware VTEP.

VXLAN Gateways

VXLAN Gateways act as the VTEPs that encapsulate and decapsulate VXLAN headers. The roles and responsibilities of the Gateway are:

• Connects to the NVP client based on user configuration.

• Advertises south-facing VXLAN capable ports to the NVP client.

• Creates logical networks based on messages from the NVP.

• Creates tunnels to VTEPs based on messages from the NVP.

• Binds the Port and VLAN to logical networks based on messages from the NVP.

• Binds MACs to the VTEP and logical network based on messages from the NVP.

• Advertises MACs learnt on south-facing VXLAN capable-ports to the NVP client.

VXLAN Hypervisor

It is the VTEP that connects the Virtual Machines (VM) to the underlay legacy network to the physical infrastructure.

Service Node(SN)

It is also another VTEP, but it is fully managed by the controller. The purpose of SN is to be the central replication engine for flooded packets

Legacy TOR

It is a TOR switch, which performs routing or switching decisions.