VXLAN is a point to point, UDP-based "tunneling" protocol, that enables L2 encapsulation over an L3 "undernet", while also allowing up to 16 million Virtual Networks. One challenge with deploying VXLAN is that by default VXLAN requires multicast support for Broadcast, Unknown and Multi-cast packets. Often this is not possible in customer networks. An alternative approach is to use the Service Node concept where dedicated node(s)/process(es) are responsible for flooding Broadcast, Unknown, and Multicast packets throughout a network.
This removes the need for multi-cast, and greatly simplifies network configuration. However, it does require a scalable, and highly available implementation.
In this presentation, join David Lapsley, Engineering Manager, Cisco Metacloud, as he:
- Briefly reviews the VXLAN protocol and architecture
- Describes the (short) journey from a software-based proof-of-concept to HA and performant implementation utilizing open source technologies that implement VXLAN processing, and highly available replicated distributed caching
- Offers a cool demo
