
4 Network Virtualization with Dell Infrastructure and VMware NSX | Version 1.2
1 Overview
Server virtualization has been one of the key drivers that has transformed the Data Center and Enterprise
environments by decoupling the OS from the server hardware. The flexibility, automation, high-availability,
and efficiency gains generated by doing so has been well received by customers and the industry with
Gartner reporting in 2013 that two-thirds of x86 server workloads were virtualized. Dell has been at the
forefront of this transformation providing powerful PowerEdge blade and rack servers to enable incredibly
dense virtualized environments while also providing the end-to-end solution with network and storage
infrastructure.
The success of server virtualization over the last decade has now brought into the forefront the need to
also virtualize the network or decouple the network services from the underlying physical infrastructure.
Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) is the term given to the ability to represent a physical infrastructure
and its network services logically within software. The same benefits that made server virtualization
incredibly popular and successful is now also driving network virtualization and the SDDC. Some of these
drivers include:
Speed of deployment/migration, flexibility, and agility
Automation
Minimized downtime
Normalization of underlying hardware
To meet this new transformation and demand in the industry, Dell
and VMware have partnered to provide a solution for the SDDC using VMware NSX network virtualization
technology running on top of reliable Dell servers, networking, and storage infrastructure.
VMware NSX expands the virtualization layer from the physical layer of the server to the physical layer of
the network and in consequence creates a logical framework above the physical infrastructure providing
for several benefits:
Decoupling of network services from the physical infrastructure
Ease of network service deployment/migration/automation. Reduced provisioning/deployment time.
Scalable multi-tenancy across datacenter
Overlays allow for logical switches spanning across physical hosts and network services; can also span
a layer 2 logical switch over L3 infrastructure allowing for better VM mobility.
Distributed routing and distributed firewall at the hypervisor allow for better East-West traffic flow and
an enhanced security model
Provides solutions for traditional networking problems such as limited VLANs, MAC address, FIB, and
ARP entries
Application requirements don’t require changes/modification on the physical network
Normalizes underlying hardware enabling for ease of hardware migration/interoperability
The Dell-VMware partnership allows for a complete network virtualization solution with a robust physical
end-to-end infrastructure that helps enable Data Centers and Enterprises transition to a SDDC.
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