Pros of VXLAN

[fio_fan]

Hi! Does someone know the exact pros of VXLAN? I'm thinking of using it, but it is complicated to set up. Is it worth it?

[Official Moderator]

@fio_fan,

Hello! The answer to your question depends on your needs. What you have to know about VXLAN:

• Adopted for environments with a high number of virtual machines connected to a network. 
• Works on top of the L3 network.
• Allows you to build a virtual L2 network over an L3 physical network with an encapsulation technique called MAC-in-UDP. 
• Has numerous advantages compared to traditional VLAN. However, VXLAN is much more complicated.

As for the main advantages, consider the following:

VXLAN pros: 

• Highly scalable networks. Multiple L2 domains can be stretched between various data centers.
• Supports multi-tenancy, multicast and network segmentation.
• Flexibility. There is no need for STP. L3 networks work as the underlying network.
• You avoid overload of physical networks on the L2. 
• You get centralized network management. 

As for the VXLAN downsides:

• Initial configuration and deployment are complex.
• Scaling a centralized controller to manage overlay networks is difficult.
• You get the headers overhead because of encapsulation techniques.
• The underlay network requires support for multicast broadcast, unknown unicast and multicast (BUM) traffic.

If you want to learn more on the subject, go to our blog post https://www.nakivo.com/blog/vxlan-vmware-basics/ 

Let me know if you have any additional questions.
 

[fio_fan]

Thank you for the response and the blog post. It is very descriptive. I'll start learning more about VXLAN. Seems interesting.

Edited January 4, 2022 by fio_fan