Module 2:

Network
Virtualization
 VIRTUALIZATION
• Virtualization is the creation of a virtual - rather than actual - version of
something, such as an operating system, a server, a storage device or
network resources.
• Virtualization is technology that allows you to create multiple
simulated environments or dedicated resources from a single, physical
hardware system.
• Software called a hypervisor connects directly to that hardware and
allows you to split 1 system into separate, distinct, and secure
environments known as Virtual Machines (VMs).
• These VMs rely on the hypervisor’s ability to separate the machine’s
resources from the hardware and distribute them appropriately.
• There are two types of Hypervisor
1. Type I Hypervisor
2. Type II Hypervisor
1. Type I Hypervisor:
 Considered as a bare-metal hypervisor and runs directly on top of
hardware.
 Often referred to as a hardware virtualization engine.
 A Type 1 hypervisor provides better performance and greater flexibility
because it operates as a thin layer designed to expose hardware
resources to virtual machines (VMs), reducing the overhead required to
run the hypervisor itself.
 Servers that run Type 1 hypervisors are often single-purpose servers that
offer no other function.
 It requires management console to manage the hypervisor & instances
of OS installed on it
 We can move instances of OS from one hypervisor to another using
management console (Software).
 E.g VMWare ( Hypervisor ) & Vsphere (Management S/W) , Oracle
virtual box
2. Type II Hypervisor:
 Operates as an application on top of an existing operating system.
 Not directly installed on hardware, so management console is not
required.
 It is installed on Existing OS i.e Host OS so called as Hosted
Hypervisor.
 Resource allocation is very important.
 If you allocate 4GB of RAM to any one instance then it will take all
the RAM allocated to it even if it is not using it.
 E.g. Suppose you are having 5GB of RAM, out of which 2GB is
required for host OS to run.
 again you allocated 2GB to 1 instance, 1 GB to another instance, 1GB
to one more instance then total 4GB of RAM is allocated, so only 1
GB is remaining so host computer will crash in this case.
• The original, physical machine
equipped with the hypervisor
is called the host,
• While the many VMs that use
its resources are called guests.
• These guests treat computing
resources—like CPU, memory,
and storage—as a hangar of
resources that can easily be
relocated.
 Network Virtualization: Concept
• In computing, network virtualization
is the process of combining hardware
and software network resources and
network functionality into a single,
software-based administrative entity,
i.e. a virtual network.
• The network relevant to the virtual
machines is sometimes more
specifically referred to as the virtual
network.
• Network virtualization is categorized as
either external virtualization &
internal virtualization.
• External Virtualization:
 Combines or subdivides one or more local area networks (LANs)
into virtual networks to improve a large network's or data center's
efficiency.
 A virtual local area network (VLAN) and network switch comprise
the key components.
 A system administrator can configure systems physically attached to
the same local network into separate virtual networks.
 Conversely, can combine systems on separate local area
networks (LANs) into a single VLAN spanning segments of a large
network.
• Internal Virtualization:
 Configures a single system
with software containers, such
as Xen hypervisor control
programs, or pseudo-interfaces,
such as a VNIC, to emulate a
physical network with
software.
 Can improve a single system's
efficiency by isolating
applications to separate
containers or pseudo-
interfaces.
 Components of NV
• Various equipment and software vendors offer network virtualization
by combining any of the following:
 Network hardware, such as switches and network adapters, also known
as network interface cards (NICs)
 Network elements, such as firewalls and load balancers
 Networks, such as virtual LANs (VLANs) and containers such
as virtual machines (VMs)
 Network storage devices
 Network machine-to-machine elements, such as telecommunications
devices
 Network mobile elements, such as laptop computers, tablet computers,
and smart phones
 Network media, such as Ethernet and Fibre Channel
 7 Properties of Network Virtualization:
1. Independence from network hardware.
• A network virtualization platform must be able to operate on top of any
network hardware, much like x86 server hypervisors.
• This independence means the physical network can be supplied by any
combination of hardware vendors.
2. Faithful reproduction of the physical network service model
• The vast bulk of enterprise applications have not been written as web
applications.
• The cost/payback ratio of rewriting tens of billions of dollars of application
development is neither realistic nor even possible.
• Therefore, a network virtualization platform must be able to support any
workload that runs within a physical environment today.
• In order to do so, it must recreate Layer 2 and Layer 3 semantics fully,
including support for broadcast and multicast.
 • Commonly, virtual networks are migrated from or integrated with
physical environments where it is not possible to change the
current addresses of the VMs.
• Therefore, it is important that a virtual network environment not
dictate or limit the addresses that can be used within the virtual
networks, and that it allows overlapping IP and MAC addresses
between virtual networks.
3. Following an operational model of compute virtualization.
• A key property of compute virtualization is the ability to treat a
VM as soft state, meaning it can be moved, paused, resumed,
snapshotted, and rewound to a previous configuration.
• In order to integrate seamlessly in a virtualized environment, a
network virtualization solution must support the same control and
flexibility for virtual networks.
4. Compatibility with any hypervisor platform:
• Network virtualization platforms must also be able to work with
the full range of server hypervisors, including Xen, XenServer,
KVM, ESX, and HyperV, providing the ability to control
virtualized network connectivity across any network substrate as
well as between hypervisor environments.
• This “any-to-any” paradigm shift provides for:
i. More effective utilization of existing network investments,
ii. Cost and management reduction of new, Layer 3 fabric
innovations,
iii. Workload portability from enterprise to cloud service
provider environments
5. Secure isolation among virtual networks, the physical networks, and
the control plane:
• The promise of multi-tenancy requires maximum utilization of compute,
storage and network assets through sharing of the physical infrastructure.
• It is important that a network virtualization platform maintain this
consolidation while still providing the isolation needed by regulatory
compliance standards
6. Cloud performance and scalable:
• Cloud drives a significant increase in the scale of tenants, servers, and
applications supported in a single data center.
• However, current networks are still bound by the physical limitations of
networks, especially VLANs.
• Network virtualization must support considerably larger scale deployments
with tens thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of virtual networks.
• This not only enables a larger number of tenants, but also support critical
services like disaster recovery, data center utilization, etc., which outstrip
current limitations.
 • Virtual network solution should also not introduce any chokepoints or
single points of failure into the network.
• This roughly entails that to all components for the solution must be fully
distributed, and all network paths should support multi-pathing and
failover.
7. Programmatic network provisioning and control:
• Manual configuration make network configuration slow, error prone and
open to security holes through a mistaken keystroke.
• In a large-scale cloud environment, this introduces a level of fragility and
manual configuration costs that hurt service velocity and/or profitability.
• Network virtualization solution should provide full control over all virtual
network resources and allow for these resources to be managed
programmatically.
• The programmatic API should provide full access to management and
configuration of a virtual network to not only support dynamic
provisioning at cloud time scales, but also the ability to introduce and
configure services on the fly.