Virtual Networking Labs

With SDDC (Software Defined Data Center) gaining prominence, network architects, administrators and data-center experts in enterprises around the globe find themselves staring at the inevitable question – should I go for vSphere environment with Cisco Nexus 1000v or VMware’s NSX as the network virtualization solution that facilitates my SDDC? This article (part 2 of 3-part series) compares Cisco Nexus 1000v with VMware NSX from deployment model, components, multi-data-center support and network services perspective. Part 1 compares capabilities supported by Cisco Nexus 1000v and VMware NSX, and Part 3 walks through how to setup a fully functional environment of each on Ravello Networking Smart Labs (powered by nested virtualization and networking overlay).

Author:

Brian Castelli

Brian Castelli is a software developer with Spirent creating test methodologies for today’s networks. His current focus is on SDN and NFV.

The OPNFV project is dedicated to delivering a standard reference architecture for the deployment of carrier-grade Network Function Virtualization (NFV) environments. Testing is critical to the success of the project and to the success of real-world deployments, as evidenced by the many test-related sub-projects of OPNFV. One of those subprojects, VSPERF, is dedicated to benchmarking one of the key NFV components: The virtual switch.

In this second part of a 4-post series around NFV orchestration we detail how NFV (Network Function Virtualization) can help alleviate multi-tenancy and network mobility challenges and increase service velocity (pace at which services can be rolled out) across enterprises and service providers.

This article details NFV orchestration using public cloud NFVI as a 4 part series. This post looks into challenges traditional networks have with multi-tenancy and workload mobility. In the next, we’ll show how Network Function Virtualization (NFV) fits in and can increase service velocity.

Author:

Hemed GurAry, CISSP and CISA, Amdocs

Hemed GurAry is a Cloud and Security architect with Amdocs. Hemed specializes in network and application architecture for Finance and Telcos, bringing experience as a PMO and a leading team member in high key projects. His ongoing passion is hacking new technologies.

Network Function Virtualization has taken the networking world by storm. It brings to the table many benefits such as cost savings, network programmability and standardization to name a few.

Ravello with its nested virtualization, software defined networking overlay and an easy to use ‘drag and drop’ platform offers a quick way to set up these environments. With Ravello being a cloud based platform, it is available on-demand and opens up the opportunity to build sophisticated deployments without having to invest time and money to create a NFVI from scratch.

Author: Matt Conran Matt Conran is a Network Architect based out of Ireland and a prolific blogger at Network Insight. In his spare time he writes on topics ranging from SDN, OpenFlow, NFV, OpenStack, Cloud, Automation and Programming. Software defined…

Service Providers around the globe deploy MPLS networks using label-switched paths to improve quality of service (QoS) that meet specific SLAs that enterprises demand for traffic. This is a two-part post – Part 1 introduces MPLS constructs and Part 2 (this post) describes how to setup a fully-functional MPLS network using Ravello’s Network Smart Lab. Interested in playing with this 14 node Service Provider MPLS deployment – just add this blueprint from Ravello Repo.

This post discusses a Leaf and Spine data center architecture with Cisco Locator/ID Separation Protocol (LISP) based on Arista vEOS. It begins with a brief introduction to these concepts and continues to discuss how one can setup a fully functional LISP deployment using Ravello’s Network & Security Smart Labs. If you are interested running this LISP deployment, just open a Ravello account and add this blueprint to your library.