VxLAN in Mixed DC and SP Environments

Traditional network segmentation has been provided by  VLANs that are standardized under the IEEE 802.1Q group. VLANs provide  logical segmentation of Layer 2 boundaries or broadcast domains.  However, due to the inefficient use of available network links with VLAN  use, rigid requirements on device placements in the data center  network, and the limited scalability to a maximum 4094 VLANs, using  VLANs has become a limiting factor to IT departments and cloud providers  as they build large multitenant data centers.

Cisco, in partnership with other leading vendors,  proposed the Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) standard to the IETF as a  solution to the data center network challenges posed by traditional VLAN  technology. The VXLAN standard provides for the elastic workload  placement and higher scalability of Layer2 segmentation that is required  by today’s application demands.

This training document familiarizes participants with VXLAN implementation and troubleshooting methods in a mixed service provider (SP) and data center (DC) network.

  This lab demonstrates how to:

• Practice VXLAN configuration for DCI on XR/NX-OS devices. 

• Explore verification methods of VXLAN in mixed SP/DC network.

• Troubleshoot VXLAN.