Building a Virtualized Network Solution

Network Virtualization "provides virtual networks to virtual machines similar to how server virtualization provides virtual machines to the operating system. Network Virtualization decouples virtual networks from the physical network infrastructure and removes the constraints and limitations of VLANs and hierarchical IP address assignment from virtual machine provisioning. This flexibility makes it easy for customers to move to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) clouds and efficient for hosters and datacenter administrators to manage their infrastructure while maintaining the necessary multi-tenant isolation, security requirements, and supporting overlapping Virtual Machine IP addresses."

Although the benefits of this approach are very clear, designing and implementing a solution that delivers the promised benefits is both complex and challenging; architects, consultants, and fabric administrators alike can often struggle to understand the different components and concepts that make up a solution.