Dell EMC SmartFabric OS10 User Guide Release 10.5.0

VXLAN

A virtual extensible LAN (VXLAN) extends Layer 2 (L2) server connectivity over an underlying Layer 3 (L3) transport network in a virtualized data center. A virtualized data center consists of virtual machines (VMs) in a multi-tenant environment. OS10 supports VXLAN as described in RFC 7348.

VXLAN provides a L2 overlay mechanism on an existing L3 network by encapsulating the L2 frames in L3 packets. The VXLAN-shared forwarding domain allows hosts such as virtual and physical machines, in tenant L2 segments to communicate over the shared IP network. Each tenant L2 segment is identified by a 24-bit ID called a VXLAN network identifier (VNI).

Deployed as a VXLAN gateway, an OS10 switch performs encapsulation/de-encapsulation of L2 frames in L3 packets while tunneling server traffic. In this role, an OS10 switch operates as a VXLAN tunnel endpoint (VTEP). Using VXLAN tunnels, server VLAN segments communicate through the extended L2 forwarding domain.