Datacentre network virtualisation — the final frontier

Network virtualisation is the next big leap in datacentre virtualisation. Networking is one key area that really needs to be virtualised, especially if there are going to be thousands of virtual machines that can move around the enterprise.  The same level of agility needs to be instilled into the network and with servers running at 90 percent capacity the network infrastructure will need to scale to give the same level of bandwidth and performance.

In an environment in which VMs are being created, moved, and retired, network policies must move along with the VM automatically to ensure security and the integrity of the application.  IT administrators also need clear real-time visibility into the traffic for each Virtual Machine rather than them attempting to control traffic by physical port only as has been typical in most of today's switches.
New capabilities
Efficiently supporting a virtualised cloud network is actually becoming a lot easier thanks to new capabilities coming on to the market. BLADE Network Technologies’ VMready Virtual-Machine aware network virtualisation software, for example, watches the VM environment at the virtual port level to ensure that when a live VM moves from one physical host to another, the destination network has been prepared in real-time — preserving essential security, access and performance policies. It provides the level of flexibility and dynamicity for the network infrastructure that matches what has already been done with the servers.

When server virtualisation software from any vendor, such as VMware, Citrix Xen, Microsoft Hyper-V, Oracle VM or KVM, is connected to a BLADE Network Technologies switch running the VMready feature, the switch automatically detects how many VMs are configured and creates the corresponding amount of virtual ports that match the server virtual environment.

VMready can scale to thousands of virtual ports (vport), one for each virtual machine it detects. This way, the network team can automatically configure the network attribute to the vport directly connected to the virtual machine they want, greatly simplifying the administration and saving a lot of time. In addition, to avoid potential risk of duplication or mis-configuration and ensure precise synchronization between network and server personnel, a session is opened with the VMware ESX server which applies the same network configuration parameters to the vswitch residing on the server.

One of the final frontiers in datacentre virtualisation is now well within reach thanks to the continuing emergence of dedicated network virtualisation tools. Datacentres will become much better equipped to effectively virtualise their network infrastructures and so fully leverage the business benefits afforded by a more complete and rounded approach to virtualisation.