Networking for VMware Administrators

The one-stop guide to modern networking for every VMware® administrator, engineer, and architect

Now that virtualization has blurred the lines between networking and servers, many VMware specialists need a stronger understanding of networks than they may have gained in earlier IT roles. Networking for VMware Administrators fills this crucial knowledge gap. Writing for VMware professionals, Christopher Wahl and Steve Pantol illuminate the core concepts of modern networking, and show how to apply them in designing, configuring, and troubleshooting any virtualized network environment.

Drawing on their extensive experience with a wide range of virtual network environments, the authors address physical networking, switching, storage networking, and several leading virtualization scenarios, including converged infrastructure.

Teaching through relevant examples, they focus on foundational concepts and features that will be valuable for years to come. To support rapid learning and mastery, they present clear learning objectives, questions, problems, a complete glossary, and extensive up-to-date references.

Coverage includes:

• The absolute basics: network models, layers, and interfaces, and why they matter

• Building networks that are less complex, more modular, and fully interoperable

• Improving your virtual network stack: tips, tricks, and techniques for avoiding common pitfalls

• Collaborating more effectively with network and storage professionals

• Understanding Ethernet, Advanced Layer 2, Layer 3, and modern converged infrastructure

• Mastering virtual switching and understanding how it differs from physical switching

• Designing and operating vSphere standard and distributed switching

• Working with third-party switches, including Cisco Nexus 1000V

• Creating powerful, resilient virtual networks to handle critical storage network traffic

• Deploying rackmount servers with 1 Gb and 10 Gb Ethernet

• Virtualizing blade servers with converged traffic and virtual NICs

Christopher Wahl has acquired well over a decade of IT experience in enterprise infrastructure design, implementation, and administration. He has provided architectural and engineering expertise in a variety of virtualization, data center, and private cloud based engagements while working with high performance technical teams in tiered data center environments. He currently holds the title of Senior Technical Architect at Ahead, a consulting firm based out of Chicago.

Steve Pantol has spent the last 14 years wearing various technical hats, with the last seven or so focused on assorted VMware technologies. He is a Senior Technical Architect at Ahead, working to build better datacenters and drive adoption of cloud technologies.

1116402570
Networking for VMware Administrators

The one-stop guide to modern networking for every VMware® administrator, engineer, and architect

Now that virtualization has blurred the lines between networking and servers, many VMware specialists need a stronger understanding of networks than they may have gained in earlier IT roles. Networking for VMware Administrators fills this crucial knowledge gap. Writing for VMware professionals, Christopher Wahl and Steve Pantol illuminate the core concepts of modern networking, and show how to apply them in designing, configuring, and troubleshooting any virtualized network environment.

Drawing on their extensive experience with a wide range of virtual network environments, the authors address physical networking, switching, storage networking, and several leading virtualization scenarios, including converged infrastructure.

Teaching through relevant examples, they focus on foundational concepts and features that will be valuable for years to come. To support rapid learning and mastery, they present clear learning objectives, questions, problems, a complete glossary, and extensive up-to-date references.

Coverage includes:

• The absolute basics: network models, layers, and interfaces, and why they matter

• Building networks that are less complex, more modular, and fully interoperable

• Improving your virtual network stack: tips, tricks, and techniques for avoiding common pitfalls

• Collaborating more effectively with network and storage professionals

• Understanding Ethernet, Advanced Layer 2, Layer 3, and modern converged infrastructure

• Mastering virtual switching and understanding how it differs from physical switching

• Designing and operating vSphere standard and distributed switching

• Working with third-party switches, including Cisco Nexus 1000V

• Creating powerful, resilient virtual networks to handle critical storage network traffic

• Deploying rackmount servers with 1 Gb and 10 Gb Ethernet

• Virtualizing blade servers with converged traffic and virtual NICs

Christopher Wahl has acquired well over a decade of IT experience in enterprise infrastructure design, implementation, and administration. He has provided architectural and engineering expertise in a variety of virtualization, data center, and private cloud based engagements while working with high performance technical teams in tiered data center environments. He currently holds the title of Senior Technical Architect at Ahead, a consulting firm based out of Chicago.

Steve Pantol has spent the last 14 years wearing various technical hats, with the last seven or so focused on assorted VMware technologies. He is a Senior Technical Architect at Ahead, working to build better datacenters and drive adoption of cloud technologies.

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Overview

The one-stop guide to modern networking for every VMware® administrator, engineer, and architect

Now that virtualization has blurred the lines between networking and servers, many VMware specialists need a stronger understanding of networks than they may have gained in earlier IT roles. Networking for VMware Administrators fills this crucial knowledge gap. Writing for VMware professionals, Christopher Wahl and Steve Pantol illuminate the core concepts of modern networking, and show how to apply them in designing, configuring, and troubleshooting any virtualized network environment.

Drawing on their extensive experience with a wide range of virtual network environments, the authors address physical networking, switching, storage networking, and several leading virtualization scenarios, including converged infrastructure.

Teaching through relevant examples, they focus on foundational concepts and features that will be valuable for years to come. To support rapid learning and mastery, they present clear learning objectives, questions, problems, a complete glossary, and extensive up-to-date references.

Coverage includes:

• The absolute basics: network models, layers, and interfaces, and why they matter

• Building networks that are less complex, more modular, and fully interoperable

• Improving your virtual network stack: tips, tricks, and techniques for avoiding common pitfalls

• Collaborating more effectively with network and storage professionals

• Understanding Ethernet, Advanced Layer 2, Layer 3, and modern converged infrastructure

• Mastering virtual switching and understanding how it differs from physical switching

• Designing and operating vSphere standard and distributed switching

• Working with third-party switches, including Cisco Nexus 1000V

• Creating powerful, resilient virtual networks to handle critical storage network traffic

• Deploying rackmount servers with 1 Gb and 10 Gb Ethernet

• Virtualizing blade servers with converged traffic and virtual NICs

Christopher Wahl has acquired well over a decade of IT experience in enterprise infrastructure design, implementation, and administration. He has provided architectural and engineering expertise in a variety of virtualization, data center, and private cloud based engagements while working with high performance technical teams in tiered data center environments. He currently holds the title of Senior Technical Architect at Ahead, a consulting firm based out of Chicago.

Steve Pantol has spent the last 14 years wearing various technical hats, with the last seven or so focused on assorted VMware technologies. He is a Senior Technical Architect at Ahead, working to build better datacenters and drive adoption of cloud technologies.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780133511086
Publisher: VMware Press
Publication date: 04/04/2014
Series: VMware Press Technology Series
Pages: 368
Product dimensions: 6.80(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Chris Wahl has acquired more than a decade of IT experience in enterprise infrastructure design, implementation, and administration. He has provided architectural and engineering expertise in a variety of virtualization, data center, and private cloud-based engagements while working with high performance technical teams in tiered data center environments. He currently holds the title of Senior Technical Architect at Ahead, a consulting firm based out of Chicago. Chris holds well over 30 active industry certifications, including the rare VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX #104), and is a recognized VMware vExpert. He also works to give back to the community as both an active “Master” user and moderator of the VMware Technology Network (VMTN) and as a Leader of the Chicago VMware User Group (VMUG). As an independent blogger for the award winning “Wahl Network,” Chris focuses on creating content that revolves around virtualization, converged infrastructure, and evangelizing products and services that benefit the technology community. Over the past several years, he has published hundreds of articles and was voted the “Favorite Independent Blogger” by vSphere-Land for 2012. Chris also travels globally to speak at industry events, provide subject matter expertise, and offer perspectives as a technical analyst.

Steve Pantol has spent the last 14 years wearing various technical hats, with the last seven or so focused on assorted VMware technologies. He holds numerous technical certifications and is working toward VCDX—if only to stop Wahl from lording it over him. He is a Senior Technical Architect at Ahead, working to build better data centers and drive adoption of cloud technologies.

Table of Contents

Foreword xix

Introduction xxi

Part I Physical Networking 101

Chapter 1 The Very Basics 1

Key Concepts 1

Introduction 1

Reinventing the Wheel 2

Summary 6

Chapter 2 A Tale of Two Network Models 7

Key Concepts 7

Introduction 7

Model Behavior 9

Layering 9

Encapsulation 9

The OSI Model 10

The TCP/IP Model 12

The Network Interface Layer 12

The Internet Layer 13

The Transport Layer 14

The Application Layer 14

Comparing OSI and TCP/IP Models 15

Summary 16

Chapter 3 Ethernet Networks 17

Key Concepts 17

Introduction 17

Ethernet 18

History and Theory of Operation 18

Ethernet Standards and Cable Types 19

Ethernet Addressing 23

Extending Ethernet Segments: Repeaters, Hubs, and Switches 24

Switching Logic 25

Summary 26

Chapter 4 Advanced Layer 2 27

Key Concepts 27

Introduction 27

Concepts 28

Trunking 30

Loop Avoidance and Spanning Tree 32

Spanning Tree Overview 32

PortFast 35

Rapid Spanning Tree 35

Link Aggregation 36

What Is Link Aggregation? 36

Dynamic Link Aggregation 39

Load Distribution Types 41

Summary 42

Reference 43

Chapter 5 Layer 3 45

Key Concepts 45

Introduction 45

The Network Layer 46

Routing and Forwarding 46

Connected, Static, and Dynamic Routes 46

The Gateway of Last Resort 47

IP Addressing and Subnetting 47

Classful Addressing 48

Classless Addressing 48

Reserved Addresses 50

Network Layer Supporting Applications 50

DHCP 50

DNS 51

ARP 51

Ping 52

Summary 52

Chapter 6 Converged Infrastructure 53

Key Concepts 53

Introduction 53

Concepts 54

Converged Infrastructure Advantages 54

Examples 55

Cisco UCS 55

HP BladeSystem 57

Nutanix Virtual Computing Platform 59

Summary 60

Part II Virtual Switching

Chapter 7 How Virtual Switching Differs from Physical Switching 61

Key Concepts 61

Introduction 61

Physical and Virtual Switch Comparison 62

Similarities 62

Differences 63

Switching Decisions 63

Physical Uplinks 65

Host Network Interface Card (NIC) 65

Virtual Ports 66

Virtual Machine NICs 67

VMkernel Ports 67

Service Console 67

VLANs 68

External Switch Tagging (EST) 68

Virtual Switch Tagging (VST) 68

Virtual Guest Tagging (VGT) 69

Summary 70

Chapter 8 vSphere Standard Switch 71

Key Concepts 71

Introduction 71

The vSphere Standard Switch 72

Plane English 72

Control Plane 72

Data Plane 73

vSwitch Properties 73

Ports 73

Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) 74

Security 75

Promiscuous Mode 75

MAC Address Changes 76

Forged Transmits 77

Discovery 78

Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) 79

Traffic Shaping 80

Traffic Shaping Math 82

NIC Teaming 82

Load Balancing 83

Network Failure Detection 84

Notify Switches 86

Failback 86

Failover Order 87

Hierarchy Overrides 87

VMkernel Ports 88

Port Properties and Services 88

IP Addresses 89

VM Port Groups 90

Summary 91

Chapter 9 vSphere Distributed Switch 93

Key Concepts 93

Introduction to the vSphere Distributed Switch 93

Control Plane 94

Handling vCenter Failure 94

Data Plane 96

Monitoring 96

Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) 97

Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) 97

NetFlow 98

Port Mirroring 101

Private VLANs 105

Primary VLAN 106

Promiscuous VLAN 106

Secondary VLANs 106

Community VLANs 107

Isolated VLAN 108

Distributed Port Groups 108

VMkernel Ports 109

Virtual Machines 110

Traffic Shaping 111

Egress 111

Load Balancing 112

Route Based on Physical NIC Load 112

Network I/O Control 115

Network Resource Pools 116

Shares 117

User-Defined Network Resource Pools 119

Summary 120

Chapter 10 Third Party Switches–1000V 121

Key Concepts 121

Introduction 121

Integration with vSphere 122

Architectural Differences 123

Virtual Supervisor Module 124

Port Profiles 126

Virtual Ethernet Module 128

Layer 2 Mode 129

Nexus 1000V in Layer 3 Mode 130

VEM Maximums 132

Advanced Features 132

A Comment on Nexus OS 132

Licensed Modes of Operation 132

Essential Edition 133

Advanced Edition 133

Summary 134

Chapter 11 Lab Scenario 135

Key Concepts 135

Introduction 135

Building a Virtual Network 135

Architectural Decisions 136

Network Design 136

Host Design 137

Data Traffic Design for Virtual Machines 138

Lab Scenario 139

Summary 143

Chapter 12 Standard vSwitch Design 145

Key Concepts 145

Introduction 145

Standard vSwitch Design 146

Sample Use Case 146

Naming Conventions 147

Ensuring Quality of Service 149

Network Adapters 151

Virtual Machine Traffic 153

Virtual Machine Port Groups 153

Failover Order 156

VMkernel Ports 158

Management 158

vMotion 161

Fault Tolerance 166

NFS Storage 168

VMkernel Failover Overview 170

Final Tuning 172

Confi guring Additional vSphere Hosts 173

Summary 173

Chapter 13 Distributed vSwitch Design 175

Key Concepts 175

Introduction 175

Distributed vSwitch Design 176

Use Case 176

Naming Conventions 177

Ensuring Quality of Service 178

Network IO Control 178

Priority Tagging with 802.1p 180

Differentiated Service Code Point 181

Creating the Distributed vSwitch 182

Network Adapters 185

Distributed Port Groups for Virtual Machines 186

Load Based Teaming 188

Distributed Port Groups for VMkernel Ports 190

Management 191

vMotion 193

Fault Tolerance 194

iSCSI Storage 195

VMkernel Failover Overview 196

Adding vSphere Hosts 198

Creating VMkernel Ports 204

Moving the vCenter Virtual Machine 208

Final Steps 212

Health Check 212

Network Discovery Protocol 214

Other Design Considerations 215

Fully Automated Design 215

Hybrid Automation Design 216

Which Is Right? 216

Summary 216

Part III You Got Your Storage in My Networking: IP Storage

Chapter 14 iSCSI General Use Cases 219

Key Concepts 219

Introduction 219

Understanding iSCSI 220

Lossless Versus Best Effort Protocols 220

Priority-Based Flow Control 220

VLAN Isolation 222

iSCSI with Jumbo Frames 222

iSCSI Components 223

Initiators 224

Targets 224

Naming 225

Security with CHAP 227

iSCSI Adapters 229

Software iSCSI Adapter 230

Dependent Hardware iSCSI Adapters 231

Independent Hardware iSCSI Adapters 232

iSCSI Design 233

NIC Teaming 234

Network Port Binding 236

Multiple vSwitch Design 236

Single vSwitch Design 238

Boot from iSCSI 239

Summary 241

Chapter 15 iSCSI Design and Confi guration 243

Key Concepts 243

Introduction 243

iSCSI Design 244

Use Case 244

Naming Conventions 245

Network Addresses 246

vSwitch Confi guration 247

iSCSI Distributed Port Groups 247

VMkernel Ports 250

Network Port Binding 254

Jumbo Frames 256

Adding iSCSI Devices 258

iSCSI Server and Targets 258

Authentication with CHAP 261

Creating VMFS Datastores 263

Path Selection Policy 265

Summary 267

Chapter 16 NFS General Use Cases 269

Key Concepts 269

Introduction 269

Understanding NFS 269

Lossless Versus Best Effort Protocols 270

VLAN Isolation 271

NFS with Jumbo Frames 271

NFS Components 272

Exports 272

Daemons 272

Mount Points 273

Security with ACLs 275

Network Adapters 276

NFS Design 276

Single Network 277

Multiple Networks 278

Link Aggregation Group 280

Summary 283

Chapter 17 NFS Design and Confi guration 285

Key Concepts 285

Introduction 285

NFS Design 285

Use Case 286

Naming Conventions 286

Network Addresses 287

vSwitch Confi guration 288

NFS vSwitch 288

Network Adapters 290

VMkernel Ports 291

Mounting NFS Storage 294

Summary 296

Part IV Other Design Scenarios

Chapter 18 Additional vSwitch Design Scenarios 297

Key Concepts 297

Introduction 297

Use Case 298

Naming Standards 298

Two Network Adapters 299

With Ethernet-based Storage 299

Without Ethernet-based Storage 300

Four Network Ports 300

With Ethernet-based Storage 300

Without Ethernet-based Storage 301

Six Network Ports 302

With Ethernet-based Storage—Six 1 Gb 303

Without Ethernet-based Storage—Six 1 Gb 304

With Ethernet-based Storage—Four 1 Gb + Two 10 Gb 304

Without Ethernet-based Storage—Four 1 Gb + Two 10 Gb 305

Eight Network Adapters 306

With Ethernet-based Storage—Eight 1 Gb 306

Without Ethernet-based Storage—Eight 1 Gb 307

With Ethernet-based Storage—Four 1 Gb + Four 10 Gb 308

Without Ethernet-based Storage—Four 1 Gb + Four 10 Gb 309

Summary 310

Chapter 19 Multi-NIC vMotion Architecture 311

Key Concepts 311

Introduction 311

Multi-NIC vMotion Use Cases 312

Design 312

Verifying Available Bandwidth 313

Controlling vMotion Traffi c 314

Distributed vSwitch Design 314

Standard vSwitch Design 317

Upstream Physical Switch Design 317

Confi guring Multi-NIC vMotion 318

Distributed Port Groups 318

VMkernel Ports 320

Traffic Shaping 321

Summary 322

Appendix A Networking for VMware Administrators: The VMware User Group 323

The VMware User Group 323

Index 325

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