5.1

Sample Scenario for Creating VXLAN Virtual Wires
This scenario presents a situation where company ACME Enterprise has several ESX hosts on two clusters in
a datacenter, ACME_Datacenter. The Engineering (on port group PG-Engineering) and Finance departments
(on port group PG-Finance) are on Cluster1. The Marketing department (PG-Marketing) is on Cluster2. Both
clusters are managed by a single vCenter Server 5.1.
Figure 8-2. ACME Enterprise network before implementing VXLAN virtual wires
Engineering
PG
Finance
PG
Physical Switch
Cluster 1
Engineering: VLAN10:10.10.1.0/24
Finance: VLAN20:10.20.1.0/24
Marketing: VLAN30:10.30.1.0/24
vDS1
VM VM VM
Physical Switch
vDS2
VM
Marketing
PG
Cluster 2
VM VM VM
ACME is running out of compute space on Cluster1 while Cluster2 is under-utilized. The ACME network
supervisor asks John Admin (ACME's virtualization administrator) to figure out a way to extend the
Engineering department to Cluster2 in a way that virtual machines belonging to Engineering on both clusters
can communicate with each other. This would enable ACME to utilize the compute capacity of both clusters
by stretching ACME's L2 layer.
If John Admin were to do this the traditional way, he would need to connect the separate VLANs in a special
way so that the two clusters can be in the same L2 domain. This might require ACME to buy a new physical
device to separate traffic, and lead to issues such as VLAN sprawl, network loops, and administration and
management overhead.
John Admin remembers seeing a VXLAN virtual wire demo at VMworld 2011, and decides to evaluate the
vShield 5.1 release. He concludes that building a VXLAN virtual wire across dvSwitch1 and dvSwitch2 will
allow him to stretch ACME's L2 layer.
vShield Administration Guide
56 VMware, Inc.