VLAN Bridging

With the pluscloud VMware, it is possible to integrate a VLAN in the form of a virtual network segment. This makes it possible to integrate a hardware system into the virtual infrastructure. This allows you, for example, to integrate a hardware appliance or a hardware server into an otherwise virtual infrastructure and to migrate it gradually or operate it in parallel.

We recommend that you use this option restrictively. We recommend that you use connectivity at ISO OSI layer 3 (network layer / IP level) as a priority.

Technical implementation

The network virtualization of the pluscloud VMware is done with NSX-T. This relies on encapsulation of network communication. When moving from the physical infrastructure to the virtualized world, the frames of the VLAN segment must also be encapsulated. To do this, a VLAN bridge is set up on an edge node, which performs the packing and unpacking of the frames.

The following graphic shows VLAN bridging using the example of a hardware appliance:

flowchart LR

    %%% Nodes %%%
    subgraph colo[Colocation]
        hw1[Hardware-Appliance]
    end
    subgraph ss[Shared Switching]
        vlan1[VLAN 101]
    end
    subgraph egw[Edge Node]
        direction TB
        br1[VLAN-Bridge]
    end
    subgraph vdc[OrgVDC]
        direction TB
        is1[Imported Segment]
        vm1[VM]
    end

    %%% Edges %%%
    ss <-->|Shared Trunk| egw
    hw1 <-->|Switchport| vlan1 
    br1 <--> is1 <-->|vNIC| vm1

A hardware appliance in the colocation area of the data center is connected to the shared switching infrastructure via a switch port. A VLAN is configured for this connection, which in this example is given the VLAN-ID 101.

The shared switching infrastructure is connected to so-called edge nodes, which are part of the pluscloud VMware. These are dedicated servers that handle communication between the cloud infrastructure and systems outside the cloud. No customer workload is executed on these servers. Instead, routing instances, gateways and VLAN bridges are operated here.

A separate VLAN bridge is configured for each VLAN to be integrated. This can be thought of as a switch that is connected to the VLAN to be connected with one port and whose other port is connected to the virtual segment.

The VLAN is then available within an OrgVDC as an imported segment. Virtual network interfaces (vNICs) can now be connected to this segment.

Performance

VLAN bridging is offered on a best-effort basis. This means that there is no guarantee of specific availability, bandwidth or latency for this service. The values listed here are therefore only intended as a guide and may be exceeded or undercut in the short or long term.