VXLAN

VXLAN Gateway Testing with TeraVM

Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) is an emerging virtual networking tunneling protocol which takes layer 2 traffic and encapsulates it into layer 3 UDP packets. The proliferation of virtual machines has necessitated a protocol like VXLAN so that VMs can maintain layer 2 communication even when they are moved across a layer 3 boundary. Networking equipment vendors (NEMs) are racing to develop VXLAN gateways which implement the VXLAN protocol and represent the endpoints of a VXLAN tunnel. A VXLAN gateway can come in both a virtual and/or physical form factor and could be a switch, load balancer, WAN optimizer or most any other type of networking device. Testing a VXLAN gateway is very challenging but TeraVM helps simplify the process by providing a highly scalable, virtualized test solution which has a robust VXLAN implementation that is easily deployed and provides detailed information and metrics with respect to VXLAN gateway performance and functionality.

TeraVM VXLAN Implementation

The figure above depicts a representative VXLAN test set up. TeraVMs are deployed on either side of the VXLAN gateway under test. On the left side is a logical representation of a TeraVM with VXLAN support. Within the TeraVM virtual machine are many "emulated VMs" (eVM) as well as a VXLAN Tunnel Endpoint (VTEP). The eVMs generate test traffic (e.g. HTTP, FTP) which is sent to the VTEP which in turn applies the VXLAN header. Each eVM is configured with a unique MAC address. To terminate the traffic "Server" TeraVMs are deployed (right side of diagram) to receive decapsulated traffic from the VXLAN gateway to verify gateway performance and functionality.