Network Integration

The Nexus range by Cisco enables for the first time the ability to extend Cisco networking into VMware Virtual Infrastructure.

The Nexus 1000v is a software implementation of an Ethernet switch that uses VMware’s vNetwork distributed switch framework to integrate standardised networking into the ESX server’s VMKernel.

The Cisco Nexus 1000V is the first 3rd party network switch product to take advantage of VMware opening up the vNetwork API. Cisco can now contribute to the highly popular ESX platform allowing industry standard technology to replace the propriety virtual networking.

The Cisco Nexus 1000 Virtual Ethernet Module (VEM) replaces VMware’s virtual switch and enables advanced switching capability such as Quality of Service, Private VLANs, Access Control Lists, NetFlow SPAN, ERSPAN and Cisco TrustSec Architecture all within hypervisor. It provides each VM with dedicated “Switch Ports” that are fully compatible with existing VMware technology such as VMotion, DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler), HA (High Availability) and the new FT (Fault Tolerance).

All this plus the added advantage of management from a single NX-OS interface.

Cisco VN-Link provides improvements to the mobility of virtual machines and gives real time configuration of network and security services across the ESX datacenter. This also provides integration of network management into VMware vCenter.

Improvements over the ESX 3x virtual switch are astounding and although it’s not a hardware switch, the Nexus 1000v uses the familiar command set of Cisco NX-OS. Network operators can use a Cisco command line interface via Telnet, just as if they were connecting to a physical hardware switch. It also has basic layer 3 functionality and has control over the physical NICs and vSwitch ports on each ESX host.

With this integration into virtualisation technology, network administrators can regain control of the whole organisational network and manage it in both the virtual and physical spaces.

No longer will there be a division of network management, as control of virtual networks is handed over to the networking team. Functions like MAC address filtering and the management of spanning tree can be administered by experienced network admins, even if the switch is a virtual switch within ESX hosts.

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