VMware vSphere NSX overview
VMware NSX® is a software networking and security virtualization platform that delivers the operational model of a virtual machine for the network. Virtual networks reproduce the Layer2 - Layer7 network model in software, allowing complex multitier network topologies to be created and provisioned programmatically in seconds, without the need for extra IBM Cloud private networks. NSX also provides a new model for network security. Security profiles are distributed to and enforced by virtual ports and move with virtual machines.
NSX supports the VMware software-defined data center strategy. By extending the virtualization capabilities of abstraction, pooling and automation across all data center resources and services, the software-defined data center architecture simplifies and speeds the provisioning and management of compute, storage, and networking resources through policy-driven automation. By virtualizing the network, NSX delivers a new operational model for networking that breaks through current physical network barriers and enables VMware and IBM Cloud to achieve better speed and agility with reduced costs.
NSX includes a library of logical networking services - logical switches, logical routers, logical firewalls, logical load balancers, logical VPN, and distributed security. You can create custom combinations of these services in isolated software-based virtual networks that support existing applications without modification, or deliver unique requirements for new application workloads. Virtual networks are programmatically provisioned and managed independent of IBM Cloud networking constructs. This decoupling from hardware introduces agility, speed, and operational efficiency that can transform data center operations. Benefits of NSX include the following features:
- Data center automation
- Self-service networking services
- Rapid application deployment with automated network and service provisioning
- Isolation of development, test, and production environments on the same bare metal infrastructure
- Single Account multi-tenant clouds
NSX can be configured through the vSphere Web Client, a command line interface (CLI), and REST API. The core network services that are offered by NSX are:
Logical switches
A cloud deployment or a virtual data center might have various applications across multiple tenants. These applications and tenants require isolation from each other for security, fault isolation, and avoiding overlapping IP addressing issues. The NSX logical switch creates logical broadcast domains or segments (VXLAN vWires) to which an application or tenant virtual machine can be logically wired. This feature allows for flexibility and speed of deployment while still providing all the characteristics of a physical network's broadcast domains (VLANs) without physical Layer 2 sprawl. Logical switches allow for thousands of tenant networks to be provisioned onto a single IBM Cloud private network (VLAN). A logical switch is distributed and can span arbitrarily large compute clusters, even across pods within the same data center. This distribution allows for virtual machine mobility within the data center without limitations of physical Layer 2 (VLAN) boundaries across pods.
Logical routers
Dynamic routing provides the necessary forwarding information between Layer 2 broadcast domains (VXLAN, vWires, Logical Switches). This routing decreases Layer 2 broadcast domains and improve network efficiency and scale. NSX extends this intelligence where the workloads reside for providing East-West routing functions. This extension allows more direct virtual machine to virtual machine communication without the costly or timely need to extend hops. NSX also provides North-South connectivity inbound and outbound of IBM Cloud data centers, thus enabling tenants to access public networks securely and efficiently.
Logical firewall
Logical firewall provides security mechanisms for dynamic virtual data centers. The Distributed Firewall component of an NSX Logical Firewall allows users to segment virtual data center entities (virtual servers), vCenter objects (data centers and hosts), and traditional networking attributes like IP addresses and VLANs. The Edge Firewall component helps you achieve key perimeter security needs such as building DMZs that are based on IP/VLAN constructs, tenant to tenant isolation in multi-tenant virtual data centers, Network Address Translation (NAT), VPNs, and user-based SSL VPNs. Edge Firewalls can be used in combination with or in place of Vyatta & Fortinet services from IBM Cloud for perimeter protection. The Firewall Flow Monitoring feature displays network activity between virtual machines at the application protocol level. You can use this information to audit network traffic, define and refine firewall policies, and identify threats to your network.
Logical Virtual Private Networks (VPN)s
SSL VPN-Plus allows remote users to access private corporate applications. IPSec VPN offers site-to-site connectivity between an NSX Edge instance and remote sites (VMware running on IBM Cloud). L2 VPNs allow users to extend your data center by allowing virtual machines to retain network connectivity across geographical boundaries and across IBM Cloud data centers and your local VMware environment.
Logical load balancer
The NSX Edge load balancer enables network traffic to follow multiple paths to a specific destination. It distributes incoming service requests evenly among multiple servers in such a way that the load distribution is transparent to users. Load balancing thus helps in achieving optimal resource utilization, maximizing throughput, minimizing response time, and avoiding overload. NSX Edge provides load balancing up to Layer 7.
Service composer
Service composer helps you provision and assign network and security services to applications in a virtual infrastructure. These services can be mapped and applied to virtual machines in the security groups. Data security provides visibility into sensitive data that is stored within your organization's virtualized and cloud environments that include IBM Cloud. Based on the violations reported by NSX Data Security, you can make sure that sensitive data is adequately protected and assess compliance with regulations around the world.
NSX extensibility
VMware partners can integrate their network service solutions with the NSX platform, which enables customers to have an integrated experience across VMware products. Data center operators can provision complex, multi-tier virtual networks in seconds, independent of the underlying network topology or components from IBM Cloud.
NSX core components
You can configure and manage these components through the vSphere Web Client, a command line interface (CLI), and REST API. VMware NSX requires a functional IBM Cloud environment with at least vSphere and vCenter version 6. The components are deployed as VMware Appliance VMs that run on IBM Cloud. NSX components are not supported as virtual server instances. It is recommended that the instructions are followed to create a dedicated ESX Management Cluster. Additionally an Edge Services Cluster might also be required.
NSX manager
The NSX manager is the centralized network management component of NSX, and is installed as a virtual appliance on an ESX host in your vCenter Server environment. IBM Cloud Architecture recommends that this VM deploys on a dedicated Management ESX Cluster. One NSX Manager maps to a single vCenter Server environment and multiple NSX Edge, vShield Endpoint, and NSX Data Security instances.
NSX vSwitch
NSX vSwitch is the software that operates on IBM Cloud ESX hosts to form a software abstraction layer between servers and the physical network. As the demands on data centers continue to grow and accelerate, requirements that are related to speed and access to the data itself continue to grow as well. In most infrastructures, virtual machine access and mobility usually depend on physical networking infrastructure and the physical networking environments they reside in. This dependency can force virtual workloads into less than ideal environments due to potential layer 2 or layer 3 boundaries, such as being tied to specific IBM Cloud Private Networks (VLANs) in specific pods. NSX vSwitch places these virtual workloads on any available infrastructure in the data center, regardless of the underlying physical network infrastructure. This ability not only allows increased flexibility and mobility, but increased availability and resilience.
NSX controller
NSX controller is an advanced distributed state management system that controls virtual networks and VXLAN overlay transport tunnels. NSX controller is the central control point for all logical switches within a network and maintains information of all virtual machines, hosts, logical switches, and VXLANs. The controller supports three logical switch control plane modes, Multicast, Unicast, and Hybrid. These modes decouple NSX from the physical network. IBM Cloud requires Unicast mode as IBM Cloud Private Networks (VLANs) do not offer IGMP services for Multicast or Hybrid mode. The NSX Controller uses Unicast mode with virtual tunnel endpoints (VTEPS) to provide MAC learning and other functions to allow VXLAN Broadcast, Unknown unicast, and Multicast (BUM) traffic within a logical switch. The unicast mode replicates all the BUM traffic locally on the host and requires no physical network configuration outside of Layer 3 connectivity between VTEPS. NSX Controllers are deployed by the NSX Manager as a minimum set of three controller nodes, and various other nodes to support (distributed) Layer 3 routing services. All of the nodes are deployed as virtual machines and are managed by the NSX Manager on an ESX Management Cluster at IBM Cloud.
NSX Edge
NSX Edge provides network edge security and gateway services to isolate a virtualized network. You can install an NSX Edge either as a logical (distributed) router or as a services gateway. The NSX Edge logical (distributed) router provides East-West distributed routing with tenant IP address space and data path isolation. Virtual machines or workloads that reside on the same host on different subnets can communicate with one another without having to traverse a traditional routing interface. The NSX Edge Gateway connects isolated stub networks to shared (uplink) networks by providing common gateway services such as DHCP, VPN, NAT, dynamic routing, and Load Balancing. Common deployments of NSX Edge include in the DMZ, VPN extranets, and multi-tenant cloud environments where the NSX Edge creates virtual boundaries for each tenant.