What is Network Virtualization? Modern Internet Infrastructure

Physical management of data centers’ network infrastructure involved manually pulling cables, configuring switches, and setting up router configurations each time the application demanded changes. 

The advent of cloud computing made traditional hardware network configurations extremely outdated and slow. Network virtualization is a solution to the problem that allows moving network functions from a physical to a software-driven environment.

Then, what is network virtualization, and how does it revolutionize the current digital infrastructure,e turning it into a flexible, highly scalable system?

Definition: What is Network Virtualization?

Network virtualization is the concept of abstraction of network resources that were bound to the physical hardware and their recreation in the software environment. 

Network virtualization decouples network functions from the physical switches, routers, and firewalls and enables the management of communication infrastructure using a programming language.

Rather than configuring the hardware, the virtualization technology sets up the logical overlay network working above the standard physical IP network. Multiple independent virtual networks operate above the same physical layer and do not interfere with one another.

Network Virtualization Architecture

The technical architecture is based on the integration of physical components and software overlays:

• Separation of Software from Hardware: The functions previously implemented in physical hardware, such as routing, switching, load balancing, and firewalls, are turned into software components that run on hypervisors.
• Overlay Networks: Encapsulation protocols such as Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) enable connectivity within the virtual networks over physical infrastructure.
• Centralized Control Plane: Software controllers control network policies, and virtual networks can be provisioned within seconds through the implementation of the control plane in software.

Benefits of Network Virtualization

Companies opt for network virtualization to increase efficiency, enhance security, and facilitate faster delivery of applications:

• Quick Deployment

  Network administrators will be able to create, configure, and deploy virtual networks through software within a matter of minutes. As opposed to traditional hardware-based networks that may take weeks for implementation, configuration, and installation, virtualized networks can be deployed more rapidly to address dynamic business needs.

• Micro Segmentation

  The ability to apply security policies to an individual workload or an application is one of the advantages of virtualized networks. This technology makes it possible to segment the network to isolate certain workloads from each other, making sure that there is no threat propagation across servers and data centers.

• Mobility

  With virtualized networks, organizations will be able to migrate their workloads between physical servers, data centers, and cloud environments without any substantial reconfiguration of the network. This allows workload migrations, maintenance, disaster recovery, and cloud adoption.

• Efficient Use of the Infrastructure

  Virtualization helps to consolidate workloads on the same physical network infrastructure, which leads to savings on servers, network equipment, maintenance, and power consumption.

Real World Use Cases in Modern IT

What Network Virtualization entails is an analysis of how organizations make use of the technology in real-world situations, including:

• Multi-Tenant Cloud Data Centers

  With the virtualization of the network, it is possible for cloud computing companies to host multiple clients on the same infrastructure without risking any leakage of confidential information among themselves.

  Each tenant gets their own virtual network and cloud storage, along with individual security and traffic rules, to maintain separation from other tenants’ data and applications.

• Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Infrastructure Integration

  Network virtualization allows organizations to link their on-premises data centers with public and private clouds. It helps create common network policies that provide consistency in security, access, and traffic management irrespective of the platform used by the organization.

• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Plans

  Virtualization allows organizations to duplicate the network configuration in case of failures at the primary site and to quickly transfer the workload to backup data centers or cloud environments with the same network policies and security configuration.

Conclusion

What is Network Virtualization is important due to the role it plays as the foundation of cloud computing and enterprise IT infrastructure. It helps separate network functions from hardware limitations to achieve efficiency.

Frequently Asked Questions