Application Scenarios for VXLAN

Mutual Visit Between Users on a Data Center Network Through VXLAN

As shown in Figure 1, various service departments of a large enterprise reside on different locations of a data center network. To enhance intra- and inter-department communication, the enterprise requires that users in the same department (on the same network segment) and in different departments (on different network segments) be able to communicate with each other. For example, user VM1 in the marketing department shall be able to communicate with both user VM3 in the marketing department and user VM4 in the R&D department.

The FW serves as a Layer 3 VXLAN gateway and has VXLAN tunnels established with both Switch1 and Switch2 to forward access traffic of different departments. Switch1 and Switch2 serve as Layer 2 VXLAN gateways, and the VXLAN tunnel in between is used to forward access traffic within a department.

Figure 1 Application of VXLAN on a data center network