VXLAN and EVPN for data center network transformation

Abstract

Data Center architectures are continually evolving to address the growing need to handle thousands of servers, Exabyte of storage, Tbps of traffic and multi-tenant environment. It has to be more flexible & scalable to cater to the need of Cloud services to provide Scalable compute, storage & network, Efficient resource utilization, Cost effectiveness, Reliable service and Security. The resources are interconnected through routers and switches that cater the multi-tenant virtual networking need within and across Data Center for which the WAN connectivity should be transparent in the Layer 2. At present the DC Interconnect (DCI) are through IP/MPLS Virtual Private Network (VPN) over which the L2 transparency is achieved majorly by the technologies like VPLS & EoMPLS. This paper focuses majorly on the latest evolving technology to extend VXLAN across DCs with EVPN control plane and concludes with its benefits like faster convergence, efficient, flexible & scalable DCI realized by the implementations of MP-BGP which optimizes unicast flooding, MAC Address purging & apply fine grain policy.