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1.9. Virtual extensible LAN tunneling protocol
Linux adds vxlan, a tunneling protocol that allows to transfer Layer 2 Ethernet packets over UDP. vxlan is often used to tunnel virtual network infrastructure in virtualized environments.

The VXLAN protocol itself, which is a RFC draft right now, is a tunnelling protocol that is designed to solve the problem of limited number of available VLANs (4096). With vxlan the identifier is expanded to 24 bits. The protocol runs over UDP using a single destination port. Unlike most tunnels, a VXLAN is a 1 to N network, not just point to point. A VXLAN device can either dynamically learn the IP address of the other end, in a manner similar to a learning bridge, or the forwarding entries can be configured statically. There is also an implantation of VXLAN for Open vSwitch.

Recommended articles: VXLAN for Linux, Typical VXLAN use case

The links for the recommended articles:

http://linux-network-plumber.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/just-published-linux-kernel.html
http://it20.info/2012/05/typical-vxlan-use-case/

I have not (yet) digged into this thing, but it superficially looks as somethig we could use in HECnet.



Jordi Guillaumes i Pons
jg at jordi.guillaumes.name
HECnet: BITXOV::JGUILLAUMES