Emulex to support high performance Virtual Network fabrics in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V environments

Based on proposed standard Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation (NVGRE) technology, Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Network Virtualization reduces the limitations of legacy data centre networks by enabling flexible workload mobility inside the private, public or hybrid cloud, reducing network reconfiguration from days to minutes. The forthcoming Emulex Virtual Network Exceleration™ (VNeX) virtual network offload technology further accelerates the performance of Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Network Virtualization by offloading the NVGRE header encapsulation process from the host to the network controller, providing full native network performance in a VNF network environment.

“Virtual Network Fabrics are the next step in simplifying and integrating deployment of hybrid clouds, enabling IT managers to easily move virtual machines (VMs) within and between their data centres and cloud providers with high levels of security and flexibility,” said Shaun Walsh, senior vice president of marketing and corporate development, Emulex. “Working together with Microsoft on the NVGRE standard development, we can provide faster and more scalable hybrid clouds with Emulex hardware acceleration VNeX™ virtual network offload technology, which can improve network throughput up to 130%, depending on system configuration in early engineering testing,1 for Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Network Virtualization environments.”

VNFs comprise three primary elements, including:
1. a data plane running an encapsulation protocol such as NVGRE;
2. hardware offloads to improve performance, such as Emulex VNeX;
3. control plane software, such as Microsoft System Centre.

“Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Network Virtualization enables IP address mobility, so customers do not need to reconfigure networking attributes in VMs as they are moved. Emulex VNeX virtual network offload technology enhances the performance of Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Network Virtualization,” said Brian Hillger, Director, Server and Tools Marketing, Microsoft. “At Microsoft Tech-Ed (June 3-6, in New Orleans), attendees will have the opportunity to evaluate how Hyper-V Network Virtualization can help reduce complexity, improve security, and speed VM migrations.”

As software-defined networking (SDN) and associated technologies, including VNF and overlay networking, continue to develop, it is important to understand what SDN is, what the drivers are and how and where it’s being adopted. Emulex commissioned an Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) Book Project: “Why I/O Is Strategic – Software-defined Networking (SDN),” as part of the “Why I/O Is Strategic” education series, which outlines these areas and why I/O is strategic to SDN as a new area of programmability in SDN environments.

“SDN is truly driving a new class of intelligent solutions – and architecture – that is poised to grow exponentially in the coming years,” said Bob Laliberte, senior analyst, ESG. “With an intelligent I/O system deployed at the edge, enterprises can leverage the distributed edge processing for more effective I/O and network virtualization, which is critical for cloud environments with greater levels of east-west traffic between VMs or physical servers and more mixed workloads in production environments. The ability to boost CPU performance, drive efficiency across the data centre, and have more control over the flow of traffic within the data centre are key tenets of an intelligent I/O-based SDN solution.”