VXLAN requirements

When I was writing my “Configuring VXLAN” post I was trying to dig up some details around VXLAN requirements and recommendations to run a full “VMware” implementation. Unfortunately I couldn’t find much, or at least not a single place with all the details. I figured I would gather all I can find and throw it in to a single post to make it easier for everyone.

Virtual:

• vSphere 5.1
• vShield Manager 5.1
• vSphere Distributed Switch 5.1.0
• Portgroups will be configured by vShield Manager, recommend to use either “LACP Active Mode”, “LACP Passive Mode” or “Static Etherchannel”
  • When “LACP” or “Static Etherchannel” (Cisco only) is configured note that a port/ether channel will need to be created on the physical side
  • “Fail Over” is supported, but not recommended
  • You cannot configure the portgroup with “Virtual Port ID” or “Load Based Teaming”, these are not supported
• MTU size recommendation is 1600 (Kamau explains why here)

Physical:

• Recommend to have DHCP available on VXLAN transport VLANs, fixed IP also works though!
• VXLAN port (UDP 8472) is opened on firewalls (if applicable)
• Port 80 is opened from vShield Manager to the Hosts (used to download the “vib / agent”)
• For Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), 5- tuple hash distribution must be enabled
• MTU size recommendation is 1600
• IGMP snooping enabled on L2 switches to which VXLAN participating hosts are attached. IGMP Querier enabled on router or L3 switch with connectivity to the multicast enabled networks
• If VXLAN traffic is traversing routers –> multicast routing must be enabled
  • The recommended Multicast protocol to deploy for this scenario is Bidirectional Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM-BIDIR), since the Hosts act as both multicast speakers and receivers at the same time.

That should capture most requirements and recommendations. If anyone has any additions please leave a comment and I will add it.

References:
VXLAN Primer by Kamau
vShield Administration Guide
Internal training ppt