This document provides an overview of how VXLAN works. It also provides criteria to help determine when and where VXLAN can be used to implement a virtualized Infrastructure. Arista, Broadcom, Intel, VMware and others developed the VXLAN specification to improve scaling in the virtualized Data Center. A key benefit of virtualization, especially in the case of VMware’s vSphere, is the ability to move virtual machines (VMs) among data center servers while the VM is running! This feature, called stateful or live vMotion, simplifies server administration and provisioning without impacting VM functionality or application availability. To support vMotion, VMs must always remain in their native IP subnet. This guarantees network connectivity from the VM to users on the rest of the network.
