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NETWORK TRANSFORMATION THROUGH VIRTUALIZATION. Art Center College of Design. Theresa Zix, Vice President, Information Technology Herman Choi, Network Architect . Art Center Intro. 2 Locations in Pasadena, CA 4 Groups of Design Study Industrial, Communication, Design Sciences, Arts & Media
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NETWORK TRANSFORMATION THROUGH VIRTUALIZATION Art Center College of Design Theresa Zix, Vice President, Information Technology Herman Choi, Network Architect
Art Center Intro • 2 Locations in Pasadena, CA • 4 Groups of Design Study • Industrial, Communication, Design Sciences, Arts & Media • Size • 1,500 Students + 3,000 in Public Programs • 450 Faculty + 250 Staff
Original Network (2004) • Large Flat Network • No Boundaries • Prone to Broadcast Storms and Network Loops • No Physical Infrastructure Redundancy • Inefficient Use of Equipment and Cabling Infrastructure
Initial Concerns • Lack of Scalability • No room for growth and expansion • Lack of Resiliency • Availability was the issue • Lack of Security • Free-for-All environment
What is Virtualization? • Abstraction of physical computing resources • Single physical computing resource appears as multiple logical resources • Multiple physical computing resources appear as a single logical resource
Solution (2005-2008) • Implemented Network Virtualization • Allowed networks to be implemented without physical constraints • No longer constrained by legacy physical networks • Gained flexibility and reliability through efficient use of resources
Original Scalability Issues • Legacy network equipment limited scalability and expandability • Deployed multiple physical switches dedicated for different departments • Too many switches deployed • Inefficient use of power and infrastructure
Solutions For Scalability Issues (2005) • Virtual LANs (VLANs) • Instead of multiple switches, deployed only one switch • Allocated ports on one switch to specific networks • Lowered power consumption • Used infrastructure more efficiently
Solutions For Scalability Issues (2005) • Virtual Trunking Protocols • Allowed use of multiple VLANs to share common physical links • Supported legacy non-routable applications • Extended flexibility of network
Solutions For Scalability Issues (2005) • Virtual Etherchannel Links • Ports can be combined and bonded together to increase bandwidth capacity and utilization
Solutions For Scalability Issues (2005) • VLAN and Virtual Trunking Protocols were extended to the wireless infrastructure • Simple wireless APs can only support one SSID wireless network • VLANs allowed different SSIDs to propagate across fewer APs
Solutions For Scalability Issues (2006) • Virtual Security Devices • Legacy security devices only performed one function per physical box • Split into multiple logical security devices • Firewall services • VPN services • Intrusion Detection services
Solutions For Scalability Issues (2008) • Virtual Application Load-Balancing • Legacy load-balancers only worked on one network • Split into multiple logical load-balancers
Original Resiliency Issues • Original network did not have redundant network backbone or fiber uplink connections • Routing gateway functionalities were limited to a single routing device
Solutions For Resiliency Issues (2005) • Spanning-Tree Protocols • Used redundant uplinks to be simultaneously active • Multiple uplinks can now be utilized more efficiently
Solutions For Resiliency Issues (2005) • Virtual Routing Redundancy Protocols • Legacy routing were constrained to physical interfaces and single routing devices • Routing gateway functionality can be spread across multiple routers
Original Security Issues • Originally had a large flat network • One large broadcast domain • Highly unstable • Everybody could see one another • Easy for viruses and worms to propagate • No containment or isolation
Solutions For Security Issues (2005) • VLANs used to create isolated networks • Dramatically decreased size of broadcast domain • Private VLANs can be created to restrict communication between hosts within the same network
Solutions For Security Issues (2008) • Use of Access Control Lists to restrict communication between VLANs - Difficult to scale and maintain • Future Direction - Virtual Routing and Forwarding • Create virtual isolated paths within the same network - Internal VPN • Virtual routers within one physical router
Maintain Network Virtualization • Need Monitoring and Visibility • Monitor CPU and Memory Utilization • Monitor Bandwidth Utilization • Monitor Virtual Routing States • Monitor Virtual Spanning-Tree States • SNMP – Preferably version 3 • Logging – Monitor Incidents and Errors
Server Virtualization • Hot Topic Nowadays • Multiple operating systems or server instances deployed across multiple physical servers • Examples of virtualization software • VMWare • Citrix Xen • Microsoft • Parallels Virtuozzo
Benefits of Server Virtualization • Greater flexibility and scalability • Increases reliability and availability • More efficient use of hardware resources • Sounds great! • What’s the problem? • What does this have to do with the network?
Server Virtualization Issues • Network Utilization and Capacity Changes • One server not tied to just one physical NIC • Imagine 10 virtual machines sharing the same physical NIC • Virtualization software may only load-balance based on CPU and memory utilization
Server Virtualization Issues • Security Management Changes • By default, all virtual machines can see one another • Private VLANs • Host-based Firewalls • Host-based Intrusion Detection • Software-based solutions
Server Virtualization Issues • Network Design Changes • Not just a regular server connection • Networking has been extended from network switches to virtual switches inside each server • Same Network Virtualization concepts
What Does the Future Hold? • More visibility and monitoring required • More emphasis on network design and deployment of virtual machines • Possible IT Culture Change - Your network and system engineers must work more closely together • Similar to network and voice convergence – Merge technical skills
Theresa Zix theresa.zix@artcenter.edu (626) 396-2477 Herman Choi herman.choi@artcenter.edu (626) 396-2256 Thank YouArt Center College of Designwww.artcenter.edu