Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch

Alexei Kounine – Systems Engineer DC

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 Transparency in the Eye of the Beholder

With
virtualization,
VMs have a
transparent view
of their
resources…

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 Transparency in the Eye of the Beholder

…but
Its difficult
to correlate
from a
network point
of view

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 Server Virtualization Issues

1. vMotion moves VMs across

physical ports—the network
policy must follow

2. Impossible to view or apply

network policy to locally
switched traffic

Port
Group
3. Need shared nomenclature for
security policies between
network and server admin

vCenter

Physical Switch Interface

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 Overview of the Nexus 1000V

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 Cisco Nexus 1000V

Cisco VN-
VN-Link: Virtual Network Link
Policy-Based
Policy- Mobility of Network & Non-Disruptive
Non-
VM Connectivity Security Properties Operational Model

VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM

Nexus Nexus
1000V 1000V
VEM VEM

vSphere vSphere

vCenter Nexus 1000V VSM

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 Cisco Nexus 1000V
Faster VM Deployment
Cisco VN-
VN-Link: Virtual Network Link
Policy-Based
Policy- Mobility of Network & Non-Disruptive
Non-
VM Connectivity Security Properties Operational Model

VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM

Port Profiles
WEB Apps Nexus Nexus
1000V 1000V
HR VEM VEM
DB
vSphere vSphere
DMZ

VM Connection Policy
• Defined in the network
• Applied in Virtual Center
• Linked to VM UUID

vCenter Nexus 1000V VSM

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 Cisco Nexus 1000V
Richer Network Services
Cisco VN-
VN-Link: Virtual Network Link
Policy-Based
Policy- Mobility of Network & Non-Disruptive
Non-
VM Connectivity Security Properties Operational Model

VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM
VM VM VM VM
VMs Need to Move
• VMotion Nexus Nexus
• DRS 1000V 1000V
VEM VEM
• SW Upgrade/Patch
• Hardware Failure vSphere vSphere

Property Mobility
• VMotion for the network
• Ensures VM security
• Maintains connection state

vCenter Nexus 1000V VSM

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 Cisco Nexus 1000V
Increased Operational Efficiency
Cisco VN-
VN-Link: Virtual Network Link
Policy-Based
Policy- Mobility of Network & Non-Disruptive
Non-
VM Connectivity Security Properties Operational Model

VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM

VI Admin Benefits
• Maintains existing VM mgmt Nexus Nexus
• Reduces deployment time 1000V 1000V
• Improves scalability VEM VEM
• Reduces operational workload
vSphere vSphere
• Enables VM-
VM-level visibility

Network Admin Benefits

• Unifies network mgmt and ops
• Improves operational security
• Enhances VM network
features
• Ensures policy persistence
• Enables VM-
VM-level visibility Nexus 1000V VSM
vCenter
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 Cisco Nexus 1000V Components

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 Cisco Nexus 1000V Components

Virtual Supervisor Module(VSM) Virtual Ethernet Module(VEM)

CLI interface into the Nexus 1000V
Replaces Vmware’s virtual switch

Leverages NX-OS
Enables advanced switching capability

Controls multiple VEMs as a single on the hypervisor
network device
Provides each VM with dedicated
“switch ports”

A B C D E F G

vCenter Server
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 Virtual Supervisor Modules Options
VSM - Virtual Appliance

ESX Virtual Appliance

Supports 64 VEMs

Installable via GUI, OVA or ISO file

A B C D E F

vCenter Server
Nexus 1010 - Physical Appliance

Cisco Branded Physical Server

Hosts 4 VSM Virtual Appliance

Deployed in pairs for redundancy

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 Flexible Deployment Options

Any type of physical switch

(Cisco & other vendors)

1G & 10G NICs

All types of servers
supporting vSphere4 / ESX 4i

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© 2009 Cisco. Public.
 Cisco Nexus 1000V Component
Communication
Cisco VSMs

vCenter Server

Communication using the VMware VIM API over SSL

Connection is setup on the VSM

Requires installation of vCenter plug-in automatically done by installer App

Once established the Nexus 1000V is created in vCenter

Pod1-VSM# show svs connections

connection VC:
hostname: phx2-dc-pod5-vc
ip address: 10.95.5.158
protocol: vmware-vim https
certificate: default
datacenter name: Phx2-Pod5
DVS uuid: df 11 38 50 0a 95 83 4e-95 69 d6 a7 f4 76 4a 7f
config status: Enabled
operational status: Connected

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 Port Profile: Network Admin View

Pod1-VSM# show port-profile name WebProfile

port-profile WebProfile
description: Support Commands Include:
status: enabled
capability uplink: no
 Port management
system vlans:
port-group: WebProfile  VLAN
config attributes:  PVLAN
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 110  Port-channel
no shutdown  ACL
evaluated config attributes:
switchport mode access  Netflow
switchport access vlan 110  Port Security
no shutdown
 QoS
assigned interfaces:
Veth10

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 Port Profile: Server Admin View

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 Visibility of the VM

Pod1-VSM# sh int virt

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Port Adapter Owner Mod Host
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Veth1 vmk1 VMware VMkernel 3 esx1.pod1.nexus1000v.la
Veth2 vmk1 VMware VMkernel 4 esx2.pod1.nexus1000v.la
Veth3 Net Adapter 1 Nexus1000V-VSM-Pod1 3 esx1.pod1.nexus1000v.la
Veth4 Net Adapter 1 Nexus1000v-Beta 4 esx2.pod1.nexus1000v.la
Veth5 Net Adapter 1 vShield-esx1 3 esx1.pod1.nexus1000v.la
Veth6 Net Adapter 1 vShield Manager 3 esx1.pod1.nexus1000v.la
Veth7 Net Adapter 1 vShield-esx2 4 esx2.pod1.nexus1000v.la
Veth8 Net Adapter 1 WinXP-01 3 esx1.pod1.nexus1000v.la
Veth9 Net Adapter 1 WinXP-02 4 esx2.pod1.nexus1000v.la

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 Visibility of the VM Traffic
Pod1-VSM# sh int veth8

Vethernet8 is up
< ---- SNIP --- >

Port mode is trunk

5 minute input rate 0 bits/second, 0 packets/second
5 minute output rate 40 bits/second, 0 packets/second
Rx
426 Input Packets 125 Unicast Packets
15 Multicast Packets 286 Broadcast Packets
50941 Bytes
Tx
81182 Output Packets 136 Unicast Packets
18 Multicast Packets 81028 Broadcast Packets 81046 Flood Packets
8387936 Bytes
1 Input Packet Drops 0 Output Packet Drops

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