Scalable Network Visibility for Virtualized Service Provider and Enterprise Networks
The virtualization of networking functions across service provider, data center, and enterprise networks has grown significantly as network operators embrace next-generation architectures to improve service agility and operational efficiency. While providing valuable benefits, network virtualization also presents a new set of operational challenges. Networking functions residing on Virtual Machines (VMs) are vulnerable to malicious attacks that can spread to other functions and services. In addition, monitoring virtualized network functions for performance, service quality, and user impact can be extremely challenging.
Network performance monitoring, dynamic resource orchestration, and issue remediation are critical to maintaining network health and performance in virtualized environments. Most network visibility solutions, however, are designed for hardware-centric networks. Today’s network operators therefore need an effective, highly scalable network visibility and monitoring solution for virtual networks.
Highlights
- Provides comprehensive network visibility, helping to secure, monitor, optimize, and monetize virtualized networks
- Scales dynamically to meet compute capacity requirements during surges in network traffic
- Improves operational efficiency by automating resource provisioning and simplifying feature additions
- Enhances monitoring productivity by allowing the dynamic modi cation of flow definitions and traffic optimization functions within the Extreme Networks virtual network visibility infrastructure
Key Features for Optimal Network Visibility
Extreme vPacket Broker supports three feature sets for comprehensive network visibility: Basic, Advanced, and Expert.
Depending on how an organization deploys Extreme vPacket Broker, all or some of these features are available. When deployed as a virtual broker, Extreme vPacket Broker supports all three feature sets. When deployed as a virtual tap, it supports Basic and Advanced features only.
Basic Feature Set
- Flow replication
- Flow aggregation
- Filtering based on 5-tuple criteria
- Load balancing based on 5-tuple criteria
Advanced Feature Set
- Includes Basic features, plus:
- Header stripping (VXLAN, MPLS)
- Packet slicing
- Timestamping
Expert Feature Set
- Includes Basic and Advanced features, plus:
- GTP correlation
- RTP correlation
- Mobility-aware filtering and load balancing (IMSI, APN, RAT)
- Regex match-based filtering and load balancing
- URL-based filtering and load balancing
A Comprehensive Network Visibility Solution for Virtualized Networks
Extreme Virtual Packet Broker (Extreme vPacket Broker) delivers a full-featured network visibility solution for virtualized service provider and enterprise networks. It offers an end-to-end set of capabilities — including traffic interception, filtering, load balancing, and optimization — to maximize the productivity of network monitoring and analytics tools.
Dual Deployment Options
Extreme vPacket Broker can be deployed as a virtual tap or as a virtual broker (see Figure 1). As a virtual tap, it resides as a lightweight VM within the monitored VM environment, interacting with the overlay network to receive replicated east-west traffic. It then forwards the replicated traffic to physical or virtual network packet brokers, or to network monitoring tools, through GRE or VXLAN tunnels. A virtual tap deployment also supports traffic optimization capabilities, such as filtering and timestamping, to enhance the productivity of recipient network visibility and analytics tools.
When deployed as a virtual broker, Extreme vPacket Broker resides outside the monitored VM environment, aggregating traffic flows from multiple Extreme Networks or third-party virtual tap instances. A virtual broker deployment supports numerous traffic optimization features, such as packet slicing, header stripping, and traffic correlation.
Extreme vPacket Broker leverages Intel DPDK for user plane traffic processing at carrier-grade scale in both of these deployment architectures.
Improved Operational Efficiency and Scale
Extreme vPacket Broker eliminates the long purchase and deployment cycles associated with hardware via automated scale orchestration and simplified feature provisioning.
Enhanced Monitoring Productivity
Extreme vPacket Broker allows tools to dynamically modify flow definitions and traffic optimization functions in the network visibility infrastructure when changes occur in the production network (such as the addition or removal of VMs, variations in traffic volume, and new flow patterns). This capability increases monitoring productivity while delivering greater agility.
Extreme Networks Visibility Solutions
Extreme Networks Visibility solutions help network operators monitor, secure, analyze, and monetize their physical and virtual networks. With programmable hardware packet brokers and the industry’s first full-featured software packet broker, Extreme Networks delivers a best-in-class network visibility solution built for the most demanding networks.
Session Director
MLXe Packet Brokers
Visibility Manager