HCX L2C 4Gbps throughput speed

[vempati73]

hi

I am going through HCX documentation, In the section Layer-2 Concentrator, its mentioned that

"Each L2C, when paired with its on-premises partner can provide up to 1Gbps per “flow” and up to an aggregate of 4Gbps per VLAN (or VXLAN). Deployment of more L2C appliances is supported if additional network throughputs are required."

Can someone explain me how the throughput number 1Gbps per flow and 4 Gbps aggregate is arrived ?  Is this a configurable parameter or is it dependent on the Link / NIC speed ? I am not getting answer for this.

regards

vempati chalapathy

[chrisgnoon]

The latest documentation can be found here: VMware HCX Components

It states: 'The VMware HCX Network Extension service provides a late Performance (4–6 Gbps) Layer 2 extension capability. The extension service permits keeping the same IP and MAC addresses during a Virtual Machine migration. Network Extension with Proximity Routing enabled ensures that forwarding between virtual machines connected to extended and routed networks, both on-premises and in the cloud, is symmetrical.'

Regarding your specific question.

  - The maximum throughput the layer 2 interconnects can reach is 4-6Gbps per second.  Remember that you can deploy multiple layer 2 interconnects if you wish.

  - The 1Gbps limit would be (best guess) VM on site A to VM site B OR VLAN on site A to VXLAN on site B.  I would presume the VM to VM statement is more accurate as it mentions (UDP/TCP) flows rather than per extension.

  - The parameter is not configurable at the moment as you are unable to adjust the appliance/service-mesh size when installing.  However, they are making constant improvements and upgrades to the product almost weekly, so I dare say you may have the ability to pick t-shirt sizes (small, medium or large) soon which could give you that increase/decrease.

  - Typically these connections are run over a WAN or Internet connection and the bottleneck isn't the HCX appliances but more the breakout speed.  Unless you have a 5Gbps+ breakout at both ends?

Hope this helps