what can nsx layer2 bridging do?

[niceguy001]

i mean...

in the pure vSphere data center without nsx,

the external services can connect to data center via different VLANs and the network can be separated in vSphere switches by VLAN tags.

but in the NSX

the layer 2 bridging will connect vxlan and vlan to integrate services to same network.

isn't  it the same thing on the pure vSphere (different VLAN tags for grouping)?

or the layer 2 bridging is just an additional benefits created to make NSX more perfect?

did i misunderstand some technical part?:smileyconfused:

[lucasitteam]

isn't  it the same thing on the pure vSphere (different VLAN tags for grouping)?

yes it is same but if you look at the larger picture NSX is solving a bigger problem which is L2 across any Rack/Datacenter using VXLAN. By solving this problem it has to address the problem of communication VMs with Physical server.

or the layer 2 bridging is just an additional benefits created to make NSX more perfect?

I would rather state this not a benefit but extended/leverage services to or from ecosystem

you may like to see my recently started blog lucasitteam.wordpress.com. It is my NSX Prep guide.

[niceguy001]

cool, this makes sense!

so do you mean the layer 2 bridging function will bring a greater difference in the multi-datacenter environment?

especially multiple datacenters in multiple locations?

thanks for the reply!

[niceguy001]

oh! i think i understand the meaning.

to reach the connection between vSphere workloads and external VLAN workloads:

-> the traditional vSphere environment has to configure VLAN tag in virtual switch (so that can connect to the external VLAN subnet)

-> the NSX environment has to use DLR layer 2 bridging to deal with the VXLAN de/en-capsulation  (so that can connect to the external VLAN subnet)

that's the reason why layer 2 bridging is needed(to do the same thing like vSphere is doing), right?

[bayupw]

NSX with network virtualization will create its own world with VXLAN like in below picture

As you can see there are 2 worlds, NSX (Network Virtualisation) world and Physical World.

The NSX world is connected to the physical world via North-South NSX Edge and routed (L3) which means the network/subnet would be different.

Now there may be some VMs or physical servers in physical world that needs to be on the same layer-2 domain/subnet with VMs on VXLAN.

To achieve that, you can bridge the physical VLAN in physical world to VXLAN in NSX with layer-2 briding (software based or hardware based using hardware VTEP gateway).

This can also be used for migration from VLAN to VXLAN or for bridging physical appliance to VXLAN.

Here are two diagram examples on bridging VLAN 101 to VXLAN 5001.

Please note that bridging is not supported on cross-vCenter setup, see this matrix Support Matrix for NSX Services in Cross-vCenter NSX