VXLAN vs VLAN: Benefits, Comparison, and Use Cases

VXLANs vs VLANs: Benefits

Question

Which three benefits do VXLANs offer compared to VLANs (Choose three.)

Answers

Explanations

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A. B. C. D. E. F.

ABD.

VXLANOverview As its name indicates, VXLAN is designed to provide the same Ethernet Layer 2 network services as VLAN does today, but with greater extensibility and flexibility.

Compared to VLAN, VXLAN offers the following benefits: - Flexible placement of multitenant segments throughout the data center: It provides a solution to extend Layer 2 segments over the underlying shared network infrastructure so that tenant workload canbe placed across physical pods in the data center.

- Higher scalability to addressmore Layer 2 segments: VLANs use a 12-bit VLAN ID to address Layer 2 segments, which results in limiting scalability of only 4094 VLANs.

VXLAN uses a 24-bit segment ID known as the VXLAN network identifier (VNID), which enables up to 16 million VXLAN segments to coexist in the same administrative domain.

- Better utilization of available network paths in the underlying infrastructure: VLAN uses the Spanning Tree Protocol for loop prevention, which ends up not using half of the network links in a network by blocking redundant paths.

In contrast, VXLAN packets are transferred through the underlying network based on its Layer 3 header and can take complete advantage of Layer 3routing, equal-cost multipath (ECMP) routing, and link aggregation protocols to useall available paths.

VXLAN Encapsulation and Packet Format VXLAN is a Layer 2 overlay scheme over a Layer 3 network.

It uses MAC Address-in-User Datagram Protocol (MAC-in-UDP) encapsulation to provide a means to extend Layer 2 segments across the data center network.

VXLAN is a solution to support a flexible, large-scale multitenant environment over a shared common physical infrastructure.

The transport protocol over the physical data center network is IP plus UDP.

References:

VXLANs (Virtual Extensible LAN) offer several benefits compared to traditional VLANs (Virtual Local Area Network). The benefits of VXLANs over VLANs are as follows:

A. VXLAN provides a solution to extend Layer 2 segments over a shared Layer 3 routed network, which means that it allows data centers to scale beyond the limitations of VLANs. Traditional VLANs are limited to a maximum of 4,094 VLAN IDs, whereas VXLANs use a 24-bit VNI (VXLAN Network Identifier), which enables up to 16 million unique VXLAN segments. VXLAN segments are used to create a Layer 2 overlay network on top of a Layer 3 underlay network, which allows for greater scalability and flexibility.

B. VXLAN provides better utilization of available network paths in the underlay infrastructure. VXLAN tunnels are typically routed over an IP network, which provides a more efficient use of the network infrastructure. VXLAN uses the concept of Multipathing, which enables the use of multiple network paths between two VXLAN endpoints. This results in better utilization of available network paths in the underlay network, which improves network performance and reduces congestion.

C. VXLAN uses a 24-bit VNID to overcome the 4094 VLAN scale limitation. Traditional VLANs use a 12-bit VLAN ID, which limits the number of unique VLANs that can be created to 4,094. In contrast, VXLAN uses a 24-bit VNI (VXLAN Network Identifier) that can support up to 16 million unique VXLAN segments. This allows data centers to scale beyond the limitations of VLANs and provides greater flexibility in network design.

D. This answer is incorrect. VXLAN uses a 24-bit VNID to overcome the 4094 VLAN scale limitation, not a 16-bit VNID.

E. This answer is incorrect. VXLAN provides a solution to extend Layer 2 segments over a shared Layer 3 routed network, not over a single Layer 2 VLAN.

F. VXLAN provides better utilization of available network paths in the overlay infrastructure. VXLAN tunnels can be distributed across multiple physical paths, which provides a more efficient use of the network infrastructure. This improves network performance and reduces congestion, particularly in large data centers.

In summary, the benefits of VXLAN over traditional VLANs include greater scalability, better network utilization, and greater flexibility in network design.