Introduction
According to the Hyper-V Network Virtualization Overview found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134230.aspx, Network Virtualization “provides virtual networks to virtual machines similar to how server virtualization provides virtual machines to the operating system. Network Virtualization decouples virtual networks from the physical network infrastructure and removes the constraints and limitations of VLANs and hierarchical IP address assignment from virtual machine provisioning. This flexibility makes it easy for customers to move to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) clouds and efficient for hosters and datacenter administrators to manage their infrastructure while maintaining the necessary multi-tenant isolation, security requirements, and supporting overlapping Virtual Machine IP addresses.”
Although the benefits of this approach are very clear, designing and implementing a solution that delivers the promised benefits is both complex and challenging; architects, consultants, and fabric administrators alike can often struggle to understand the different components and concepts that make up a solution.
Who should read this book?
Much of the published material covering Network Virtualization today is very much focused on the how, the set of tasks and things that you need to do (either in the console or through Windows PowerShell) to set up and configure the environment. In this book, we take a very different approach and instead, consider the what, with a view to helping private and hybrid cloud architects understand the overall architecture, the role each individual component plays, and the key decision points, design considerations, and the best practice recommendations they should adopt as they begin to design and build out a virtualized network solution based on Windows Server 2012 and Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 (or later).
In summary, this book is specifically designed for architects and cloud fabric administrators who want to understand what decisions they need to make during the design process and the implications of those decisions, what constitutes best practice, and, ultimately, what they need to do in order to build out a virtualized network solution that that meets today's business requirements while also providing a platform for future growth and expansion.
In writing this book, we assume that as architects and fabric administrators interested in Microsoft Network Virtualization you are familiar and have a good understanding of the networking features and capabilities of Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and System Center 2012 SP1, together with the Microsoft Cloud OS vision available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/cloud-os/default.aspx.
What topics are included in this book?
Although this book, part of a series of specialized guides on System Center, provides you with insight into the various components of a virtualized network solution primarily based upon Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 SP1, many of the concepts, advice, and guidance outlined in respect of best practice are unchanged for the R2 release.
The vast majority of the book is focused on architecture and design, highlighting key design decisions and providing best practice advice and guidance relating to each major component of the solution. The remaining chapters are more operational and discuss how to deploy and how to manage some of the common changes that might need to be made post deployment.
▪ Chapter 1: Key concepts A virtualized network solution built on Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 SP1 depends on a number of different components, and this chapter outlines the role each of these components plays in the overall solution and how they are interconnected.
▪ Chapter 2: Logical networks This chapter takes a look at some of the main reasons why you would (or would not) create a logical network, provides an overview of the key considerations, outlines some best practice guidance, and describes a process for identifying the set of logical networks that are needed in your environment
▪ Chapter 3: Port profiles This chapter discusses the different types of port profiles in Microsoft System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)—uplink port profiles and network adapter port profiles—describes what they are used for, and provides detailed guidance for how and when to create them.
▪ Chapter 4: Logical switches This chapter covers logical switches, essentially templates for Hyper-V switches, which allow you to consistently apply the same settings and configuration across multiple hosts and ensure that any Hyper-V switches you deploy and configure using a logical switch remain compliant with it.
▪ Chapter 5: Deployment This chapter builds on the material discussed in previous chapters and walks through common deployment scenarios, highlighting known issues (and workarounds) relating to the deployment and use of logical switches in your environment
▪ Chapter 6: Operations Even after having carefully planned a virtual network solution, things outside of your immediate control may force changes to your virtualized network solution. This chapter walks you through some relatively common scenarios and provides recommendations, advice, and guidance for how best to deal with them.
To recap, this book is mainly focused on architecture and design, what is needed to design a virtualized network solution rather than the actual steps required to deploy it in your environment. Other than in Chapter 5, which focuses on deployment issues and considerations, and Chapter 6, which covers managing change to the environment post deployment, you will find very few examples of code. This is by design: our focus here is not to provide details of how you achieve a specific goal but rather to identify what you need to do to build out a solution that will meet the needs of your business and provide a platform for the future.
Once you have designed a solution using the guidelines documented in this book, you will be able to make effective use of the some of the excellent materials and examples available in the Building Clouds blog (http://blogs.technet.com/b/privatecloud/) to assist you with both solution deployment and ongoing management.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Stanislav Zhelyazkov (MVP), Hans Vredevoort (MVP), Phillip Moss (NTTX), and Greg Cusanza, Thomas Roettinger, Artem Pronichkin, and Cristian Edwards Sabathe from Microsoft for providing valuable feedback and suggestions on the content of the book. Without their contributions this book would not be as thorough nor as complete; so our thanks once again for their time and efforts in making this happen.
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