Overview

Revised: October 18, 2011

This chapter introduces the implementation of the Cisco VMDC 2.1 solution. For detailed design considerations relating to this architecture, refer to the Cisco Virtualized Multi-Tenant Data Center, Version 2.1, Design Guide.

Scope

The Cisco VMDC solution validation focused on the following features and technologies:

Table 1-1 Features and Technologies Validated

Features
Technologies

Data Center functionality validation

Feature integration and testing, including Jumbo Frames, Multicast, and QoS for all datacenter network layers from aggregation to virtual access; ESX/VM provisioning, boot up. and maintenance, as well as basic SAN/NAS storage design verification

Data Center Services functionality validation

Validation of Service offerings with Datacenter Services Node (firewall and load balancing)

Reliability validation

Validation of redundancy designs (with Baseline Steady State traffic) - Routing, vPC/MEC, ECMP, VSS, HSRP, Active-Active service modules

Scalability verification

Multi-dimensional scalability (VLAN, MAC, HSRP, routes, contexts, VM) within scope of architecture

Automation validation

Validation of Service Orchestration, portal, service catalog validation with element manager integration for compute and network


What's Changed?

This section identifies the Cisco VMDC 2.1 design and testbed changes relative to VMDC 2.0.

Design Changes

•A new flexible tenancy model. The network tenancy definition and scope is not limited to application service availability. As a result, the tenant container is no longer characterized or referenced as Gold, Silver, or Bronze.

•Single aggregation VDC representing a single L2/L3 boundary for all compute/storage flows.

•DSN connected via L3 Port-Channel (MEC) with all routed services.

Additional Technology Validation

•Jumbo MTU validation.

•Multicast validation for PIM and IGMP.

Additional Product Validation

•Nexus 1010 Virtual Service Appliance

•Cisco NAM Virtual Service Blade capability validation.

Hardware and Software Components

Table 1-2 Hardware and Software Components 

Icon
Platform
Hardware Used
Software Used
Role in Solution
Core Layer and Aggregation Layer

Cisco Nexus

7010

5.2.1

Aggregation Layer Switch

Access Layer

(VSM)

 

Cisco Nexus

5020

5.0.3(N1)

Layer 2 Access Switch

Cisco Nexus

1010

4.2.1.SP1.2

Virtual Service Appliance

Cisco Nexus

1000V

4.2(1)SV1(4)

Distributed Virtual Access Switch

Services Layer

Data Center Services Node) on Cisco Catalyst 6500

6509-E chassis

SUP720-10G Supervisor Module

12.2(33)SXI5

Multi-Layer Switch

Virtual Switching System (VSS)

Cisco Catalyst

Firewall Services (FWSM) Module

4.1(4)

Service layer firewall services for Gold and Silver service tiers

Cisco Catalyst

Application Control Engine (ACE) module

A4(2.1)

Service layer load balancing for service tiers

Storage Layer
Network Attached Storage

NetApp

Filer

FAS6080

ONTAP 7.3.3

Network Attached Storage

Storage Area Network

Cisco

MDS

MDS-9513

(15 RU)

NX-OS 5.0(1a)

FC Director Switch

(13 slots)

 

 

 

EMC

Symmetrix

V-Max Storage Array

Engenuity

5874.210.168

block I/O storage for ESXI boot LUNs and datastores

Compute Layer
10-Gbps Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)

Cisco UCS

6140-XP

UCS Software Bundle 1.4(1m)

Fabric Interconnect Switch (20 base ports + 2 expansion slots)

Cisco UCS

UCS-5108

UCS Software Bundle 1.4(1m)

Blade Server Chassis

n/a

Cisco UCS

B200-M1

ESXi 4.0.0, 261974

UCS Software Bundle 1.4(1m)

½ width blade server

Virtual Machine Host

n/a

Cisco UCS

M81KR Virtual Interface Card

UCS Software Bundle 1.4(1m)

Virtual Mezzanine CNA (B200-M1 only)


Tenant Scalability Validation

The Cisco VMDC 2.1 infrastructure was validated and operationally compared at two different tenant scale points: 8 tenants and 32 tenants. Table 1-3 lists some of the main focus variables that were validated as part of the Cisco VMDC 2.1 architecture testing.

Table 1-3 Unicast Scale Validation in Cisco VMDC 2.1 

Device
Feature
Detail
8 Tenant
32 Tenant

Nexus 7010

VRF

Each tenant requires 2 VRFs

16

64

VLAN

VLANs per tenant VRF

48

192

MAC

Total MAC addresses

4,000

13,000

RIB

Routes in unprotected zone

328

1312

Routes in protected zone

160

640

OSPF

AFI

16

64

Neighbor adjacencies in unprotected zone

32

128

Neighbor adjacencies in protected zone

16

64

Catalyst 6509

VRFs

Each tenant requires 2 VRFs

16

64

VLAN

2 ACE VLANs / 2 FWSM VLANs

32

128

RIB

Routes in unprotected zone

208

832

Routes in protected zone

104

416

OSPF

Processes

16

64

Neighbor adjacencies

32

128

ACE

Context

2 ACE contexts per Tenant

16

64

VIPs

4 VIPs per context (8 Tenant)

32

—

2 VIPs per context (32 Tenant)

—

64

FWSM

Context

1 FW context per tenant

8

32

Nexus 5020

VLANs

3 Server VLANs per VRF

48

192

Management VLANs

8

8

NFS vFiler VLANs

8

32

MAC

Total MAC addresses

4,000

13,000

Nexus 61xx

VLANs

3 Server VLANs per VRF

48

192

Management

8

8

NFS vFiler VLANs

8

32

MAC

Total MAC addresses

4,000

~13,000

Nexus 1000v

VLANs

3 Server VLANs per VRF

48

192

Management

8

8

NFS vFiler VLANs

8

32

MAC

Total MAC addresses

4,000

~13,000

UCS

VM

Test VMs

32

128

VMs per blade server ratio

4:1

4:1


In addition, an 8 tenant multicast implementation was added to the validation which brought the following multicast scale parameters into the architecture.

Table 1-4 Multicast Scale Validation in Cisco VMDC 2.1 

Device
Feature
Detail
8 Tenant

Nexus 7010

Multicast

PIM adjacencies unprotected zone only

48

Total mroutes unprotected zone only

128

Total number of (*,G) routes unprotected zone only

64

Total number of (S,G) routes unprotected zone only

64