Determining network bandwidth requirements
Bandwidth refers to the capacity of the network and is measured in either gigabits per second (Gbps) or megabits per second (Mbps). The bandwidth required is based on the amount of data transferred or the throughput required by the virtual machines. Most modern networks are capable of transferring data at 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps. Network adapters that support 40 Gbps have recently become available.
The number of physical network adapters in each host required to support a solution is dependent on the amount of bandwidth required to support virtual machine network traffic, the number of virtual switches required, and the network redundancy requirements.
From the case example in Chapter 3, The Design Factors, the following information is used to help calculate the network bandwidth requirements:
- Cisco switches are used for network connectivity. Separate VLANs exist for management connectivity and production application connectivity.
- No more than 20 application...
