Introduction

In order to effectively design a virtual network infrastructure, a design architect must understand the virtual network architecture, including which features are available and how they are configured. This chapter contains recipes that a design architect can use to design a virtual network architecture that provides the capacity and availability required to support the virtual infrastructure.

The logical network design includes the calculation of the network capacity or the bandwidth required to support the virtual machines and the determination of the capacity required to support VMware technologies, such as vMotion and fault tolerance. If IP-based storage connectivity is required, the design must account for the networking required to support the storage traffic as well. The following diagram displays how a network design is integrated into the design process:

This chapter discusses the different virtual network switch technologies available in vSphere and the different features...