Changes in the data center
Moving from the physical to virtual, applications, network policies, and the network administrator (NA) and server administrator (SA) roles are getting continuously overlapped, where the network edge is now virtual and has moved into the host, that is, the ESXi server. This changes the distinct boundary between the SA and NA roles.
Where physical machines were once just plugged into a switch, and the switch port configured by a network administrator, the SA can now create and deploy multiple hosts in a fraction of the time. And while the host life cycle has changed significantly, the same management policies need to apply in both cases, which means that access lists, VLANs, port security, and many more parameters need to be consistent. The challenge for SAs is to take advantage of the flexibility of virtualization while conforming to organizational policy.
The challenge for NAs is to maintain control over the network traffic and the access ports that are running...
