Network virtualization platform: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:59, 26 April 2024

Revision as of 19:38, 5 February 2025

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==Server virtualization history==

Server [[virtualization]], a technology that has become mainstream,{{Clarify|reason=vague|date=March 2014}} originally gained popularity when [[VMware]] entered the market in 2001 with its GSX server software. This technology gave IT organizations the ability to reduce the amount of rack space required to accommodate multiple servers and reduced the cost of powering and cooling data centers by consolidating server based applications onto a single piece of hardware. One of the problems with server virtualization is in how applications are networked together. Within a server virtualization environment, applications are interconnected by what is referred to as a virtual switch, which is very different from high-performing hardware-based network switches offered by the likes of [[Juniper Networks]] and [[Cisco Systems]]. Virtual switches are software-based switches and rely on the movement of packets up and down a software stack which relies on the same CPUs which are being used to drive the applications. Because of this software approach to switching, networking applications such as [[Firewall (computing)|firewalls]] and [[Router (computing)|routers]], which require high levels of [[throughput]] and low levels of [[latencyNetwork (engineering)latency|latency]], were not ideal to operate within a server virtualized environment, while applications less sensitive to throughput and latency such as email and file sharing were ideal.

==Network virtualization history==