Eight use cases for NV overlay

Most IT organizations are under pressure to be more agile in response to changing business needs. The problem is that most networks today are not flexible. To avoid this problem, IT organizations are now adopting network virtualization (NV) overlays to extend the capabilities of traditional networks.

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Overlay can bring agility to traditional networks and make data center environments more secure and scalable.

There are eight main use cases for NV overlay:

1. Achieving scale

Most existing physical networks can only support a limited number of network connections. NV Overlay expands the number of network connections to span nearly unlimited numbers of virtual machines and physical servers. The utilization of the underlying physical layer is significantly increased.

2. Manage resource allocation

Multiple applications running in a data center require access to different levels of compute, storage, and network resources. Virtual networks isolate virtual machines by application. IT organizations can allocate MAC/IP address space for each virtual network accessed by a specific group of applications.

3. Consolidation of data centers

NV Overlay plays a key role in enabling organizations to consolidate the number of physical servers they use. Reducing the number of physical servers also eliminates the need for secondary load balancers and physical firewall appliances.

4. Move the virtual machine

The ability to move application workloads is core to making IT organizations more agile. In traditional physical networks, moving VMs still requires manually reconfiguring routers and switching devices one at a time. NV Overlay makes it much simpler to move VMs without having to reconfigure the physical network underlay.

5. Connect multiple data centers

NV Overlay can span multiple data centers to create a virtual network. For example, a finance department with multiple locations can use NV Overlay to stay connected.

6. Connect to SD-WAN

Many IT organizations are investing heavily in SD-WAN to connect to data centers. Connecting an NV Overlay to an SD-WAN network is much simpler than connecting to a physical network.

7. Create a Demilitarized Network Zone

Demilitarized Network Overlay is also called a perimeter network or subnet. It basically takes an NV Overlay and uses it to isolate the core enterprise network from the Internet or other untrusted external networks, and can strictly control access to IT resources exposed to these external networks.

8. Apply Microsegmentation

NV Overlay isolates IT resources and enables firewalls to prevent malware from spreading in an East-West manner within the data center. This approach enables IT organizations to contain all security vulnerabilities in applications running in a specific microsegment. At the same time, it also makes it easier for us to prove compliance with various regulatory requirements.