SDN and NFV Simplified: A Visual Guide to Understanding Software Defined Networks and Network Function Virtualization

39. Monitoring Traffic Between Virtual Switches

In the early days of server virtualization, the proliferation of virtual machines (VMs) in the data center created an extended network access layer. This extension was the result of the hypervisor having its own built in virtual network interface card (vNIC) and a vSwitch. These elements were essential for VM-to-VM communications within the same host server, but they did have some drawbacks such as poor network visibility and management. The original vSwitches were primitive software bridges, which vendors designed to handle communications between locally connected VMs. This was, of course, all that was required from a server and application perspective. The problem was that conventional network ...