VM-Net

Now that Cisco have released its Nexus 1000V virtual switch for VMware vSphere Cisco is has started to release detailed demos of the product in action.

The company just uploaded two new HD videos on Facebook that amongst other topics cover what are port-profiles, how to create them with a SSH console and how to apply them with the vSphere client, how vEthernet interfaces relate to VMware vNICs andhow to monitor the network statistics of a virtual machine despite its migration from a host to another with vMotion. Head over to Facebook and check them out.

Cisco Nexus 1000v  Video Part 1 (11 mins)

Cisco Nexus 1000v  Video Part2 (10 mins)

With the  release of vSphere 4 looming (21st of May)  Cisco has made its Nexus 1000v virtual switch available to the general public in the form of a 60 day trial. Priced at $695 per CPU on top of the cost of a vSphere Enterprise Plus CPU licence some VMware customers might find Cisco’s vNetwork Distributed Switch a little too expensive, especially when you consider that Enterprise Plus is approximately $600 more expensive than Enterprise.

Whilst the $600 per socket is actually discounted by %50 if you upgrade before December 15, 2009 some VMware customers are arguing that the current pricing and licencing tiers  may negatively impact sales, not only of  Cisco’s  Nexus 1000V but also vSphere itself.  When you consider  Citrix’s recent decision to give away XenServer for free VMware may have opened the door to the competition. I for one feel that the creation of the Enterprise Plus licencing tier, in fact all of the proposed licencing tiers makes little sense and hope, just like in the past, VMware realign/reduce/simply their licencing tiers in a manner that make sense. Starting May 21, we’ll see if customers will  consider the Cisco virtual switch over the VMware distributed switch or even pay the price to replace the basic VMware virtual switch at all.

One of the new features in VMware’s vSphere 4 product (VI 4’s official new title and currently at the release candidate stage of development) is its extensible architecture. This new architecture  allows VMware administrators to  not only enhance but even replace parts of vSphere’s functionality.

In the first wave of third parties to develop plugin’s to enhance vSpheres functionality is Cisco Systems. This is too not supprising considering Cisco, along with Intel, has recently purchased a stake in VMware.

The Cisco Nexus 1000v is Cisco’s first totally software based switch designed to replace the standard VMNet virtual switches provided by VMware. Currently still in beta the Cisco Nexus 1000v switch takes advantage of VMware’s vNetwork Distributed switch framework to offer tightly integrated network services as part of a server virtualisation strategy.

The Nexus 1000v consists of two distinct components, see below. The first component the VEM (virtual ethernet module)  is installed on each physical vSphere server and acts like a traditional line card in a physical modular switch. In fact if you telnet on the Nexus 1000v switch and type ’show modules’ each of the VEM’s will be identified as switch modules and will have their characteristics shown just like a physical Cisco chassis based switch. It is the VEM  component that replaces the traditional VMNet switch.

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