VXLAN VS VLAN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VLAN & VXLAN

VXLAN VS VLAN | DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VLAN & VXLAN

This article is about the topic i.e. vxlan vs vlan. VXlan (virtual extensive local area network) is the modern form of vlan and a new concept in network IT industry. VXLAN protocol or concept is introduced by two famous networking companies Cisco and VMware in 2010-2011. Later Intel, Broadcom and the other stack holder of network industry also contribute to develop this protocol.

This article is for giving you an overview of differences of these two Protocols VXLAN VS VLAN. But before going into detail of difference let learn little more about the VXLANs.

What is virtual extensive LAN or VXLAN?

Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) protocol are introduced to support more VLANs on network devices in cloud computing.

Basically VXLAN technology can provide the same services as VLAN does, but with better extensibility & flexibility. VXLAN used to running a Layer 2 network and extending it over a Layer-3 network. For this VXLAN uses MAC-in-UDP encapsulation.

How Does Virtual Extensible LAN Work?

Virtual Extensible LAN is an overlay protocol which allows you to give Layer 2 connections over an intervening Layer-3 network by encapsulating/tunneling Ethernet packet in a VXLAN frames that includes IPs. Network-Devices which support VXLANs are known as virtual_tunnel endpoints VTEPs, normally these are end hosts, switches or routers. Virtual tunnel endpoints encapsulate Virtual Extensible LAN’s traffic and de-encapsulate that traffic when it leaves the VXLAN-tunnel. Virtual tunnel endpoints add different fields to encapsulate an Ethernet-frame. Following are the field added by VTEPs in Ethernet frame.

·         Outer IP source address (IP of the tunnel-source Virtual tunnel endpoints (VTEP)

·         Outer IP destination address (IP address of tunnel_endpoint Virtual tunnel endpoints  VTEP)

·         MAC of the tunnel source VTEP

·         Outer MAC destination address

Now time to discuss some of the differences of vxlan vs vlan:

SR	vxlan	vlan
1	VLAN are used to divide the network into several broadcast domains. In each broadcast-domain, we can communicate with each other freely.	VXLAN provide layer 2 overlay networks on top of a layer-3 using MAC-in-UDP encapsulation. In easy words, VXLAN offer same services as VLAN, but with greater extensibility &  flexibility
2	With VXLAN you can have 16 million VLAN IDs in an administrative domain.	VLAN identifiers are only 12 bits long and can provide 4094 VLANs.
3	VLANs are used to solve problems like Layer 2 network isolation, flood and as routing interface. VLAN supporting function is now available in most systems and network equipment such as Ethernet switches, routers and firewalls.	VXLAN provide layer 2 overlay networks on layer-3 using MAC-in-UDP and provide the more VLANs.
4	VXLAN technology is being used in cloud computing environment with large network data Centre consist of many devices.	VLAN protocol also support large networks but as compare to VXLAN there are only 4094 VLANs available.
5	VM can migrate between servers that exist in separate Layer 2 domains by tunneling the traffic over Layer 3 networks	Not available in VLAN
6	VXLAN uses Layer-3 routing-protocol to use all the available parts with technologies like Equal cost multipath Routing.	In case of VLAN there is STP which blocks redundant paths and hence allows using only half of available_paths.
7	VXLAN are Flexible & suitable to scaling out a large cloud network.	VLAN are Less flexible for multi-tenant network.
8	VXLAN provide more security as compare to VLAN. Due to the structure of a VXLAN, tunneled traffic can utilize traditional security options, which authenticate and encrypt the traffic.

I hope this article is informative and helpful for you, Let me know in commends if I miss some differences, I will update it for other community. You can share this on social media.

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