New Training: Apply Overlay Protocols

In this 6-video skill, CBT Nuggets trainer Jeff Kish explores the deployment of VXLAN and OTV into the data center, including design discussions as well as lab configuration. Watch this new Cisco training.

Learn Cisco with one of these courses:

• Data Center Networking with Cisco Nexus Switches

• Cisco CCNP Data Center

This training includes:

• 6 videos

• 49 minutes of training

You’ll learn these topics in this skill:

• Intro

• Overlay Design Considerations

• VXLAN and VPC

• OTV vs VXLAN

• Multipod vs Multisite VXLAN

• Review and Quiz

OTV vs VXLAN: What’s the Difference?

Both OTV and VXLAN are designed to perform similar functions. That is, both serve as a way to extend networks over layer 2 between distant data centers. Both encapsulate data over IP packets and send information through an IP connection on their merry way. Since VXLAN is an open-source solution, it seems very much that it was created as a competitor to OTV. There are a couple of distinct advantages that OTP has over VXLAN, though.

First, OTP is hardware-driven. That means in the event of a failure, the Nexus 7000 series of devices can failover within seconds or less. VXLAN struggles with this more.

Likewise, because OTP is hardware-driven, it seems to handle 'learning' better than VXLAN. For instance, should a VM be moved from one data center to another with VMotion, OTV can identify the information for that VM, figure out what happened with it, and adjust accordingly.

Of course, this is an oversimplification of the OTV vs VXLAN discussion. There are a variety of reasons to use one option over the other, or neither option at all.