Problem Statement: Overlays for Network Virtualization
This document describes issues associated with providing multi- tenancy in large data center networks that require an overlay-based network virtualization approach to addressing them. A key multi- tenancy requirement is traffic isolation, so that a tenant's traffic is not visible to any other tenant. This isolation can be achieved by assigning one or more virtual networks to each tenant such that traffic within a virtual network is isolated from traffic in other virtual networks. The primary functionality required is provisioning virtual networks, associating a virtual machine's virtual network interface(s) with the appropriate virtual network, and maintaining that association as the virtual machine is activated, migrated and/or deactivated. Use of an overlay-based approach enables scalable deployment on large network infrastructures.