VXLANs
VXLAN, or Virtual Extensible LAN, is an encapsulation technology used to extend Layer 2 networks over an IP-based underlay. It enables large-scale, multi-tenant data centers by mapping each tenant or network segment to a VXLAN Network Identifier (VNI), supporting up to 16 million distinct VNIs.
VXLAN encapsulates each L2 frame inside a UDP/IP packet. The outer header provides the underlay transport between
Traffic forwarding in VXLAN relies on VTEPs to learn MAC addresses and forward frames. In basic deployments
Security and management considerations include tenant isolation through VNIs, with VXLAN providing no encryption by default.
Common use cases for VXLAN include extending L2 networks across data centers, enabling multi-tenant cloud environments,