Today, VMware unveiled what it’s calling the “Modern Network Framework for Data Center and Cloud Networking“.
As the name states, it’s not a new networking product but is all about building a framework on top of the various networking products in the Virtual Cloud Network portfolio, that includes NSX and VMware SD-WAN etc, and defining what the network of the future will look like.
In the days of hybrid and multi-cloud environments, the definition of private and public cloud networks has changed significantly. That is especially true for the VMware cloud products, networking for which is almost universally underpinned by NSX. Given it’s “normal” now to have the networking layer abstracted above the physical (for both local networking and outside i.e. SD-WAN) and traffic is handled by the hypervisors themselves rather than the traditional networking devices, there’s no virtually (pun intended!) no limit to the efficiency, ease, and scalability of what can be achieved.
There are three pillars of this modern network framework:
- Modern Apps Connectivity Services
- Multi-Cloud Network Virtualisation
- Physical Network Infrastructure
It’s no coincidence that you’re seeing the application connectivity services as the first pillar of this framework. The idea is to turn the traditional networking modelling on its head and take a “top-down” approach to networks. It’s the business applications that are the first-class citizens of any business environment as they “are the business” and networks should adhere to their requirements and not the other way around. Physical networking, while important and must be present in some form, is mostly abstracted.
This framework puts the emphasis on the applications and their developers. It allows the latter to securely connect their microservices without compromising their security and availability – all without the need to involve the IT side of things – and hence, the first pillar.
NSX has made us extremely comfortable with the concept of network virtualization and how these services can be made fully automated and defined in software. Providing that same uniform layer across all the clouds with the same monitoring and automation to go with it, is what defines the second pillar.
All the advancements with network virtualisation are great but they still don’t free us from the laws of physics. We still need a bunch of physical wires to take our packets from one place to another. The third pillar is all about physical connectivity and the advancements being made in those areas. The recently announced Project Monterey is one example of that and a reminder that there’s always room for improvement in areas where one might think all has been explored already!
For a detailed description of VMware’s vision of the Modern Network Framework, download this eBook.
Is there something new along with this new framework announcement? Yes, there are some enhancements to the Virtual Cloud Network portfolio and as you would expect, they focus on the business user and their applications.
VMware SD-WAN Work from Home Subscriptions
This year has seen most of the workforce for all kinds of business working from home. While the networks of today are reliable for a home connection, they may not be as robust for a business. In general, speed, reliability and security are of paramount importance when it comes to business connectivity.
VMware SD-WAN Work from Home Subscriptions are available now to serve that purpose. They provide a reliable path to a cloud PoP (Point of Presence) nearest to the business user, which in turn, provides reliable and dependable “last-mile” connectivity to the SaaS services that they might need and also to their business applications.
There are various bandwidth options available (between 350Mbps – 1Gbps) to suit all levels of work patterns which enables business users to get the best application performance while working from home.
Preview of Attribute-Based Access Control Policy Model
Considering the enormous number of components that need to talk to each other in a Kubernetes environment – each with different requirements depending on that component, it’s simply impossible to maintain define and manage security effectively using the traditional firewall rules-based models.
The only practical way to manage service mesh security is to have a distributed “zero trust” environment, with user and application security managed based on identity attributes of “who, what, where, when and how”.
Once defined, the policy is distributed and applied to all hosts within the environment to provide automated control over who gets access to the applications, based on who they are and which application is the target. That removes the need for complex rule/groups definitions which becomes very cumbersome as the number of objects increase and therefore, not suitable for such modern applications.
NSX Advanced Load Balancer Integration with Tanzu
A similar challenge exists for load-balancing Kubernetes i.e. how to provide a fully functional load-balancing and WAF capabilities to developers that don’t require them to know networking and are easy to deploy and destroy as required.
VMware is announcing NSX Advanced Load Balancer integration with Tanzu Service Mesh to enable developers to have exactly that! Developers will be able to define the load-balancing requirements with the applications which will be fulfilled at deployment and for that, they will not be required to drive any infrastructure components.
This capability is currently expected to become available in VMware’s Q1 FY22.
These updates and others like Project Monterey that VMware announced at VMworld, shows the direction VMware is moving into. It’s becoming increasingly about the business user, the applications they need and abstracting the infrastructure complexities away from the developers who write those applications. Companies that are already invested in VMware products and have built their local infrastructure around NSX are well-placed to take advantage of the advancements made by VMware in this area.
Applications are the lifeblood of any business and what enables them to provide the services they sell. The capabilities that enable them to be agile in development and secure in deployment are worth investing in and VMware is making it all possible through its modern network framework.
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