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Architecture Guide—VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail: VCF 4.5 on VxRail 7.0
Executive Summary Architecture Overview Workload Domain Architecture VxRail Virtual Network Architecture Network Virtualization NSX-T WLD Design Enabling VCF with Tanzu Features on Workload Domains Physical Network Design Considerations
Introduction
Traditional 3-tier (access/core/aggregation)
Leaf and Spine Layer 3 fabric
Multi-rack design considerations
VxRail physical network interfaces
NSX-T vDS connectivity options
Storage Options Multi-site Design Considerations Operations Management Architecture Life Cycle Management Cloud Management Architecture

Traditional 3-tier (access/core/aggregation)

Home > Integrated Products > VxRail > Guides > Architecture Guide—VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail: VCF 4.5 on VxRail 7.0 > Traditional 3-tier (access/core/aggregation)

Traditional 3-tier (access/core/aggregation)

  • The traditional 3-tier design is based on a Layer 2 fabric, as shown in the following figure:

    Figure 36.    Traditional 3-tier Layer 2 fabric design

    It has the following characteristics:

    • VLANs carried throughout the fabric –increases the size of the broadcast domain beyond racks if multiple racks are needed for the infrastructure and VxRail clusters span racks.
    • The aggregation layer devices of each pod are the demarcation line between L2 and L3 network domains.
    • Default Gateway – HSRP/VRRP at the aggregation layer
    • The NSX-T T0 Gateway peers with the routers at the aggregation layer.

    Advantages:

    • VLANs can span racks which can be useful for VxRail system VLANs like vSAN/vMotion and node discovery.
    • Layer 2 design might be considered less complex to implement.

    Disadvantages:

    • Large VxRail clusters spanning racks will create large broadcast domains.
    • Interoperability issues between different switch vendors can introduce spanning tree issues in large fabrics.
    • The NSX-T T0 gateways for each WLD needs to peer at the aggregation layer. For large-scale deployments with multiple WLDs, the configuration becomes complex.
    • The size of such a deployment is limited because the fabric elements have to share a limited number (4,094) of VLANs. With NSX, the number of VLANs could be reduced so this limitation might not be an issue.