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Re: [nvrg-bof] What is Network Virtualization?



Hi folks,

> I agree in the sense that NV is a means to create a VM. I disagree about the
> "shared substrate" part - it's the tunnels that define the virtualization in
> my definition; how devices are shared is not directly relevant (that's
> mechanism; see the end of this post).

Tunnels is just one of the ways to use shared substrate. 'Shared
substrate' is generic term and I don't think it implies how devices
are shared.

I thought the goal is to come up with the definition for the term
'network virtualization'. Mosharaf's definition seems pretty accurate,
but probably too specific for some tastes. Very generic variant of the
same definition, that supports anything is is:

---
Networking environment supports network virtualization if it allows
multiple virtual networks to co-exist together.
---

IMHO that's a bare minimum. Sharing is mandatory, otherwise we would
call it emulation. Based on our preferences one can drop in phrases
like 'heterogeneous' to imply different guest network technologies,
dynamic set-up, to highlight ease of use, providers, end users,
gateways, etc. to indicate some usage scenario.

Sincerely,
Vytautas Valancius
Georgia Tech


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