|
1 | | -:lastproofread: 2023-01-20 |
| 1 | +:lastproofread: 2026-02-02 |
2 | 2 |
|
3 | 3 | .. _geneve-interface: |
4 | 4 |
|
5 | 5 | ###### |
6 | | -GENEVE |
| 6 | +Geneve |
7 | 7 | ###### |
8 | 8 |
|
9 | | -:abbr:`GENEVE (Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation)` supports all of |
10 | | -the capabilities of :abbr:`VXLAN (Virtual Extensible LAN)`, :abbr:`NVGRE |
11 | | -(Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation)`, and :abbr:`STT |
12 | | -(Stateless Transport Tunneling)` and was designed to overcome their perceived |
13 | | -limitations. Many believe GENEVE could eventually replace these earlier formats |
14 | | -entirely. |
| 9 | +:abbr:`Geneve (Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation)` interfaces |
| 10 | +operate as virtual network ports. Administrators can apply standard network |
| 11 | +configurations on them, such as IP addressing, bridging, or firewall rules, |
| 12 | +just as they would on physical Ethernet ports. |
15 | 13 |
|
16 | | -GENEVE is designed to support network virtualization use cases, where tunnels |
17 | | -are typically established to act as a backplane between the virtual switches |
18 | | -residing in hypervisors, physical switches, or middleboxes or other appliances. |
19 | | -An arbitrary IP network can be used as an underlay through Clos networks - A |
20 | | -technique for composing network fabrics larger than a single switch while |
21 | | -maintaining non-blocking bandwidth across connection points. ECMP is used to |
22 | | -divide traffic across the multiple links and switches that constitute the |
23 | | -fabric. Sometimes termed "leaf and spine" or "fat tree" topologies. |
| 14 | +The Geneve protocol encapsulates Layer 2 Ethernet frames originating from |
| 15 | +endpoints such as virtual machines, containers, or physical servers inside UDP |
| 16 | +packets. It unifies the features of earlier encapsulation protocols, including |
| 17 | +VXLAN, NVGRE, and STT, and addresses their limitations, such as fixed header |
| 18 | +structures and a lack of metadata support. Because of its extensibility, Geneve |
| 19 | +may eventually replace those older protocols. |
24 | 20 |
|
25 | | -Geneve Header: |
| 21 | +Geneve tunnels are used to connect virtual switches residing within |
| 22 | +hypervisors, physical switches, middleboxes, and other network appliances. |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | +Geneve tunnels operate over any standard IP network. In larger deployments, |
| 25 | +the underlying network (underlay) is often built using a **Clos** topology, |
| 26 | +also known as a *leaf-and-spine* or *fat-tree* topology. |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +Geneve header: |
26 | 29 |
|
27 | 30 | .. code-block:: none |
28 | 31 |
|
@@ -69,24 +72,29 @@ Common interface configuration |
69 | 72 | :var0: geneve |
70 | 73 | :var1: gnv0 |
71 | 74 |
|
72 | | -GENEVE options |
| 75 | +Geneve options |
73 | 76 | ============== |
74 | 77 |
|
75 | 78 | .. cfgcmd:: set interfaces geneve gnv0 remote <address> |
76 | 79 |
|
77 | | - Configure GENEVE tunnel far end/remote tunnel endpoint. |
| 80 | + Configure the remote endpoint IP address for the Geneve tunnel. |
78 | 81 |
|
79 | 82 | .. cfgcmd:: set interfaces geneve gnv0 vni <vni> |
80 | 83 |
|
81 | | - :abbr:`VNI (Virtual Network Identifier)` is an identifier for a unique |
82 | | - element of a virtual network. In many situations this may represent an L2 |
83 | | - segment, however, the control plane defines the forwarding semantics of |
84 | | - decapsulated packets. The VNI MAY be used as part of ECMP forwarding |
85 | | - decisions or MAY be used as a mechanism to distinguish between overlapping |
86 | | - address spaces contained in the encapsulated packet when load balancing |
87 | | - across CPUs. |
| 84 | + **Configure** :abbr:`VNI (Virtual Network Identifier)` **for the Geneve |
| 85 | + interface.** |
| 86 | + |
| 87 | + The VNI is a virtual network identifier. It allows multiple virtual networks to |
| 88 | + share the same physical infrastructure and remain isolated. |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | + The VNI is also used to distribute traffic after it leaves the tunnel, for |
| 91 | + example, to map packets with overlapping IP addresses to specific routing |
| 92 | + tables. |
88 | 93 |
|
89 | 94 | .. cfgcmd:: set interfaces gnv0 <interface> port <port> |
90 | 95 |
|
91 | | - Configure port number of remote GENEVE endpoint. |
| 96 | + **Configure the destination UDP port for the remote Geneve tunnel endpoint.** |
| 97 | + |
| 98 | + Ensure the remote peer is configured to listen on this specific port. |
| 99 | + |
92 | 100 |
|
0 commit comments