As data centers grow in size and complexity, enterprises are adopting server virtualization technologies such as VMware, VMotion, NIC teaming and server clustering to achieve increased efficiency of resources and to ensure business resilience. However, these technologies often involve significant expense and challenges to deal with complex multisite interconnections and to maintain the high availability of network resources and applications.
Interconnecting Data Centers Using VPLS presents Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) based solutions that provide high-speed, low-latency network and Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) isolation between data centers resulting in significant cost savings and a highly resilient virtualized network. The design guidance, configuration examples and best practices presented in this book have been validated under the Cisco Validated Design (CVD) System Assurance program to facilitate faster, more reliable and more predictable deployments. The presented solutions include detailed information about issues that relate to large Layer 2 bridging domains and offer guidance for extending VLANs over Layer 3 networks using VPLS technology.