Shulou(Shulou.com)06/03 Report--

Senior operation and maintenance in the financial circle, take you "VMware NSX Introduction to Actual Combat", and complete a set of network virtualization solutions NSX

1. Briefly describe the development history of cloud computing

Since AWS first launched EC2 (Elastic Computing Cloud) in 2006, cloud computing has officially passed more than a decade. Over the past decade or so, technology has been updated with each passing day, and new concepts have emerged one after another, but from now on, cloud computing is still definitely among the hottest technologies and concepts. Of course, cloud computing does not refer to a pure technology, it is just a concept, the popular idea is that IAAS infrastructure resources are like tap water in a waterworks, we can use water at any time, according to our own needs, and finally pay according to our own usage.

Of course, a transaction or technology from the emergence to the rise to glory, there are always every stage, cloud computing is no exception, I think the rise of cloud computing is due to the popularity of server virtualization technology, and server virtualization technology is a revolutionary technology in the field of data center, server virtualization technology completely subverted the traditional data center architecture, so that IT personnel and enterprises are really feeling its benefits. Among them, there is no doubt that VMware vSphere (including ESXi and its predecessor-ESX and GSX) is the real leader and revolutionary in server virtualization technology. Since then, server virtualization technology has entered thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises. As time goes by, more and more enterprises embrace server virtualization technology. Just as a good building needs a good foundation, cloud computing is based on server virtualization, and it is the widespread popularity of server virtualization technology that makes cloud computing more and more popular.

1.1 Rise and development

vSphere was launched by VMware in 2009, and by the time server virtualization technology became popular, it had entered the 1910s. The advent of the cloud computing wave has also allowed major IT vendors around the world to see new opportunities. In January 2010, Microsoft officially released the Microsoft Azure platform. In 2009, Ali also set up Alibaba Cloud at the right time, but it was a few years later that it grew up and was well known to everyone. With the frequent moves of public cloud vendors and the emergence of new technologies in other data center areas (networking and storage), the wave of cloud computing has been unstoppable.

In the first half of the 1910s, cloud computing standards controversy, public/private cloud debate and so on never stopped, during this period, along with the open source project Openstack (October 2010 released the first version of Austin) hot, users from all walks of life with their own exploration of the development of cloud computing. In the process of exploration, cloud computing has more and more requirements for the three major blocks of data center field-computing, network and storage. The importance of each block is gradually balanced, and everyone begins to clearly realize the importance of the bottom layer. Just like a house, the foundation is important, the steel structure is important, and so is everything else.

1.2 maturity and cooperation.

By the second half of the 10th century, most people in the industry had a clear understanding and understanding of cloud computing, and more and more users clearly realized what kind of cloud they needed, rather than going to the cloud for the cloud. Since cloud computing is the top layer and the bottom layer is the three big pieces of the data center-compute, network, and storage-what kind of data center is more suitable for the cloud? What kind of data center is more suitable for the majority of users? To address these issues, VMware introduced a new concept in 2016-SDDC (Software-defined data center). The underlying technologies are its own server virtualization (vSphere), network virtualization (NSX) and storage virtualization (vSAN). Although virtualization technologies in various fields have other products, VMware is the only company that can provide a full set of virtualization solutions. This is also the basis for it to launch this concept. Once SDDC was launched, it quickly swept the entire data center field. It has become the architectural standard for next-generation data centers.

In addition, in the second half of the decade, public/private clouds gradually entered the field of cooperation. In the first half of the 1910s, the major IT vendors were still unclear about the future trend of cloud computing. Some only wanted to be big themselves, and some wanted to catch both. By the second half of the 1910s, this trend was obvious-cooperation could win. In 2017, VMware sold its own public cloud vCloud Air. As the saying goes, a good cook doesn't have to be a star restaurant himself. Maybe it's better to open a small restaurant or cook for others. In the second half of 2017, VMware announced cooperation with AWS, and in 2018 and 2019, VMware announced cooperation with Microsoft, Alibaba, Tencent and other public cloud vendors.

By now, the public/private cloud debate is over, and everyone is clear about what cloud their company needs. Most small and medium-sized companies may choose to go to the public cloud based on cost considerations, while some medium-sized companies and above may go to the private cloud or hybrid cloud based on their own data security considerations (for example, the front-end WEB class may be placed on the public cloud, enjoy the CDN and other conveniences of the public cloud, and the back-end database class may be placed in the private cloud of their own data center).

In the decade of the 10th century, Openstack undoubtedly made great contributions to the promotion and development of cloud computing. In this decade, countless cloud computing vendors have sprung up, one after another, pushing cloud computing forward.   

2. IT technicians in the era of cloud computing 2.1. Impact of cloud computing on IT technicians

Although cloud computing is a concept introduced in the field of infrastructure data centers, as it matures, the scope of influence is becoming wider and wider. First and foremost are IT people in the infrastructure field. No matter which side of technology you are in before, cloud computing requires everyone to continuously advance in the direction of composite technology, which is also a software-defined trend. That is to say, the requirements for IT technicians are becoming wider and wider. No matter in the development field or in the operation and maintenance field, the changes of the times require IT personnel to master more and more skills. Full-stack engineers are no longer a slogan, which is also the key to the rise of DevOps.

Secondly, the IT industry non-infrastructure related personnel, this year, will not point or do not understand cloud computing, whether in personal ability improvement, or development prospects are a short board. Cloud computing pushes the era forward in the direction of big data, and it also pushes everyone to use, understand, and learn it.

2.2 What should IT technicians do in the era of cloud computing

Since the tide of the times is rolling forward, all we can do is to adapt to the times and keep pace with the times. As the saying goes, survival of the fittest is expected in the foreseeable future, people who do not adapt to this wave will eventually be eliminated by the times.

Many people say that "2019 is the best year in the next 10 years." According to the survey at the end of 2019, from 2017 to 2019, the rate of getting year-end awards has been declining every year, reaching nearly 30% in 2019. Think about it, the form has been very severe. As we bid farewell to 2019 and enter 2020, the start has been bad, so the test of the times has just begun.

In this huge era background, everyone is of course considering how to survive well, since as IT technicians, the pressure of personnel renewal is greater, your confidence comes from your technical ability after all. Since we said that the current era of cloud computing, then learning cloud computing is certainly a correct choice, especially for IT technicians in the field of infrastructure. Of course, building a building requires a good foundation. We also mentioned that the bottom layer of cloud computing is the three big blocks of data center-computing, network and storage. Now cloud computing needs not only the old generation of data center, but a new generation of SDDC (software-defined data center), which requires us to master server virtualization, storage virtualization and network virtualization technology, which server virtualization technology after so many years of popularity, I believe we are not too strange, and network virtualization technology is the key to connecting all this, but also difficult technology, so this is also the purpose of my opening this column.  

3. Content, basic knowledge requirements and harvest of this column

This column mainly explains VMware's network virtualization product NSX. Through this product, network virtualization technology is explained. After all, the technical concept is the same. After understanding this product, it is easy to use other solutions later. Why I chose NSX among many network virtualization products is explained in Chapter 1 of my column (Advantages of NSX), so I won't go into too much detail here.

3.1 Learn the basic knowledge required for this column

Since network virtualization is the foundation for connecting cloud computing, we need to use a lot of basic environments, and NSX is a relatively advanced technology, so we need more basic knowledge. The basics of NSX are as follows:

(1) Installation and debugging of physical servers

(2) Store relevant knowledge

(3) Basic network knowledge (network, firewall, Load Balancer, etc.)

(4) AD/DNS/NTP/Syslog Server Installation Configuration

(5) Server virtualization installation configuration and architecture design

(6) OS (Linux/Windows) related knowledge

(7) Installation and configuration of common applications (such as Apache)

This column will also explain and configure the relevant knowledge in each chapter, but due to space problems, some simple ones such as physical server installation configuration will be simply skipped.

Of course, as a network virtualization technology, the association with network knowledge is also the largest, here many students may ask, I know some basic network knowledge, how to configure specific physical network equipment, even some students do not have any basic network knowledge, these conditions are also suitable for learning this column? Here the author himself is responsible to tell you that these can be. This column will explain the basic network knowledge and related architecture clearly. As long as you understand the principle, it is relatively simple to learn how to configure it, and it can get twice the result with half the effort; Moreover, there are more than dozens of screenshots of chapters in each practical operation link of this column, and the relevant operation instructions are also very fine. There are marks in the screenshots to facilitate everyone to understand the principle and teach you how to configure it by hand. It is definitely full of dry goods and detailed guidance.

3.2 Learn about the harvest of this column.

NSX network virtualization is also considered relatively high in VMware's product technology. Let's talk about the gains after learning this technology.

(1) Understand the role of network virtualization in cloud computing

Since network virtualization is needed in cloud computing, its existence must be to solve some of the needs and problems of the network in cloud computing, which is explained in detail in the first chapter of this column. IT technicians sometimes fall into the trap of knowing how to do it, but not knowing why. In Chapter 1, we explain in detail the development of the network and the problems encountered, and then derive why VXLAN technology is needed, how the idea of this technology comes from, that is, how this technology is realized. Then compare VXLAN technology against various technology categories to understand why it plays a leading role in network virtualization.

(2) Better understanding and learning cloud computing

The rise of network virtualization technology is mainly due to the prominent problems in cloud computing. Since the network virtualization technology has been mastered, the understanding of cloud computing will also be a step closer. After all, network virtualization is one of the three bottom layers of cloud computing. As long as the network virtualization technology is mastered, the company will launch the cloud platform in the later stage. The underlying architecture designed to meet the company's cloud platform will be more handy, and more hidden dangers will not be buried.

(3) A deeper understanding of the underlying vSphere

Since network virtualization is connectivity, then underlying computing virtualization is the foundation. NSX has products for different underlying Hypervisors. This column is based on the common vSphere bottom layer. When using vSphere at the bottom layer, some requirements (such as clustering and VDS) need to be met before NSX can be deployed normally. In the process of step-by-step experimental deployment and testing, we can also better understand and master vSphere bottom layer, which is also very beneficial to students with weak foundation.

(4) Understand and master SDDC and underlying architecture design

Since SDDC (Software-Defined Data Center) is the next generation data center architecture standard, it is also better suited for cloud computing. NSX requires server virtualization. In addition, NSX itself belongs to network virtualization. Learning this column will also learn the two blocks of SDDC bottom layer, so the improvement of technology is quite large.

In addition, this column explains how to design the data center production architecture and how to adapt flexibly in chapters 2 and 4 with the real physical environment. After learning, you can directly design the architecture and deploy it to the production environment.

(5) Master mainstream network virtualization technology and better understand network knowledge

This column will explain the basic network knowledge in detail, and after learning this column, it will also explain the basic network knowledge.(Network, Firewall, Load Balancer, etc.) has a deeper understanding, because NSX can not only implement Layer 2 through VXLAN, but also support a series of hardware network equipment functions such as static and dynamic routing (dynamic routing supports OSPF and BGP), logical firewall (supports east-west and north-south direction firewall), logical Load Balancer (soft LB), etc. The functions and knowledge involved in NSX cover all aspects of network level.

Although this column is based on NSX, it still uses VXLAN, which is the carrier technology for realizing the second layer. This technology is also proposed by VMware and Cisco. The core technology of SDN solutions is VXLAN, whether it is hard SDN or soft SDN. As long as you master NSX, you can master VXLAN technology. In addition, the other functions mentioned above are mostly the same in each product. Later, regardless of which solution is used in their respective data centers, they can quickly get started. In addition, the first chapter of this column also distinguishes and explains hard and soft work, and explains the advantages of NSX, which is very helpful to you later evaluation and even design scheme.

(6) Familiar with other relevant knowledge points

Chapters 3 and 4 of this column are practical operations and scenario tests, which involve OS (Windows/Linux), applications (Apache, Nginx, etc.), etc. In addition, a series of basic environments such as AD/DNS/NTP/Syslog are also required when building the bottom layer. Although this column will not cover all aspects due to emphasis, some requirements and configurations will be mentioned in this column, which is also convenient for everyone to learn and understand these related knowledge points.  

3.3 This column content directory introduction

The following detailed catalogue of this column, you can find that the proportion of practical operation and scenario chapters is very large, and this column uses all real physical devices (physical servers, network devices, enterprise-class FC storage) and matches the latest version of NSX 6.4.6 (as of mid-January 2020), I believe this column will definitely help you.

Senior operation and maintenance in the financial circle, take you "VMware NSX Introduction to Actual Combat", and complete a set of network virtualization solutions NSX

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