Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2014. Read them in this VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed article by Jay Botelho, Director of Product Management at WildPackets
The virtual blind spot is coming. Are you ready?
In 2013, organizations saw the proliferation of
virtualization as well as an increase in higher speed networks, forcing them to
reevaluate how they manage and monitor their IT infrastructure. As a result, we
predict 2014 will be the year of the "virtual blind spot," areas of application
traffic that never cross a physical network interface.
Traditional network and application management relies on
data from physical network components, like routers, switches, and in-line,
dedicated analysis appliances. Network traffic that is completely contained
within a virtual infrastructure, for example, the communication between an
application server and a database, remains hidden from these traditional NPM
and APM solutions, leaving network engineers, IT managers, and application
engineers in the dark when problems arise.
Causes
These virtual blind spots are the result of applications
communicating with each other without ever accessing a physical network port. This
traffic never leaves the virtual machine, and there is no practical way to
monitor or manage this internal virtual network traffic.
Because of these virtual blind spots, we predict
organizations will begin investing in network and application management
solutions for their virtual environments.
Solutions
Solutions vary for eliminating virtual blind spots, based on
the complexity of the virtual environment. For stand-alone virtual servers, a
software probe that runs as one of the virtualized applications is often enough
to capture and analyze the traffic across the entire virtual server, offering a
cost-effective solution to eliminate blind spots within the server. For more
complex systems consisting of multiple servers or blades across a virtual
backbone, a dedicated network analysis appliance is the best solution for
gaining visibility into the entire virtual system. If the virtual system is
capable of spanning virtual switch ports, enabling this feature will allow the
network analysis appliance to directly connect to the virtual network traffic.
If not, third-party virtual taps can be used to tap the virtual traffic and
make it available to external network analysis appliances.
While the virtual blind spot will become a reality in 2014,
the good news is that there are solutions for organizations to avoid the
pitfalls. Virtual taps are sold by many tap vendors, and they provide a
physical link between traditional network monitoring appliances and virtual
systems.
##
About the Author
Jay Botelho is the Director of Product Management at
WildPackets, Inc., a leading network analysis solutions provider for networks
of all sizes and topologies. Jay holds an MSEE, and is an industry veteran with
over 25 years of experience in product management, product marketing, program
management and complex analysis. From the first mobile computers developed by
GRiD Systems to modern day network infrastructure systems, Jay has been
instrumental in setting corporate direction, specifying requirements for industry-leading
hardware and software products, and growing product sales through targeted
product marketing.