F5 Networks Brings Virtual Switches Under Control

As part of an effort to better manage the switching requirements of virtual servers, F5 Networks today is previewing a free trial of a virtual server implementation of its Application Delivery Controller (ADC) technology that will run on top of virtual machines from VMware.

Called the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager Virtual Edition, the basic idea is to bring the traffic management technology that F5 Networks currently uses in its ADC controllers and deliver it on top of a virtual server where it can better manage all the virtual switches on any given physical server. As each virtual machine on a server requires its own virtual switch, the process of managing all the traffic being generated by physical servers that can now support multiple virtual machines is getting untenable.

F5 Networks is attempting to alleviate this network bandwidth issue by creating a virtual extension of its technology that can work hand in glove with physical ADC appliances to optimize bandwidth allocation to multiple switches deployed all over the data center.

While there are a number of standards efforts under way to integrate virtual and physical switches, the virtual edition of F5 Networks technology is scheduled to be commercially available before the end of June, said Alan Murphy, technical marketing manager for F5 Networks. The current beta release of the virtual edition of the F5 Network has been deliberately hobbled by F5 Networks to discourage IT organizations from deploying the software in production environments before then, said Murphy.

Ultimately, said Murphy, the goal is to allow customers to set policies using F5 Networks iRules software that will be implemented across both physical and virtual servers running with public and private cloud computing deployments.