Hi David,

 

I totally share your concerns with regard to the use of the VN/VNI concepts.

For me the terms "Virtual Network Instance" and "Virtual Network" mean the same 
thing,

and I think, both terms can be used interchangeably to refer to a specific 
virtual network.

Instead of "Virtual Network Local Instance" or "VNLI" as you suggest, I can 
also imagine

the term "Virtual Network Forwarding Instance" or "VNFI". By using this 
definition, a VN

is actually a set of one or more VNFIs interconnected by a set of L3 tunnels.

Please note that the term VNFI is independent of the service it provides (L2 or 
L3) as

"forwarding" can happen at both Layer 2 or Layer 3.

What do you think?

 

Thanks,

Florian

 


>>> "Black, David" <[email protected]> 19.06.13 1.25 Uhr >>> 
In working on some control plane draft material, I've run across an 
inconsistency in the use of the concept of a "virtual network instance" 
(or VNI) between the problem statement and framework drafts. 

The problem statement draft does not define "virtual network instance" 
and uses that term more or less interchangeably with "virtual network" 
to refer to a specific virtual network. Here's an example with both 
terms used in the same sentence near the top of p.5: 

A key requirement is that each 
individual virtual network instance be isolated from other virtual 
network instances, with traffic crossing from one virtual network to 
another only when allowed by policy. 

The framework draft defines Virtual Network Instance (VNI) as effectively 
being the portion of a virtual network that is instantiated in an NVE: 

VNI: Virtual Network Instance. This is one instance of a virtual 
overlay network. It refers to the state maintained for a given VN on 
a given NVE. Two Virtual Networks are isolated from one another and 
may use overlapping addresses. 

Something's wrong here. Back in February, Thomas Narten proposed that 
we use the problem statement terminology consistently in the framework 
draft, but there hasn't been any further discussion. 

Speaking for myself, the problem statement draft's usage seems more 
intuitive (an "instance" of a virtual network is a virtual network, not 
part of one, as is the case in the framework draft), but we've had the 
VNI acronym around in the framework draft for a good long time now. 

If it were ok to change the framework draft, I would prefer: 

VNLI: Virtual Network Local Instance. This is an instance of a 
     virtual overlay network on a specific NVE. The VNLI refers to the 
local state and associated processing for a given VN on a given 
NVE. Within an NVE, VNLIs are isolated from one another and 
may use overlapping network addresses. 

But that's just my 0.02 - what should be done about this? 

Thanks, 
--David 
---------------------------------------------------- 
David L. Black, Distinguished Engineer 
EMC Corporation, 176 South St., Hopkinton, MA 01748 
+1 (508) 293-7953 FAX: +1 (508) 293-7786 
[email protected] Mobile: +1 (978) 394-7754 
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