Distributed Overlay Virtual Ethernet (DOVE) is atunneling andvirtualization technology forcomputer networks, created and backed byIBM. DOVE allows creation of network virtualization layers for deploying, controlling, and managing multiple independent and isolated network applications over a shared physical network infrastructure.[2]
The tunneling format is decoupled from the logical network view offered by DOVE, and defines only the wayframes areencapsulated to be transferred by the underlying network infrastructure. As a notable difference from other network virtualization solutions (such asOTV), this allows DOVE not to be limited to providingOSIlayer 2 emulation only (for example, passingEthernet frames).[2]
Logical components of the DOVE architecture areDOVE controllers andDOVE switches (abbreviated asdSwitch). DOVE controllers perform management functions, and one part of thecontrol plane functions across DOVEswitches. DOVE switches perform the encapsulation of layer 2 frames intoUDP packets using theVirtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) frame format, and provide virtual interfaces forvirtual machines to plug into, similarly to how physicalEthernet switches provide ports fornetwork interface controller (NIC) connections. DOVE switches are running as part of virtual machinehypervisors.[2][3][4]
No addresses of virtual machines are present inEthernet switches, resulting in smallerMAC tables and less complexSTP layouts
No limitations related to theVirtual LAN (VLAN) technology, resulting in more than 16 million possible separate networks, compared to the VLAN's limit of 4,000
As of November 2013[update], DOVE components are implemented as part ofVMware's hypervisors, while implementations for theLinuxKVM andOpen vSwitch are planned.[6][7]
DOVE extensions forVXLAN were merged into theLinux kernel mainline in kernel version 3.8, which was released on February 18, 2013.[8][9] Appropriate extensions to relateduserspace configuration utilities were added into version 3.8.0 of theiproute2 utilities, which was released on February 21, 2013.[10]
^Thomas Richter (October 21, 2013)."Software Defined Networking using VXLAN"(PDF).LinuxCon Edinburgh.IBM Research and Development, Linux Technology Center. RetrievedNovember 22, 2013.
