IP Networks

In modern data center networks, Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) and Virtual Port Channels (vPC) are foundational technologies, offering enhanced scalability, flexibility, and redundancy. When combined, they create a robust and highly available network infrastructure. However, understanding how IP addresses are handled in a vPC VXLAN environment, particularly the roles of Virtual IP (VIP) and Primary IP (PIP) addresses, is crucial for ensuring optimal traffic flow and preventing common pitfalls like black-holing. ...

Multicast is a powerful communication method in computer networks that allows a single sender to efficiently deliver data to multiple interested recipients simultaneously. Unlike unicast (one-to-one) or broadcast (one-to-all on a segment), multicast conserves network bandwidth and processing resources by minimizing duplicate transmissions, replicating packets only when necessary. At the heart of this efficiency are multicast trees, which are fundamental to how multicast protocols like Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) build loop-free forwarding topologies. ...