VXLAN Troubleshooting - esxcli commands

So with the release of VMware’s NSX™ product, some of us may have already started down that road of playing with it in our labs.  VMware NSX™ is the network virtualization and security platform positioned as a key part of the Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC).  You can check out more on NSX™ on VMware’s site here: http://www.vmware.com/products/nsx/

After sitting through a great class on NSX taught by @trainingrev in Austin, TX, I have decided to share some of the awesome information I came across about some esxcli commands that can be used to troubleshoot VXLAN from your ESXi hosts.  For those of you who don’t know what VXLAN is or what it can do, here is a quick and short description is used to address the need for overlay networks within virtualized data centers accommodating multiple tenants.  The scheme and the related protocols can be used in cloud service provider and enterprise data center networks.

For more information on VXLAN, you can look at the actual IETF submittal (http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-mahalingam-dutt-dcops-vxlan-09) or check out this whitepaper from Cisco.

So let’s begin, shall we?

• List VXLANs - esxcli network vswitch dvs vxlan list
• List VXLAN Network List - esxcli network vswitch dvs vmware vxlan network list --vds-name=dvSwitch0
• Show the VXLAN MAC Table - esxcli network**** vswitch dvs vmware vxlan mac list --vds-name=dvSwitch0
• Show the VXLAN ARP Table - esxcli network vswitch dvs vmware vxlan arp list --vds-name=dvSwitch0
• Show the VXLAN Network Statistics - esxcli network vswitch dvs vmware vxlan network stats list --vds-name=dvSwitch0 --vxlan-id=5000

These commands above will come in very handy for troubleshooting VXLAN on your ESXi hosts.  Be sure to replace dvSwitch0 and the VXLAN ID where needed to fit your troubleshooting scenario.  Keep an eye out for more NSX troubleshooting posts coming soon!  See ya’ around!