Cisco Systems is making its virtual switch, the Nexus 1000v, a little less virtual.
The Nexus 1000v virtual switch replaces the vSwitch embedded in VMware hypervisor software and aims to give network administrators more control and visibility into the switching that takes place between virtual machines on a virtual host server. To date, however, the Nexus 1000v has existed as a virtual machine — a turn-off for network administrators who are accustomed to being able to see and touch their physical network devices.
“I think a lot of network administrators were leery about having [Nexus 1000v] as a virtual appliance because it’s something that’s beyond their control,” said Eric Siebert, senior system administrator with restaurant chain Boston Market and a TechTarget contributor. “Traditionally, the virtual administrators have control over [any virtual machines on a host server].… I think the Nexus 1010 gives them the option to have that type of control in a physical chassis.”
