WHAT TO EXPECT
In this article, users will learn how a cloudSwXtch works with broadcast traffic in the environment when the feature is used.
Broadcast is a feature of the cloudSwXtch overlay network. With Broadcast, existing applications and services that expect standards-based broadcast will work without requiring any code changes and with performance that approaches that of bare metal.
At a high level, cloudSwXtch implements a software switch that serves the same role as a hardware switch. cloudSwXtch receives broadcast packets from producers and sends a copy of each packet to every destination VM.
The xNIC service handles tunneling broadcast traffic between the cloudSwXtch and the VM operating system. The xNIC service must be installed on every VM that needs to send or receive broadcast traffic.
SUMMARY
The cloudSwXtch system consists of a software switch instantiated within a virtual network and a set of virtual machines that have an xNIC virtual interface.
Applications can send and receive broadcast by targeting the virtual network interface. Broadcast packets are generated by the local operating system and the xNIC virtual interface seamlessly picks these up and sends them to the cloudSwXtch instance. Local applications will work unchanged in this environment just as they would on a similar bare-metal network.