Preface

Networking is one of the most important and critical components of any IT architecture. Architects always want to lay the foundation and solve networking before compute and storage is looked at. This is why I have always felt the need to understand networking better and understand how things work.

Network virtualization technology gave me a behind the scenes, hands-on look at how networking works and the concepts that made it happen. The ability to deploy virtual appliances such as switches, load balancers, and routers and examine their functionality was very appealing. The pace at which I learned network virtualization gave me the confidence to grow in a field that I thought I lacked significant knowledge in. Throughout my journey, I understood that network virtualization not only made me think like a network engineer but also made me apply networking concepts very creatively to a virtualized environment, and this made it all the more appealing. What was complex before now became extremely simple.

The journey started in 2015 when I went around presenting at multiple VMUG UserCon sessions all around the country. My presentation was Getting started with VMware NSX - basics and best practices. My aim here was not to talk about what NSX can do but to talk about how easy it was to get started and to squash some common misconceptions about NSX. I wasn't sure if this was a topic worth talking about and wasn't expecting a large crowd. My time slot to present was right after lunch, which wasn't very appealing.

I was quickly proved wrong. In each and every city I presented, all of my sessions were completely full. People were eager to see how to get started with NSX and in fact, preferred this presentation over any NSX presentations happening at the same conference. This is when the first edition of Learning VMware NSX was born. Following the tremendous reception and feedback, we decided to have this second edition to ensure continuity and address changes in the network virtualization technology.

The aim of the book is to connect to that day-to-day administrator and that network engineer and make it easy for them to understand NSX. The book explains the basics and covers the deployment of various features of network virtualization in simple, clear language and with screenshots to allow you to visualize the workflow as you read.

I hope you enjoy working with this second of edition Learning VMware NSX, and that it helps you learn how to use and understand NSX and network virtualization. We are constantly looking for feedback and advice, so feel free to reach out to us by all means necessary.