Jumbo Frames and Network Virtualization Overlay Networks
In data networking, the standard Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) for IP frames is 1500 Bytes. Jumbo Frames are MTU’s larger than 1500 Bytes although when we reference Jumbo Frames, we are normally referencing a Frame with an MTU of 9000 Bytes.
Network Virtualization and the addition of an overlay (encapsulation) networking technology (VXLAN, STT, GRE, Geneve) to the data center requires some consideration as to what MTU to use due to the overhead of overlay transport technologies.
VMware NSX using the overlay technology VXLAN requires an MTU of 100 bytes greater than the networks used for Virtual Machines – In a traditional data center using a 1500 byte MTU for virtual machines, this would require the use of a 1600 Byte MTU for the L2 or L3 network(s) associated with the overlay or NSX Transport network…