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Does VXLAN always require UDP for encapsulation, cant it just send packet with only IP header?

UDP port 4079 may be required for identification, but is there not any other way to identify, like the VNI field?

How can hosts communicate directly with each other once The two NVEs process the address learning and have each other’s MAC address in the NVE’s mapping table, i think they will still require IP network for communication as they dont have a direct connection, can be miles apart

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  • The VXLAN standard defines it as using UDP. If you would use it directly on IP (if that was possible), it would not be VXLAN anymore.
    – Teun Vink ♦
    Jan 9, 2020 at 5:59
  • Ok, still confused as to how can hosts communicate directly with each other once The two NVEs process the address learning and have each other’s MAC address in the NVE’s mapping table, i think they will still require IP network for communication as they dont have a direct connection, can be miles apart
    – Pooja Gupta
    Jan 9, 2020 at 6:02
  • UDP runs on top of IP. The IP header identifies the source IP, destination IP, and encapsulated protocol (UDP in this case). The UDP header identifies the source port and destination port (4079 per your question) and encapsulates the data.
    – Darrell Root
    Jan 9, 2020 at 6:42

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Does VXLAN always require UDP for encapsulation,

Yes. VXLAN encapsulates (Ethernet) frames using UDP datagrams.

cant it just send packet with only IP header?

That's not VXLAN, that's some other protocol. The point of tunneling is to hide "inner" addressing from the "outer" forwarding protocols. In VXLAN's case, the inner addressing is MAC + VLAN ID, the outer is UDP over IP.

UDP port 4079 may be required for identification, but is there not any other way to identify, like the VNI field?

The VNID provides inner addressing, you cannot use it to direct an encapsulating datagram.

There are various implementation variants. Check your device's documentation. If you plan to use VXLAN over the Internet I'd very strongly suggest VPN for authentication and privacy. Usually you shouldn't require L2 connectivity over VPN though, so you'd just route and use firewall rules to control connectivity.

How can hosts communicate directly with each other once The two NVEs process the address learning and have each other’s MAC address in the NVE’s mapping table, i think they will still require IP network for communication as they dont have a direct connection, can be miles apart

A VXLAN tunnel provides a network bridge between two potentially widely separated endpoints. Frames are tunneled through like they were connected to the same switch/VLAN. Switches connected to the VXLAN bridges learn source MAC addresses in the same way as with any other bridge.

Of course, you require a working IP network between the VXLAN endpoints to create the tunnel.

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  • I need IP network between the VXLan ENDPOINTS TO TO CREATE THE TUNNEL, THAT IS UNDERSTANDABLE bUT to continue using the tunnel after it has been created, still i would need the IP network internally to keep transmitting frames, this is my doubt
    – Pooja Gupta
    Jan 9, 2020 at 9:10
  • @PoojaGupta Each tunnel end requires (at least) an IP interface to send/receive UDP datagrams (with a working connection to the far side of the tunnel), and an Ethernet interface to send/receive frames.
    – Zac67 ♦
    Jan 9, 2020 at 15:33

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