As soon as the cloud services came up, together with the need to transform networks into a virtual environment, the term for the virtual router was born. As networks are impossible to exist without one. And it doesn’t matter whether they are physical or virtual.
What tool is that, how it works, and what are its functions? We cover it all below.
What is a virtual router?
A virtual router is a software emulating the work of a physical routing system. It redirects data between the internal private network and external internet network. At the same time, it physically exists.
One can say that it is a peculiar transport node. To better understand it, let’s look at the Frankfurt Am Main International Airport, one of the largest in Europe. Here, hundreds of planes arrive daily from all over the world. Imagine you landed in Frankfurt on your way from Rome to Paris. You enter the transfer zone and wait for your plane to come in. If you are not from the EU, then you go through passport control, and only then enter the transfer zone. And if you decide to stay for a few days in Frankfurt, you take your luggage and leave the airport. The same works for a router — it is a point where all data packages arrive to then be distributed to another routes.
Basis of work
In layman’s terms, a router is like the thing that gives you Wi-Fi, beaming with a small light in your hallway. It unites all the internal networks inside a flat with all the devices: laptop, TV, Roomba etc. Devices «see» each other. If they want to go online, they should send a request to the router, and then the latter verifies whether these devices are allowed to do it or not.
Your internet provider gives the router a single public IP address, also dubbed as «white». It is the reason someone might say to you «I have your IP address». But their amount is limited, so not every device could get one. Which is why there also exist the «gray» IPs, and they are not unique.
Now let’s leave your house to join the virtual world. Say, you deployed a huge infrastructure in the cloud, for 20 virtual machines, and adjusted the router. All VMs could go online via it and its white IP. The machines themselves work on gray IP addresses. But you have to allow the office, remote workers, clients to access the separate virtual machines, namely separate services located on them. It is exactly the router that connects the private gray environment with the external world. Meanwhile, it always has some rules for routing.
Main functions of the virtual routing
- Network union. It connects internal and external networks.
- Safety. It provides various security mechanisms, such as network separation, firewalls, VPN tunnels, network policies, and traffic filtration. It gives security and protection for the network traffic in the cloud environment, ensuring privacy, integrity, and data accessibility.
- Address translation. It controls the incoming traffic and defines access policies to some services located in the cloud.
A virtual router allows users to customize a more protected and reliable connection to the cloud infrastructure.
What virtual routers are there?
They could be roughly divided into three main groups:
- Integrated into the virtualization environment. Examples: NSX Edge and Neutron. The first one is used in VMware solutions for network virtualization, routing, and firewall functions, while Neutron is used in OpenStack environment for networks management.
- Software to be installed inside any operating system. Let’s say, a software transforming OS into a router can be installed on a virtual machine with Ubuntu, CentOS, Windows 10 OS. Simultaneously, this VM can be a server with Counter-Strike or file storage.
- Routers from global vendors. They can vary in functionality, protocols they support or features. For the cloud infrastructure, the most popular ones are Cisco CSR, ASAv, ASA, as well as MikroTik.
GigaCloud, as a cloud provider, gives its clients VMware or OpenStack-based cloud infrastructure. At the same time, it doesn’t limit the customers, and they can any other router in addition to the built-in one, and use it. That is, a client can order a Cisco or MikroTik router and install their VM with a Windows service. No boundaries whatsoever.
Moreover, the virtual router can support creating VPN tunnels for safe data transmission through unprotected networks.
