GENEVE

networking

Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation: a tunnelling format designed to carry arbitrary metadata rather than a fixed set of fields.

Its whole argument is with its predecessors. Earlier encapsulations fixed their header fields at design time, so anything the designers had not anticipated required a new protocol; this one carries extensible options so the format outlives the requirements. Whether that generality was worth the parsing cost is a live disagreement, and hardware support has been the deciding factor rather than elegance.

Also known as: generic network virtualization encapsulation

← All glossary entries