This guide provides a step-by-step tutorial for deploying the AsterNOS-VPP virtual gateway on a VMware ESXi environment.

By following this guide, you will transform a standard x86 server into a high-performance virtual router capable of Line-Rate L2/L3 Forwarding and NAT services. Unlike standard virtual machine deployments, this guide leverages PCI Passthrough technology to bypass the virtualization layer, unlocking the full performance potential of the hardware.

The scenarios covered include:

To successfully complete this task, readers should have:

The system defaults to the Free Edition. To unlock Commercial Edition features, follow these steps:

Before configuring the software, we must define the physical and logical connections. The setup uses one management port (virtual) and three data ports (physical passthrough).

The AsterNOS image is typically distributed in .qcow2 format. VMware ESXi requires the .vmdk format.

To achieve line-rate performance, the VM must bypass the virtual switch and access the network cards directly.

Create the VM with specific settings to support PCI passthrough and stability.

4.  Finish: Complete the wizard and power on the VM.

In this phase, we will complete all global network configurations at once. To facilitate the initial Layer 2 performance test, we will initially assign both LAN ports (Ethernet3 and Ethernet4) to VLAN 100.

Log in to the console and enter the CLI configuration view.

Configure the upstream interface (Ethernet2) with a static IP and set the default gateway to ensure internet connectivity.

Create the necessary VLANs and configure their IP addresses. These will serve as gateways for the internal PCs.

Set up the Source NAT rules to map internal private IP addresses to the WAN public IP address.

For the first round of testing, we will assign BOTH Ethernet3 (PC1) and Ethernet4 (PC2) to VLAN 100. This creates a Layer 2 loop-free path for line-rate verification.

Verify that the AsterNOS-VPP VM performs Layer 2 forwarding at line rate.

This guide demonstrates that AsterNOS-VPP successfully combines the robust SONiC ecosystem with the high-performance VPP data plane.

By leveraging virtual machines and PCI passthrough on standard x86 servers, users can easily build an enterprise-grade virtual gateway capable of line-rate Layer 2/3 forwarding and NAT. For network environments seeking high performance, flexibility, and cost efficiency, AsterNOS-VPP is an ideal solution.