The original title is "VXLAN Explained: An Overlay You Can Read on the Wire"

Short summary

A Protocol Lab tutorial that builds a point-to-point VXLAN overlay between two nodes to demonstrate Layer-2-over-L3 encapsulation. Unlike WireGuard's encrypted tunnel, VXLAN encapsulates Ethernet frames in UDP 4789 without encryption, so packet captures reveal both the VXLAN header and inner frame. The lab references RFC 7348 and uses containerlab with a 45-60 minute hands-on exercise.

• •VXLAN is an L2 overlay that tunnels Ethernet frames inside UDP 4789 without encryption
• •Lab builds a point-to-point VXLAN overlay (VNI 100) and captures the underlay to show inner packets
• •Compares VXLAN to WireGuard: both encapsulate, but only WireGuard encrypts

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.