What is the purpose of NSX-T's Edge Services?

The purpose of NSX-T's Edge Services is primarily to handle routing and firewall services at the network edge. Edge Services provide critical networking features that allow organizations to manage data traffic effectively. This includes serving as the point where north-south traffic (traffic entering or leaving the data center) is processed, which can encompass a wide array of functionalities, such as load balancing and VPN services.

By centralizing networking services at the edge, NSX-T improves both security and performance, allowing for more sophisticated control over data flow into and out of the virtualized environment. This capability is essential for organizations that require robust perimeter security and efficient traffic management, ensuring that their networking and security policies are consistently applied at the boundary of their infrastructure.

The other options focus on different aspects of networking and virtualization. User authentication and access control refers to identity management, which is not a primary function of Edge Services. Managing virtual machine workload performance relates more to resource allocation and optimization rather than edge services. While eliminating the need for physical networking is a broader goal of network virtualization, Edge Services specifically focus on routing and firewall capabilities rather than the physical infrastructure itself.