Virtual NIC

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  • virtual network interface card (vNIC) is just like any other virtualized hardware in the VM.
  • The vNIC is a piece of software that pretends to be physical hardware.
  • It communicates directly between the VM and the virtual switch.
  • The virtual NIC is usually generic hardware that is installed in the VM.
    • Examples: DEC 21140 NIC and the Intel E1000 NIC.
    • Some hypervisors also have more advanced cards that support unique features such as VMware's VMXNET3 NIC card. The VMXNET3 NIC can support IPv6 TCP segment offloading (TSO), direct paths into the hyprvisor's I/O bus for performance, and 10 Gbps data rates.
  • These virtual NICs require the VMware drivers since they are not generic hardware presented to the VMs.
  • Hyper-V has a virtual NIC called a synthetic NIC; the NICs allow for similar functionality with features such as IPv6 TSO, sinhle-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV), direct ties into the Hyper-V VMBus, and 10 Gbps data rates.
    • It too requires the VM to install the guest services software.