User`s guide

77
CHAPTER
6
Virtual Network Interface Cards
(vNICs)
The Oracle virtual Network Interface Card (vNIC) virtualizes NIC connectivity. A
vNIC is a virtual NIC that appears to the OS as a physical NIC and enables a server
to have a Ethernet network attachment without having a physical NIC present.
Instead of the client server using an NIC, an InfiniBand (IB) HCA is used and then
virtualizes the NIC allowing for Ethernet connectivity.
This chapter explains how to configure vNICs in the following sections:
■ “Basic vNIC Configuration” on page 78
■ “vNIC Counters and Statistics” on page 80
■ “High Availability vNIC Pairs” on page 81
■ “Automatic Switchover” on page 88
■ “Admin State Control” on page 90
■ “Gigabit Ethernet Card State” on page 91
■ “Gigabit Ethernet Port State” on page 92
■ “Maximum Transmission Unit” on page 94
■ “vNIC Mirroring” on page 96
■ “Controlling IGMP Delayed Leaves” on page 106
■ “Setting Allowed VLANs Per vNIC” on page 108
■ “TCP Segmentation Offload” on page 111
■ “Receive Batching” on page 114
To enable vNICs for VMware environments, see “VMware ESX Servers” on
page 179. To enable vNICs for QoS, see “Network QoS for vNICs” on page 191.
Virtual NICs, like most objects in the Oracle Fabric Interconnect, have “Naming
Conventions” on page 8.