User`s guide

Chapter 6 Virtual Network Interface Cards (vNICs) 97
traffic flow on “vn1.pubstest” is copied and sent to output vNIC “vn6.pubstest”,
which is connected to another server. When traffic is carried on vn1.pubstest,” the
server “Raynor” gets a copy of all packets.
Hardware Support
vNIC Mirroring is supported on all versions of GE module. vNIC Mirroring is
supported for intra-module traffic, so traffic received on an I/O Module is copied to
a destination on the same module only. You cannot configure vNIC Mirroring to
span multiple I/O modules or Oracle Fabric Interconnects.
Mirror Traffic
The mirror traffic is left in its original state just as it appears on the wire:
■ traffic is copied exactly from the input vNIC to the output vNIC or port.
■ the Oracle Fabric Interconnect does not encrypt or decrypt data packets when
copying them to the output mirror
■ the Oracle Fabric Interconnect does not change or tag traffic in any way before or
after it is sent to the mirror.
■ if QoS causes packets to be dropped as they ingress or egress the I/O module, the
same affect applies to the mirror. So, if traffic is dropped before transmission,
those packets are not copied to the mirror.
Mirroring to vNIC
When you mirror to an output vNIC, the traffic is copied to another vNIC that is in
either the same Server Profile or a different one. Typically, the output vNIC is hosted
on a separate server that is dedicated to auditing and security, but this is not a
requirement. One or more input vNICs can be mirrored to a single output vNIC.
The mirrored traffic is copied to the vNIC regardless of where the vNIC is
terminated. When mirroring to a vNIC, the Oracle Fabric Interconnect places no
restriction on the type of host where the output vNIC resides. So, for example, you
could have the input vNIC on a Windows host, and the mirror vNIC could be hosted
on a Linux host. The Oracle Fabric Interconnect would not prevent this
configuration.