Users Guide

Virtual Network Implementation 21
Dedicated Virtual Network
The dedicated virtual network is a modified form of the external virtual
network offered by Hyper-V. This virtual network allows VMs to communicate
with other VMs on the same system and to VMs on other systems. The VMs
can also access the external network.The VMs have access to the parent
partition through the external network if the parent partition virtual network
adapter is connected to the virtual switch.
NOTE: The VMs on a dedicated virtual network do NOT have direct access to the
parent partition as with the external virtual network configuration. Removing this
direct path eliminates many of the drawbacks of the external virtual network.
Unlike the other three virtual network types, you cannot directly configure
the dedicated virtual networks with the Hyper-V Virtual Network Manager.
You can create the dedicated virtual network by first creating an external
virtual network and then modifying the virtual network adapter that you
added to the parent partition.
Advantages
• The physical network adapter is dedicated for VM traffic, so there is no
sharing with the parent partition
Disadvantages
• The disabled network adapter appears in the Network Connections
window of the parent partition. You must not modify the network adapter
settings or enable the network adapter.
NOTE: The Microsoft
®
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) can be used
to implement a dedicated virtual network without causing an additional virtual
network adapter to appear in the parent partition. For more information, see the
Hyper-V WMI programming reference listed in "Appendix B" on page 43.
Figure 4-4 shows the logical representation of the dedicated virtual network
configuration. It shows two VMs, the parent partition, and one physical
network adapter connected to the virtual switch.