Advantages of using virtual Ethernet

Virtual Ethernet provides efficient communication between logical partitions, and benefits for establishing an economical network. You can take advantage of virtual Ethernet on the IBM® i operating system.

Virtual Ethernet enables you to establish high-speed communication between logical partitions without purchasing additional hardware. For each of the 16 ports enabled, the system creates a virtual Ethernet communications port, such as CMNxx with a resource type of 268C. Logical partitions assigned to the same local area network (LAN) then become available to communicate through that link. A physical system allows you to configure up to 16 different virtual local area networks. Virtual Ethernet provides the same function as using a 1 Gb Ethernet adapter. Token Ring or Ethernet 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps local area networks are not supported with virtual Ethernet.

Virtual Ethernet is an economical networking solution that provides substantial benefits:
  • Economical: Potentially no extra networking hardware is required. You can add partitions to the system and communicate with an external LAN without installing extra physical LAN cards. If the current system has limited available card slots in which to install additional LAN cards, then using the virtual Ethernet offers the capability to operate LAN-attached partitions without the requirement to upgrade the system.
  • Flexible: It is possible to configure a maximum of 16 distinctive connections enabling the configuration of selective communication paths between partitions. For added flexibility, the configuration model allows logical partitions to implement both a virtual Ethernet and physical LAN connection. This is a desirable feature when using the Linux partition to host a firewall application.
  • Fast: The virtual Ethernet emulates a 1 GB Ethernet connection and provides a fast and convenient communication method between partitions. This enhances the opportunity to integrate separate applications that run on different logical partitions.
  • Versatile: Regardless of whether your partitions are running on IBM i or Linux, they can all be connected to the same virtual Ethernet.
  • Reduced congestion: By using the virtual Ethernet for interpartition communication, communication traffic is reduced on the external LAN. In the case of Ethernet, which is a collision-based standard, this will certainly help prevent a degradation of service for other LAN users.