| 1 | <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
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| 2 | <!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
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| 3 | <topic xml:lang="en-us" id="nichardware">
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| 4 | <title>Virtual Networking Hardware</title>
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| 5 |
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| 6 | <body>
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| 7 | <p>
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| 8 | For each card, you can individually select what kind of
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| 9 | <i>hardware</i> will be presented to the virtual
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| 10 | machine. Oracle VM VirtualBox can virtualize the following types of
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| 11 | networking hardware:
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| 12 | </p>
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| 13 | <ul>
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| 14 | <li>
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| 15 | <p>
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| 16 | AMD PCNet PCI II (Am79C970A)
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| 17 | </p>
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| 18 | </li>
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| 19 | <li>
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| 20 | <p>
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| 21 | AMD PCNet FAST III (Am79C973), the default setting
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| 22 | </p>
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| 23 | </li>
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| 24 | <li>
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| 25 | <p>
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| 26 | Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (82540EM)
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| 27 | </p>
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| 28 | </li>
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| 29 | <li>
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| 30 | <p>
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| 31 | Intel PRO/1000 T Server (82543GC)
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| 32 | </p>
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| 33 | </li>
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| 34 | <li>
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| 35 | <p>
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| 36 | Intel PRO/1000 MT Server (82545EM)
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| 37 | </p>
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| 38 | </li>
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| 39 | <li>
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| 40 | <p>
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| 41 | Paravirtualized network adapter (virtio-net)
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| 42 | </p>
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| 43 | </li>
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| 44 | </ul>
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| 45 | <p>
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| 46 | The PCNet FAST III is the default because it is supported by
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| 47 | nearly all operating systems, as well as by the GNU GRUB boot
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| 48 | manager. As an exception, the Intel PRO/1000 family adapters are
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| 49 | chosen for some guest operating system types that no longer ship
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| 50 | with drivers for the PCNet card, such as Windows Vista.
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| 51 | </p>
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| 52 | <p>
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| 53 | The Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop type works with Windows Vista and
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| 54 | later versions. The T Server variant of the Intel PRO/1000 card is
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| 55 | recognized by Windows XP guests without additional driver
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| 56 | installation. The MT Server variant facilitates OVF imports from
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| 57 | other platforms.
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| 58 | </p>
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| 59 | <p>
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| 60 | The Paravirtualized network adapter (virtio-net) is special. If
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| 61 | you select this adapter, then Oracle VM VirtualBox does
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| 62 | <i>not</i> virtualize common networking hardware
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| 63 | that is supported by common guest operating systems. Instead,
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| 64 | Oracle VM VirtualBox expects a special software interface for
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| 65 | virtualized environments to be provided by the guest, thus
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| 66 | avoiding the complexity of emulating networking hardware and
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| 67 | improving network performance. Oracle VM VirtualBox provides support for
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| 68 | the industry-standard <i>virtio</i> networking
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| 69 | drivers, which are part of the open source KVM project.
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| 70 | </p>
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| 71 | <p>
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| 72 | The virtio networking drivers are available for the following
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| 73 | guest operating systems:
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| 74 | </p>
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| 75 | <ul>
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| 76 | <li>
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| 77 | <p>
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| 78 | Linux kernels version 2.6.25 or later can be configured to
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| 79 | provide virtio support. Some distributions have also
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| 80 | back-ported virtio to older kernels.
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| 81 | </p>
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| 82 | </li>
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| 83 | <li>
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| 84 | <p>
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| 85 | For Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, virtio drivers can be
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| 86 | downloaded and installed from the KVM project web page:
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| 87 | </p>
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| 88 | <p><ph>http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers</ph>.
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| 89 | </p>
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| 90 | </li>
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| 91 | </ul>
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| 92 | <p>
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| 93 | Oracle VM VirtualBox also has limited support for <i>jumbo
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| 94 | frames</i>. These are networking packets with more than
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| 95 | 1500 bytes of data, provided that you use the Intel card
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| 96 | virtualization and bridged networking. Jumbo frames are not
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| 97 | supported with the AMD networking devices. In those cases, jumbo
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| 98 | packets will silently be dropped for both the transmit and the
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| 99 | receive direction. Guest operating systems trying to use this
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| 100 | feature will observe this as a packet loss, which may lead to
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| 101 | unexpected application behavior in the guest. This does not cause
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| 102 | problems with guest operating systems in their default
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| 103 | configuration, as jumbo frames need to be explicitly enabled.
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| 104 | </p>
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| 105 | </body>
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| 106 |
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| 107 | </topic>
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