This is a new Virtual Network Adapter, also known as Advanced VMXNET. It is based on Enhanced VMXNET introduced in ESX 3.5, it provides these new features:
- IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging
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No more need for e1000 Driver inside of a virtual machine
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VLAN tagging and tag removal offloading
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Only one VLAN per NIC for Windows
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TCP Segmentation Offloading for IPv4 and IPv6
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TCP and UPD Checksum Offloading for IPv4 and IPv6
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MSI (Messaged Signalled Interrupt) and MSI-X support (subject to guest kernel support)
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Receive Side Scaling (supported in Windows Vista, 2008 and any other system using NDIS 6.x)
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VMXNET 3 is the new “state of the art” Virtual Network Adapter.
To modify and add vNetwork Distributed Port Groups (dvPortGroup):
- In vCenter, click Home > Inventory > Networking.
- Right-click on dvPortGroup and choose Edit Settings.
- Under dvPortGroup > Policies > VLAN, these settings can be specifed:
- VGT – VLAN Guest Tagging
- VLAN Trunking – Physical equivalent to: VLAN in Trunk/Tagged mode
- Standard vSwitch equivalent to: VLAN ID set to 4095
Note: Distributed Switch Only specifies the range of VLANs to trunk, to improve security.