Chapter 3. Virtualization 135
Installation of the Virtual I/O Server partition is performed from a special system backup DVD
that is provided to clients who order any PowerVM edition. This dedicated software is only for
the Virtual I/O Server (and IVM in case it is used) and is supported only in special Virtual I/O
Server partitions. Three major virtual devices are supported by the Virtual I/O Server:
Shared Ethernet Adapter
Virtual SCSI
Virtual Fibre Channel adapter
The Virtual Fibre Channel adapter is used with the NPIV feature, described in “N_Port ID
Virtualization” on page 138.
Shared Ethernet Adapter
A Shared Ethernet Adapter (SEA) can be used to connect a physical Ethernet network to a
virtual Ethernet network. The Shared Ethernet Adapter provides this access by connecting
the internal hypervisor VLANs with the VLANs on the external switches. Because the Shared
Ethernet Adapter processes packets at layer 2, the original MAC address and VLAN tags of
the packet are visible to other systems on the physical network. IEEE 802.1 VLAN tagging
is supported.
The Shared Ethernet Adapter also provides the ability for several client partitions to share one
physical adapter. With an SEA, you can connect internal and external VLANs using a physical
adapter. The Shared Ethernet Adapter service can be hosted only in the Virtual I/O Server,
not in a general-purpose AIX or Linux partition, and acts as a layer-2 network bridge to
securely transport network traffic between virtual Ethernet networks (internal) and one or
more (EtherChannel) physical network adapters (external). These virtual Ethernet network
adapters are defined by the POWER Hypervisor on the Virtual I/O Server.
Tip: A Linux partition can provide bridging function also, by using the brctl command.
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