NX-OS VEM Port Types

VEM Virtual Ethernet Module supports 3 port types

Virtual Nic - Three types of virtual NIC types are supported in VMware

• virutal NIC (vnic) - Physical port of an ESC host which is plugged into an switch. Assigned to a VM
• virtual kernal NIC(vmknic) - bound to a virtual ethernet port and used by the hypervisor for management, iSCSI, NFS, VMotion, and other network access that may be needed by the kernel.
• vswif - Service console network interface, virtual management port and mapped to veth within the Nexus 1000V switch. vswif0 is the first service console created.

Virtual Ethernet (vETH) port - this is where the virtual cable is plugged into from the VM, veth are assigned to port groups and represent a port on the Nexus 1000V Distributed Virtual Switch

 Local Virtual Ethernet (lvEth) port - Dynamically selected for vEth ports needed on a host. Local vEths ports do not move and are addressable by module/port number.

VEM Physical Ethernet supports 3 port types

VMware NIC

Uplink port

Ethernet port