VMware Cross-Cloud Architecture

Virtual network security considerations

The virtual networking layer includes virtual network adapters and virtual switches. ESXi relies on the virtual networking layer to support communications between virtual machines and their users, as well as communication with IP storage and other management traffic, such as vSphere vMotion.

In terms of communication, access to the network occurs in the same way as a physical host, only ESXi uses virtualized NICs and switches on the ESXi host. To provide external access, virtual switches are assigned a physical uplink on the ESXi host that has been connected to the appropriate networks.

The following characteristics apply to isolation in a virtualized network context:

• If a virtual machine does not ...