Abstract: A virtual machine operating system for communication between first and second applications which execute in different user portions of the virtual machine operating system and use Internet Protocol (IP). The virtual machine operating system comprises a first user portion, a second user portion and a base portion. The first user portion executes the first application and includes a first device driver for a first virtual network interface card (NIC). The second user portion executes the second application and includes a second device driver for a second virtual NIC. The base portion is shared by the first and second user portions and includes the first and second virtual NICs. The base portion maintains a table of IP addresses by which each device driver addresses its respective NIC and other, corresponding addresses by which the base portion addresses the virtual NIC. The first device driver is programmed to receive an IP datagram from the first application and pass it to the first NIC using IP.

Abstract: A network virtualization layer for an information handling system in which a physical machine coupled to a network is divided into a plurality of logical partitions, each of which has a host system residing thereon. In response to receiving a set command from one of the host systems specifying a data link layer (layer 2) address, the virtualization layer associates the data link layer address with the host system and forwards to the host system data packets specifying the data link layer address as a destination address. Unicast packets are forwarded to the single host system specifying the destination address as an individual MAC address, while multicast packets are forwarded to each host system specifying the destination address as a group MAC address. A host system may also specify a virtual LAN (VLAN) ID, which is used to scope the forwarding of packets to host systems sharing that VLAN ID.

Abstract: A virtual machine operating system for communication between first and second applications which execute in different user portions of the virtual machine operating system and use Internet Protocol (IP). The virtual machine operating system comprises a first user portion, a second user portion and a base portion. The first user portion executes the first application and includes a first device driver for a first virtual network interface card (NIC). The second user portion executes the second application and includes a second device driver for a second virtual NIC. The base portion is shared by the first and second user portions and includes the first and second virtual NICs. The base portion maintains a table of IP addresses by which each device driver addresses its respective NIC and other, corresponding addresses by which the base portion addresses the virtual NIC. The first device driver is programmed to receive an IP datagram from the first application and pass it to the first NIC using IP.