5.1 Virtual IP Address Definitions and Characteristics

5.1.1 Definitions

Virtual driver: The vnic.lan driver provided by Novell.

Virtual board (NIC): Any board configured to use the virtual driver.

Virtual IP address: Any IP address that is bound to a virtual board.

Virtual IP network: The IP network that the virtual IP address is a part of. In practical terms, this is defined by the virtual IP address together with the IP network mask that it is configured with.

Host mask: The IP network mask consisting of all 1s - FF.FF.FF.FF (255.255.255.255).

Physical IP address: Any IP address that is not a virtual IP address. In practical terms, it is an IP address that is configured over a physical hardware NIC.

Physical IP network: An IP network that a physical IP address is a part of. In practical terms, a physical IP network identifies a logical IP network that is configured over a physical hardware wire.

5.1.2 Characteristics

Virtual IP addresses are unique in that they are bound to a virtual “ether” medium instead of to a “physical” network medium such as Ethernet or token ring. In other words, the virtual IP address space is exclusive from the physical IP address space. As a result, virtual IP network numbers need to be different from physical IP network numbers. However, this mutual exclusivity of the IP address space for the physical and virtual networks doesn’t preclude the possibility of configuring multiple virtual IP networks in a single network domain.