Chapter 3. Virtualization 109layer 2, the original MAC address and VLAN tags of the packet are visible to other systemson the physical network. IEEE 802.1 VLAN tagging is supported.The SEA also provides the ability for several client partitions to share a physical adapter.Using an SEA, you can connect internal and external VLANs using a physical adapter. TheSEA service can only be hosted in the VIOS, not in a general purpose AIX or Linux partition,and acts as a layer-2 network bridge to securely transport network traffic between virtualEthernet networks (internal) and one or more (EtherChannel) physical network adapters(external). These virtual Ethernet network adapters are defined by the POWER Hypervisor onthe VIOS.Figure 3-11 shows a configuration example of an SEA with one physical and two virtualEthernet adapters. An SEA can include up to 16 virtual Ethernet adapters on the VIOS thatshare the same physical access.Figure 3-11 Architectural view of a SEAA single SEA setup can have up to 16 Virtual Ethernet trunk adapters and each virtualEthernet trunk adapter can support up to 21 VLANs (20 VIDs and 1 PVID). The number ofSEAs that can be set up in a VIOS partition is limited only by the resource availability becausethere are no configuration limits.Unicast, broadcast, and multicast are supported, so protocols that rely on broadcast ormulticast, such as Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol(DHCP), Boot Protocol (BOOTP), and Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) can work acrossan SEA.Tip: A Linux partition can provide bridging function as well, by using the brctl command.VIOS Client 1EthernetswitchVLAN=2 PVID=1ent3(sea)en3(if.)en0(if.)Client 2en0(if.)ent0(virt.)Client 3en0(if.)ent0(virt.)ent1(virt.)ent2(virt.)ent0(virt.)VLAN=2PVID=2PVID=99VID=2PVID=1PVID=1PVID=1VLAN=1Hypervisorent0(phy.)ExternalNetwork
