This section collects together answers to a selection of Frequently Asked Questions that can be helpful in solving various issues with cOS Stream running under a hypervisor.

Question Summary

1. Do all my virtual interfaces have to be configured as E1000 NICs?
2. How do I manage multiple virtual firewalls?
3. How do I separate different virtual networks?
4. Where is the Ethernet interface that was added to the virtual machine?
5. How much increase in throughput can SR-IOV provide?

Questions and Answers

1. Do all my virtual interfaces have to be configured as E1000 NICs?

No. The system will work with other virtual interface types. In fact, it is recommended to use the type Virtio with KVM when more than one virtual CPU is available to achieve maximum performance.

However, if only a single virtual CPU core is available with KVM then E1000 should be used for maximum performance. This topic is discussed further at the end of Chapter 4, KVM Virtual Machine Creation.

2. How do I manage multiple virtual firewalls?

The IP address of the management virtual Ethernet interface for cOS Stream must be different for the different virtual firewalls running under a single hypervisor.

3. How do I separate different virtual networks?

If different sets of virtual machines are connected to a virtual switch through different port groups, they can be separated by making them VLANs with different VLAN IDs. This is described further in Chapter 6, Separating VLANs.

4. Where is the Ethernet interface that was added to the virtual machine?

After adding a virtual Ethernet interface to the virtual machine, cOS Stream needs to scan for interfaces before it is added to the system configuration. This is done by entering the following firewall CLI command:

System:/> ethupdate –cfgupdate

This will scan for any new interfaces. The updated configuration must then be deployed using the command:

System:/> activate

Followed by:

System:/> commit

5. How much increase in throughput can SR-IOV provide?

The performance increase provided by SR-IOV can be dramatic if traffic both enters and leaves via SR-IOV interfaces. A quadrupling of maximum throughput is possible.