XVIF(4) 						 BSD/xen Kernel Interfaces Manual						   XVIF(4)

NAME

     xvif -- Xen backend paravirtualized network interface

SYNOPSIS

     pseudo-device xvif

DESCRIPTION

     The xvif interface forms the backend part of the paravirtualized drivers used by Xen domains to offer network connectivity.

     When the guest domain is NetBSD, the endpoint of the xvif interface is a xennet(4) interface.  In the XenStore, xvif and xennet are identi-
     fied by ``vif'' (virtual interface) entries.

     All xvif interfaces follow the ``xvifXiY'' naming convention, where 'X' represents the guest domain identifier, and 'Y' an arbitrary identi-
     fier; most of the time, it is the frontend interface identifier, e.g.  ``xennetY''.

     For convenience, the MAC address of an xvif interface is chosen by incrementing the third byte of the MAC address of the frontend device.

     Conceptually, frontends and backends drivers are similar to two Ethernet cards connected via a crossover cable.

DIAGNOSTICS

     xvif%di%d: can't read %s/mac: %d  The MAC address for this interface could not be read from XenStore.

     xvif%di%d: %s is not a valid mac address  The MAC address specified in the configuration file of the newly created guest domain is invalid.

     xvif%di%d: Ethernet address %s  MAC address of the xvif interface.

SEE ALSO

     ifmedia(4), xennet(4), ifconfig(8)

HISTORY

     The xvif driver first appeared in NetBSD 4.0.

AUTHORS

     The xvif driver was written by Manuel Bouyer <bouyer@NetBSD.org>.

BSD
								   April 7, 2011							       BSD