In an environment with virtual servers, is the MAC address used to communicate, the MAC address of the physical host, or the MAC address of the virtual adapters. If it's is the virtual MAC address how is this translation to the physical MAC address handled. I'm assuming that traffic will be transmitted as if it is emanating from the physical host. If that assumption is true, how is the translation back to the virtual MAC address typically handled?
Is the MAC address of the physical host used in a virtual environment
mac addressnetworkingvirtual-machines
Best Answer
The MAC address of the virtual server is used throughout; typically the host uses transparent bridging to forward packets to the virtual adapters it is hosting. As is normal for a bridge, it forwards packets without changing the MAC address.
It's also possible to connect virtual servers via virtual routers, NAT, load balancers etc. In that case you may not see the virtual machines MAC on the physical network.
Open vSwitch is an example of a virtual switch implementation.