A systems administrator is deploying several new virtual machines on a single hypervisor host. Each VM requires its own unique MAC address and IP configuration to communicate on the corporate network. Which virtual component must be created and assigned to each virtual machine to provide this individual network interface?
The correct answer is vNIC. A virtual Network Interface Card (vNIC) is a software component that emulates a physical NIC for a virtual machine. Each VM is assigned one or more vNICs, which provides it with a unique MAC address and allows it to have its own IP address, enabling it to connect to a virtual network.
A vSwitch is incorrect because it is a virtual switch that connects multiple vNICs, allowing communication between VMs on a host and between VMs and the physical network. It functions as a central point of connection, not the individual interface for each VM.
A physical NIC team is incorrect because this is a host-level configuration that groups multiple physical NICs together for increased bandwidth or redundancy. It serves the hypervisor host, not the individual VMs directly.
A virtual router is incorrect. While it is a virtual networking component, its function is to route traffic between different networks (a Layer 3 function), not to provide the basic network interface (a Layer 2 function) to a VM.