Which of the following Cisco VIC adapter communication methods is most likely to rely on the VMware ESXi hypervisor to switch traffic?

• 350-601 : All Parts

Of the available choices, the Cisco virtual interface card (VIC) adapter method that is most likely to rely on the VMware ESXi hypervisor to switch traffic is software and a Cisco Nexus 1000v virtual switch. Cisco VICs integrate with virtualized environments to enable the creation of virtual network interface cards (vNICs) in virtual machines (VMs). When using software and a Cisco Nexus 1000v virtual switch to switch traffic, switching is controlled by the hypervisor. Cisco describes the software-based method of handling traffic by using a Cisco Nexus 1000v virtual switch as Virtual Network Link (VN-Link).
Pass-through switching, which Cisco describes as hardware-based VN-Link, does not rely on the VMware ESXi hypervisor to switch traffic. Pass-through switching is a faster and more efficient means for Cisco VIC adapters to handle traffic between VMs.
Pass-through switching uses application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) hardware switching, which reduces overhead because the switching occurs in the fabric instead of relying on software. Pass-through switching also enables administrators to apply network policies between VMs in a fashion similar to how traffic policies are applied between traditional physical network devices.
A bare-metal operating system (0S) driver method of communication is not likely to rely on the VMware ESXi hypervisor to switch traffic. Cisco VIC adapters forward traffic similar to other Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) adapters when installed in a server that is configured with a single bare-metal OS without virtualization. It is therefore possible to use a Cisco VIC adapter with OS drivers to create static vNICs on a server in a nonvirtualized environment.
Store-and-forward switching is not a method of communication that is used by Cisco VIC adapters. However, switches can be configured to use store-and-forward switching. A switch that uses store-and-forward switching receives the entire frame before
forwarding the frame. By receiving the entire frame, the switch can verify that no cyclic redundancy check (CRC) errors are present in the frame; this helps prevent the forwarding of frames with errors. Cisco VIC adapters are hardware interface components that support virtualized network environments.