VMware Infrastructure provides a rich set of networking capabilities that integrate well with sophisticated enterprise networks. With virtual networking, you can network virtual machines in the same way that you do physical machines and can build complex networks within a single ESX Server host or across multiple ESX Server hosts, for production deployments or development and testing purposes.

Virtual switches allow virtual machines on the same ESX Server host to communicate with each other using the same protocols that would be used over physical switches, without the need for additional networking hardware.

This guide is for virtual infrastructure users who want a clearer understanding of the basic design of the networking capabilities and how that design affects deployment in the datacenter.