Networking
In order to provide an authentic virtual environment for heuristic applications and a natural user-experience, machine emulators need to be able to integrate with network environments as invisibly as they do with system hardware.
Virtual PC's default network mode, Shared Networking, relies on an in-built network address translation system that lets each guest operating system assume the address of the host seamlessly. An alternative mode, Virtual Switch, is available if the machine needs to run network service or be visible to the outside network for any other reason. Unfortunately, Virtual Switch is only available if Windows 2000 is the host operating system and regardless of which mode you use, all guest operating systems must share the same network card (the host can occupy a separate network card).
If you're cautious about permitting an untested operating system on to your SOE or you're developing complex Web-based enterprise applications, Virtual PC allows you to test the network inter-operability of guest operating systems with the host on a virtual network, isolated inside the PC. The virtual network supports of common networking protocols such as TCP/IP, NetBIOS, IPX/SPX and IBM SNA.
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