This section describes the requirements and guidelines for managing the virtual ports (VPorts) on a NIC switch. This switch is provided by a network adapter that supports single root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV).
For more information on NIC switches, see NIC Switches.
Note Only the miniport driver for the PCI Express (PCIe) Physical Function (PF) can configure the network adapter's hardware resources, such as the VPorts. The miniport driver for the PCIe Virtual Function (VF) cannot directly access most of the SR-IOV adapter's hardware resources. For more information, see Writing SR-IOV VF Miniport Drivers.