CompTIA Cloud+ Practice Test

Which component is essential for ensuring proper communication between a virtual machine and the network?

1. Virtual HBA

2. Virtual NIC

3. Storage virtualization

4. Dynamic memory

The correct answer is: Virtual NIC

A Virtual NIC (Network Interface Card) is essential for ensuring proper communication between a virtual machine and the network because it acts as the interface that allows the virtual machine to send and receive data over a network. Just like a physical NIC allows a physical computer to connect to a network, the Virtual NIC enables the virtual machine to connect to virtual networks, including local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and the internet. The Virtual NIC is configured within the hypervisor, which manages the virtualization of the resources, and it creates a virtual connection point through which all network traffic for the virtual machine is routed. This is critical for network operations such as accessing shared services, communicating with other virtual machines, and connecting to external networks. The other options, while related to virtualization, do not directly facilitate network communication in the same manner. For instance, a Virtual HBA (Host Bus Adapter) is related to storage connectivity rather than network connectivity, and storage virtualization focuses on combining physical storage from multiple devices into what appears to be a single storage pool. Dynamic memory is utilized to allocate memory resources to virtual machines dynamically, which aids in optimizing performance but does not serve as a point of communication with the network.