Specifying the Type of vNET Interface

The mgmt, data, and span keywords used in different commands specify the path used to connect to the network service. For example, to specify an out-of-band connection to a management interface of a vNET, the interface is specified using the mgmt keyword. If in-band access to that management interface of the vNET is required, then the data or span keywords are used in the specific command. 

The keywords, data and span, are essentially equivalent but apply to two separate paths. To maximize throughput between the server and the switch components, it is recommended to use both. The data keyword applies to port 65, and the span keyword applies to port 66.

Each vNET can have one or more isolating zones and network services are applied to each zone. Network services have their own zone or share the zone with the vNET manager which is the zone that the vNET manager logs into to manage the vNET. In shared zones, the network interfaces are available to all network services in the shared zones, regardless of the service that created the network interface.

Note: This is an important concept as you can use service commands such as vnet-manager-interface-add to add interfaces to a vNET. If you want the service to be specific to a vNET as a dedicated service, then add the interfaces using the service-interface-add commands.