Virtual Internet Protocol

The virtual Internet protocol was developed by IBM. It is a method of substituting a different Internet protocol (IP) address on traffic leaving a private local area network. This is a method for rerouting traffic from one device to another.

This article will help you to understand about Virtual Internet Protocol.

Function

If a network has a number of connections to the public telephone system, and through this to the Internet, it will have different devices at each connecting point, each labeled with a different IP address. Outgoing traffic will leave one of the many points, and that data is labeled with the IP address of its exit point of the network. Return traffic can be redirected back to a different gateway by substituting the source IP address in outgoing packets.

Features

The virtual Internet protocol was written before the advent of wireless networks and laptop computers, but its methods of readdressing packets is a precursor of the IP forwarding method used in mobile IP where a computer is temporarily moved away from its regular location and its host gateway readdresses incoming traffic for that computer's IP address to the location where it temporarily resides.

Migration

Another application for virtual Internet protocol is host migration and offline maintenance. By readdressing IP data packets (IP forwarding), incoming traffic can be diverted to an operating computer while the target is offline for maintenance. It is also a simple to move processes from one location to another.