HyperV Network Types

Microsoft HyperV servers have three Network Types you can assign to Virtual Machines and Virtual Switches.

• Private
• Internal
• External

This is shown below on both a virtual machine and a virtual switch configuration.

 

 

What is the difference between these?

 

An External Network Type provides communication between a virtual machine and a physical network by creating an association with a physical network adapter on the virtualization server.  This is the most common type used by organisations.

 

An Internal Network provides communication between the virtualization server and the virtual machines.

 

A Private Network only provides communication between the virtual machines and not the HyperV host server.

 

Internal and Private network types can be confusing - the only difference is Internal also allows the virtual machines to communicate with the HyperV host server.