SR-IOV (Single Root I/O Virtualization) - is a technology that allows a single physical hardware device, such as a network interface card (NIC), to appear and function as multiple virtual devices. With SR-IOV, the physical device is divided into multiple virtual functions (VF), each assigned to a specific virtual server or container. These VFs appear as individual devices with their own unique PCI addresses. Virtual servers or containers can then directly communicate with these VFs, achieving near-native performance and bypassing the involvement of the hypervisor in input/output operations.
Using SR-IOV provides: