Differences between venet and veth

OpenVZ provides veth (Virtual eTHernet) or venet (Virtual NETwork) devices (or both) for in-CT networking. Here we describe the differences between those devices.

• veth allows broadcasts in CT, so you can use even a DHCP server inside a CT, or a samba server with domain broadcasts or other such stuff.
• veth has some security implications. It is normally bridged directly to the host physical ethernet device and so must be treated with the same considerations as a real ethernet device on a standalone host. The CT users can access a veth device as they would a real ethernet interface. However, the CT root user is the only one that has priviledged access to the veth device.
• With venet device, only OpenVZ host node administrator can assign an IP to a CT. With veth device, network settings can be fully done on CT side by the CT administrator. CT should setup correct gateway, IP/netmask etc. and then a node admin can only choose where your traffic goes.
• veth devices can be bridged together and/or with other devices. For example, in host system admin can bridge veth from 2 CTs with some VLAN eth0.X. In this case, these 2 CTs will be connected to this VLAN.
• venet device is a bit faster and more efficient.
• With veth devices, IPv6 auto generates an address from MAC.

The brief summary:

Differences between veth and venet

Feature	veth	venet
MAC address	Yes	No
Broadcasts inside CT	Yes	No
Traffic sniffing	Yes	No
Network security	Low	High
Can be used in bridges	Yes	No
IPv6 ready	Yes	Yes
Performance	Fast	Fastest