(network-sriov)=
# SR-IOV network

<!-- Include start SR-IOV intro -->
{abbr}`SR-IOV (Single root I/O virtualization)` is a hardware standard that allows a single network card port to appear as several virtual network interfaces in a virtualized environment.
<!-- Include end SR-IOV intro -->

The `sriov` network type allows to specify presets to use when connecting instances to a parent interface.
In this case, the instance NICs can simply set the `network` option to the network they connect to without knowing any of the underlying configuration details.

(network-sriov-options)=
## Configuration options

The following configuration key namespaces are currently supported for the `sriov` network type:

 - `maas` (MAAS network identification)
 - `user` (free-form key/value for user metadata)

```{note}
{{note_ip_addresses_CIDR}}
```

The following configuration options are available for the `sriov` network type:

Key                             | Type      | Condition             | Default                   | Description
:--                             | :--       | :--                   | :--                       | :--
mtu                             | integer   | -                     | -                         | The MTU of the new interface
parent                          | string    | -                     | -                         | Parent interface to create `sriov` NICs on
vlan                            | integer   | -                     | -                         | The VLAN ID to attach to
maas.subnet.ipv4                | string    | ipv4 address          | -                         | MAAS IPv4 subnet to register instances in (when using `network` property on NIC)
maas.subnet.ipv6                | string    | ipv6 address          | -                         | MAAS IPv6 subnet to register instances in (when using `network` property on NIC)
user.*                          | string    | -                     | -                         | User-provided free-form key/value pairs