Enabling platform network stack control in a virtualization platform

A method for sending packets in a virtualization platform, comprising:

• sending a packet of information by an application running on the platform, the packet of information to be sent over a network, wherein the packet is sent to a first virtual network interface;
• capturing the packet of information by a management partition running in a first virtual machine on the platform;
• encoding a packet of information by an encoder residing in the management partition, the encoder communicatively coupled to a virtual network stack;
• and
• sending the encoded packet of information to a physical network interface, the physical network interface being capable of decoding and authenticating the encoded packet, the physical network interface being capable of sending authenticated packets and dropping unauthenticated packets.

A machine accessible medium having instructions for sending packets in a virtualization platform, the instructions when accessed cause the machine to:

• send a packet of information by an application running on the platform, the packet of information to be sent over a network, wherein the packet is sent to a first virtual network interface;
• capture the packet of information by a management partition running in a first virtual machine on the platform;
• encode a packet of information by an encoder residing in the management partition, the encoder communicatively coupled to a virtual network stack;
• and
• send the encoded packet of information to a physical network interface, the physical network interface being capable of decoding and authenticating the encoded packet, the physical network interface being capable of sending authenticated packets and dropping unauthenticated packets.