Introduction

In Windows Server 2012, Microsoft introduced the Hyper-V Extensible Switch. One of its features was the Port Access Control List (ACL). This does not refer to a protocol port such as the TCP port for HTTP, but rather the logical port inside the Hyper-V Extensible Switch.

In Windows Server 2012 R2, Microsoft extended this functionality to include the following parameters:

• Source IP address

• Destination IP address

• Protocol

• Source port

• Destination port

• Direction (inbound/outbound)

As the configuration of the ACL relates to the VM, it is stored in the VM's configuration file. This ensures that if the VM is migrated to a different host, the ACLs will move with it.

System Center 2012 R2 VMM is not capable of managing ACLs for virtual machines, so the only option for managing ACLs is PowerShell.