Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Protocals

Windows 2000 supports three core network transport protocols.

Each of these protocols works best on networks of a particular size, where each network has its own special performance and access requirements.

The following list sums up the important characteristics of each of the three protocols:

* NetBEUI works best on small networks (10 computers or fewer), single-server, or peer-to-peer networks where ease of access and use are most important. It is an enhanced version of NetBIOS (Network basic Input / Output System)
* NWLink works best on networks of medium scope (20 servers or fewer in a single facility). It is important on networks include NetWare servers
* TCP/IP works on a global scale, as demonstrated by its use on the Internet. TCP/IP is complicated, yet powerful transport that scales well from small networks all the way up to the Internet. It is the most widely used of all networking protocols

The most significant features of NetBEUI are:

* It is the fastest of all native Windows 2000 protocols on small networks
* It supports up to 1023 sessions; earlier implementations supported only 254 sessions
* It has been optimised to perform well across slow serial links
* It is easy to install and configure because it relies on NetBIOS naming and delivers automatic addressing
* It incorporates data integrity checks and retransmission for erroneous or lost packets
* It incurs the lowest memory overhead of all the major Windows 2000 protocols. For older DOS computers where RAM space for protocols and drivers is scarce and larger protocols may not fit into available memory, this can make all the difference

Interprocess Communication (IPC)

Defines a way for such process to exchange information. IPC defines a way for client computers to request services from some servers and permits servers to reply to requests for services.

In Windows 2000, IPC mechanisms fall into two categories:

* Programming interfaces - permit general, open-ended client/server dialog as mediated by applications or system services.

- concerned where individual APIs differ depending on what kinds of client- server dialog they support.

* File systems - support file sharing between clients and servers

- concerned where they must behave the same way, no matter how they employ Windows 2000 networked file systems and services.

IPC File System Mechanisms

Windows 2000 includes two IPC interfaces for file system access:

* Named pipes - support a connection-oriented message-passing service for clients and

servers

- offers a reliable method for clients and servers to exchange requests, replies and associated files.

- provide their own methods to ensure reliable data transfer and

guarantees make transport-level delivery guarantees less essential

* Mailslots File System - offer no delivery guarantees

(Like a connectionless - do not acknowledge the successful receipt of data

version of named pipes) - are used less frequently than named pipes

IPC Programming Interfaces

For communications to succeed, the clients and server sides of an application must share a common programming interface. Windows 2000 offers a number of distinct interfaces to support IPC mechanisms for various kinds of client/server applications. Windows 2000 supports several programming interfaces, including NetBIOS, Windows Sockets, Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Network Dynamic Data Exchange (NetDDE)

Internet Protocol

* IP provides source and destination addressing and routing in the TCP/IP suites
* IP addresses are logical addresses that are 32 bits (4 bytes) long
* Each byte or octet, is represented by a decimal number from 0 to 255 and separated from the others by a period, for example 183.24.206.18
* IP is a connectionless datagram protocol that, like all connectionless protocols, is fast but unreliable