Module 10: Configuring Windows NT Protocols
Installing and Configuring Network Adapter
Card Drivers |
Each network adapter card has one or more corresponding
network driver interface specification (NDIS) 4.0 compatible drivers that coordinate
communications between network adapter cards and the computers hardware, firmware
and software.
To configure network adapter card drivers, in
Contol Panel, double click Network and click Adapters tab. This tab
has following options:
Option |
Use this option to |
Add |
Add network adapter card driver
to computer |
Remove |
Remove selected network adapter
card driver from the system |
Properties |
View and change the settings for
a selected driver (IRQ, I/O port address, I/O channel and transceiver type |
Update |
Update the driver info for a
selected network adapter card (give pathname) |
Note: Removing protocols or NIC drivers does not
remove the files from disks.
Installing and Configuring Protocols: |
- Same as with drivers but now select Protocols tab.
- This tab has the same options as the Adapters tab.
Microsoft TCP/IP Protocol Suite |
- TCP/IP is suite of protocols designed for internetworks.
- The following table describes some of the major
protocols included in the Microsoft TCP/IP protocol suite:
Protocol |
This protocol provides |
Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP) |
- Management Information Base (MIB) monitoring data contained
in SNMP
|
Windows Sockets (WinSock) |
- Standard interface between socket-based application and
TCP/IP protocols
|
NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) |
- NetBIOS services, including name, datagram and session
services
|
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) |
- Connection-oriented, guaranteed packet delivery services
|
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) |
- Connectionless packet delivery services that are not
guaranteed
|
Internet Control Message
Protocol (ICMP) |
- Special communication between hosts.
- Reports messages and errors regarding packet delivery
|
Internet Protocol (IP) |
- Address and routing functions
|
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) |
- IP address mapping to the media access control (MAC)
sublayer address
|
Configuring TCP/IP manually |
Control Panel, Network, Protocols tab
and then double click TCP/IP Protocol. Microsoft TCP/IP Properties dialog box. For
each network adapter card that uses TCP/IP three parameters can be configured:
Parameter |
Description |
IP Address |
- 32-bit address used to identify TCP/IP host;
- Each address has 2 parts: network ID and host ID
- the network ID identifies all the hosts that are on the
same physical network
- the host ID identifies a host on the network
|
Subnet Mask |
- Network in a multiple network environment that uses IP
addresses derived from a single network ID, it blocks out part of the IP address, so that
TCP/IP can distinguish network ID from host ID
- When TCP/IP hosts try to communicate, the subnet mask is
used to determine whether the destination host is located on a local network or a remote
network
|
Default Gateway |
- For communication with host on another network, an IP
address should be configured for the default gateway.
- TCP/IP sends packets for remote networks to default gateway
if no other route is configured. If it is not configured, communication may be limited to
local network.
|
Configuring TCP/IP Automatically |
- When a DHCP server is configured on the network, client
operating systems that support DHCP (Windows 95 and Windows NT) can request TCP/IP
configuration information (IP address, subnet mask, default gateway) from the DHCP server.
- TCP/IP can be configured automatically. To do this, in
the Microsoft TCP/IP dialog box, click IP address tab, and then click Obtain an IP address
from a DHCP server.
Testing TCP/IP with Ipconfig and Ping |
- Ipconfig
- The Ipconfig utility is used to verify the TCP/IP
configuration parameters on a LOCAL host. Use this utility to test your own machine and
it's connections.
- This command is useful on computers running DHCP because
it enables users to determine which TCP/IP configuration values have been leased out by
DHCP.
- It helps to determine whether the configuration is
initialized, or if a duplicate IP address has been configured.
- If a duplicate IP address has been configured, it appears as configured; however, the
subnet mask appears as 0.0.0.0.
- If DHCP is being used, and the computer is unable to obtain an IP address, the IP
address appears as 0.0.0.0.
IPCONFIG /ALL
- ipconfig /all --> IP address, subnet mask and, if
configured, default gateway will appear.
IPCONFIG /renew [adapter]
- renews DHCP configuration parameters
- available ONLY on computers running DHCP client service (i.e the SERVER)
- to specify the adapter name, type the adapter name that appears when you use Ipconfig
with parameters
IPCONFIG /renew [adapter]
- releases the current DHCP configuration
- this options disables TCP/IP on the local computer and is a available only on DHCP
Clients
- Is used to test connectivity (ping IP_address),
TCP/IP configurations and to diagnose connection failures.
Ping examples
Pinging the IP address and then
"localhost"
Using the -a resolves address to host names:
Using the -r switch records the route of the outgoing packet
(3 in the example below is the "count" parameter and specifies the number of
hosts to available to hop to.)
Utility |
Function |
Packet InterNet Groper
(Ping) |
Verifies
configurations and tests connections |
File Transfer Protocol
(FTP) |
Bidirectional file
transfer between computer running Windows NT and any TCP/IP host running FTP |
Trivial File Transfer
Protocol (TFTP) |
Bidirectional file
transfer between computer running Windows NT and any TCP/IP host running TFTP |
Telnet |
Terminal emulation to
TCP/IP host |
Remote Copy Protocol
(RCP) |
Copies files between
computer running Windows NT and Unix host |
Remote shell (RSH) |
Runs commands on Unix
host |
Remote execution
(REXEC) |
Runs process on remote
computer |
Finger |
Retrieves system
information from a remote computer that supports TCP/IP and Finger service |
Microsoft Internet
Explorer |
Locates resources on
Internet |
ARP |
Displays locally
resolved IP addresses as physical (MAC) addresses |
Ipconfig |
Displays current
TCP/IP configuration |
Nbtstat |
Displays protocol
statistics and connections using NetBIOS over TCP/IP |
Netstat |
Displays TCP/IP
protocol statistics and connections |
Route |
Displays or modifies
local network routing tables |
Hostname |
Returns local
computers hostname for authentication by RCP, RSH and REXEC utilities |
Tracert |
- Checks route to remote system
- sends ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)
echo packets with varying TTL (time to live) values to the destination
- some routers may be invisible to tracert
|
EXAMPLES
Netstat
Tracert
Tracert switches
Example of tracert using a remote host name
Hostname
- prints the name of the host
NWLink IPX/SPX Compatible Transport supports these API's:
- Novell NetBIOS
- WinSock
- RPC and
- Named Pipes.
- It is a 32-bit NDIS compliant Microsoft version of the
IPX/SPX protocol.
- It allows computers running Windows NT to communicate with
other network devices using IPX/SPX and it is also used in small networks.
- NWLink supports the networking APIs that provide the IPC
services shown in following table.
Networking API |
Description |
WinSock |
Supports existing applications
written to comply with the Netware IPX/SPX Sockets interface. Used to communicate with
NLMs |
NetBIOS over IPX |
Supports communication between a
NetWare client running NetBIOS and a computer running Windows NT and NWLink NetBIOS |
- NWLink also provides NetWare Clients with access to
applications designed for Windows NT Server such as Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft
SNA Server (used to connect to IBM mainframes)
Access to file and print resources on Windows NT you must
install File and Print Services for NetWare.
- A frame type defines the way the network adapter card
formats data. NWLink on Windows NT should be configured in the same way as the NetWare
servers with which they communicate.
- It is possible for a connection to be established between two computers that are using
different frame types on the network, when one of those computers is NetWare computer
acting as a router which can connect networks of different types such as those
using different architectures and protocols. However, this is not efficient. If a
connection is successfully established through NWLink but is very slow, verify that the
two systems are using the same frame type.
- Following table lists topologies and frame types supported
by NWLink:
Topology |
Supported frame type |
Ethernet |
Ethernet II, 802.3, 802.2, and
SNAP default 802.2 |
Token Ring |
802.5 and SNAP |
Fiber Distributed Data
Interface (FDDI) |
802.2 and SNAP |
|
SNAP = Sub Network Access Protocol |
When NWLink is installed on a computer running Windows NT
the frame type is, by default, automatically detected on network and set accordingly. If
others than 802.2 are detected, NWLink defaults to the 802.2 frame type. If manual frame
type detection is selected, a computer running Windows NT can be configured to use
multiple frame types.
- Use NWLink IPX/SPX Properties dialogue box to designate a
frame type for EACH NIC on the computer
- On Ethernet Networks:
|
Default Frame Type |
NetWare 2.2; 3.11 |
802.3 |
NetWare 3.12 and later |
802.2 |
Some of these notes in this section
overlap, but were needed to provide a complete picture
|
One version:
Network number and Internal Network Number
- Network number is used to identify the
network segment that you need to access.
- Windows NT uses an IPX network number for routing purposes.
- IPX network number is also referred to as the external
network number and must be unique for each network segment.
- You then assign a network number to each configured frame type and
adapter combination on your computer.
|
And another version
NWLink IPX/SPX compatible transport protocol included with
Windows NT uses two types of network numbers.
- An IPX network number
(external network number) must be assigned for each frame type configured on each network
adapter card and must be unique for each segment. All computers on a segment using same
frame type must use same network number to communicate with each other. The number can be
set using Registry Editor and through Control Panel (Network) if File and Print Services
for Netware (FPNW) is installed. Setting IPX network number in registry requires two
values:
- Network Number specifies network number (in
hexadecimal) to be used for adapter.
- 0 à NWLink will get network number from running network.
- IPX network numbers are 4 bytes (8 hexadecimal characters)
- PktType specifies the packet form to
use:
PktType
value |
Packet form |
0 |
Ethernet_II |
1 |
Ethernet_802.3 |
2 |
802.2 |
3 |
SNAP |
4 |
ArcNet |
FF |
Auto-detect |
Both are set in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
Services\Nwlnkipx\NetConfig\adapter
- Internal Network Number is used to identify
your computer on the network.
- Internal network number uniquely identifies the computer on the
network for internal routing.
- This number is also known as virtual network number and is
separated by an eight-digit hexadecimal number.
- NT doesn't automatically detect the internal network number. You
need to manually assign a unique non-zero internal network number in the following
situation.
- You have File and Print Services for NetWare (FPNW) installed, and
you choose multiple frame types on a single adapter.
- You have bound NWLink to multiple adapters in your computer.
Your computer is acting as a Windows NT server for an application
that uses the NetWare Service Advertising Protocol (SAP), such as SQL or SNA.
|
- Windows NT uses an internal network number to
uniquely identify the computer on the network for internal routing.
- This eight-digit hexadecimal number (virtual network
number), is by default set to 00000000.
- The internal network number identifies a virtual network
segment inside the computer. That is, the internal network number identifies another
(virtual) segment on the internetwork.
It is necessary to manually assign a unique non-zero
internal network number in the following situations:
- FPNW installed and there are multiple frame types on a
single adapter.
- FPNW installed and NWLink is bound to multiple adapters in
the computer.
- Application is using Netware SAP.
Routing Information Protocol
- By using RIP routing over IPX, a computer running Windows
NT Server can act as IPX router.
- Use Routing tab in NWLink IPX/SPX properties dialog box to
enable or disable RIP.
- RIP allows a route to exchange information with
neighbouring routers
NetBIOS extended user interface (NetBEUI) is a protocol
developed for small LANs (20-200).
NetBEUI Frame (NBF) is the implementation of NetBEUI that
is included in Windows NT. It provides interoperability with older network systems such as
Microsoft LAN Manager and Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Capabilities for Windows NT:
- Connection-oriented and connectionless communication
between computers.
- Self-configuration and self-tuning
- Error protection
- Small memory overhead
- Since NetBEUI is a no-routable protocol. Windows NT-based computers running NetBEUI must
be connected using bridges instead of routers to join two LANs.
- Since NetBEUI is a broadcast-based protocol. Its use causes more broadcast traffic than
other protocols
Configuring Network Bindings |
What is the effect of moving bound protocols up and down the binding order?
- RULE: put the most used protocol at the top of the list ON THE WORKSTATION
- The server used the first common protocol when it receives communication from the
workstation, so if the most used is set on the workstation, then the increased speed
gained by moving it up the order is realized
Configuring Network Bindings |
Select the Bindings tab after double
clicking Network program in Control Panel
Option |
Use this
option to |
Show bindings for |
View bindings for all
services, all protocols or all adapters |
Enable |
Enable the selected binding path
(also beneath selected component) |
Disable |
Disable the selected binding
path (also beneath selected component) |
Move Up/Move down |
Move selected binding up or down
in binding list |
Here's a good example of a
whole tree
See what you can learn about how services like WINS and
DHCP work from this list
An example of the list by
installed protocol:

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