The NetBIOS Interface

A Win32-based application can use the Network Basic Input/Output System (NetBIOS) interface to communicate with applications on other computers in a network. The NetBIOS interface provides commands and support for the following services:

• Network name registration and verification
• Session establishment and termination
• Reliable connection-oriented data transfer
• Unreliable connectionless data transfer (datagram)
• Protocol and adapter monitoring and management

The NetBIOS interface exposes an explicit set of commands that are submitted through a structure known as the network control block (NCB). An application can issue NetBIOS commands over any protocol that supports the NetBIOS interface.