TCP/IP Protocol

Microsoft TCP/IP provides communication across interconnected networks that use diverse hardware architectures and various operating systems. TCP/IP can be used to communicate with computers running Windows 95, with devices using other Microsoft networking products, or with non-Microsoft systems such as UNIX.

Microsoft TCP/IP provides all the following elements necessary for networking:

• Core TCP/IP protocols, including the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Internet Protocol (IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), and Domain Name Protocol (DNS). This suite of Internet protocols provides a set of standards for how computers communicate and how networks are interconnected.
• Support for application programming interfaces, including Windows Sockets and NetBIOS.
• TCP/IP diagnostic tools to detect and resolve TCP/IP networking problems, including arp, ftp, nbtstat, netstat, ping, route, and tracert, plus Windows-based Telnet and IP Configuration (WINIPCFG) utilities.

In addition, when you install Microsoft TCP/IP under Windows 95, the following enhancements are included:

• Client for DHCP, for automatic configuration of computers running TCP/IP on networks that have DHCP servers
• Client for WINS, for dynamic resolution of IP addresses to computer names on networks that have WINS servers
• Point-to-Point Protocol for asynchronous communication, as described in Chapter 28, "Dial-Up Networking and Mobile Computing"

For a summary of the command-line options for TCP/IP utilities, see Appendix A, "Command-Line Commands Summary."