Chapter 6 Transport Helper DLLs for Windows Sockets

Originally an application programming interface specific to TCP/IP, Windows Sockets has since become the primary user-mode interface to Windows NT® network transports. In addition to TCP/IP, the Windows Sockets dynamic-link library works in conjunction with several other transports that provide extensions in the form of transport-specific user-mode Windows Sockets helper (WSH) DLLs.

This describes the WSH DLL to be supplied with a new transport driver to support application calls through Windows Sockets, as follows:

• An overview of the architectural relationships among Windows Sockets, transport drivers, and transport-specific WSH DLLs in Section 6.1 

• An overview of how Windows Sockets communicates with transport-specific WSH DLLs in Section 6.2 

• Setting up the configuration registry for WSH DLLs in Section 6.3 

• Managing synchronization for WSH DLLs in Section 6.4 

• How WSH DLLs can support additional information sent on the network with connections and disconnections in Section 6.5 

• A summary of the required and optional WSHXxx functions in Section 6.6 

For information about how applications interface with Windows Sockets 2, see the Win32 SDK.