TCP/IP Utilities Reference

This appendix is a reference for using Microsoft TCP/IP utilities, which provide diagnostic and connectivity utilities for network and connectivity administration. These client utilities are provided for file transfer, terminal emulation, and network diagnostics. Besides the connectivity support built into Windows NT, some third-party vendors are developing advanced connectivity utilities such as X Window servers, Network File System (NFS) implementations, and so on.

Diagnostic commands help you detect TCP/IP networking problems. Connectivity commands enable users to interact with and use resources on non-Microsoft hosts such as UNIX workstations. The following commands are includec:

• Diagnostic commands: arp, hostname, ipconfig, lpq, nbtstat, netstat, ping, route, and tracert
• Connectivity commands: finger, ftp, lpr, rcp, rexec, rsh, telnet, and tftp

Important The ftp, ftpsvc, rexec, and telnet utilities all rely on password authentication by the remote computer. Passwords are not encrypted before being sent over the network. This enables another user equipped with a network analyzer on the same network to steal a user's remote account password. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that users of these utilities choose different passwords for their Windows NT workgroup, workstation, or domain from the passwords used on systems they are connecting to that are not Microsoft systems. All passwords used by Windows networking services are encrypted.

To get help on TCP/IP utilities

• Complete one of the following tasks:
  • At the command prompt, type the command name followed by -?. For example, type nbtstat -? to get help on this command.

    – Or –

  • Choose the Search button in the Command Reference window, and then type a command name in the box or select a command name from the list.

    – Or –

  • Invoke Windows NT Help from Program Manager using the following procedure:
• In the Program Manager Main group, double-click the Windows NT Help icon.
• In the Windows NT Help window, click the Command Reference Help button.
• In the Commands window, click a command name.

Note Switches used in the syntax for TCP/IP commands are case-sensitive. For example, for nbtstat, the switch -R has a different effect from the -r switch.