B

binding

A process during which a transport driver and a netcard driver exchange information, using the NDIS interface library wrapper, about identities, capabilities, function addresses, and binding context.

Also, a process by which the Windows NT configuration registry installs and associates the components of a network.

broadcast address

A 48-bit identifier transmitted over a network with all bits set to 1. All networks receive broadcast data packets.

buffer

A virtually contiguous block of storage used to hold a portion of a data packet. A buffer descriptor structure describes a buffer.

buffer descriptor

A data structure containing information about a buffer. This information includes, for example, a pointer to buffer physical location, number of bytes, and size. It does not include the actual data in the buffer.

busmaster

An adapter card that does direct memory access and that can take control of the bus whenever necessary.