Architecture of Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows NT

TCP/IP is the primary protocol of the Internet and intranets (networks that connect enterprise-wide local area networks). You can communicate with computers running under Windows NT, with devices that use other Microsoft networking products, and with computers running under non-Microsoft operating systems using TCP/IP (such as UNIX computers).

The TCP/IP protocol suite in Windows NT Server and Windows NT Workstation was completely redesigned beginning with Windows NT version 3.5. It is a high-performance, portable, 32-bit implementation of the industry-standard TCP/IP protocol suite and is easy to administer. Microsoft 32-bit TCP/IP for Windows NT provides support for standard TCP/IP features including:

• Logical multihoming
• Internal IP routing capability
• IP multicasting support using the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)
• Duplicate IP address detection
• Multiple default gateways
• Dead gateway detection
• Automatic discovery when using Path Maximum Transfer Unit (PMTU)

The TCP/IP protocol suite for Windows NT Server and Windows NT Workstation is comprised of:

• Core protocol elements
• Windows NT – based services
• Interfaces between the protocol elements and services

The Windows NT – based networking services include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), used for NetBIOS name resolution services
• Domain Name System (DNS), used for host and domain name resolution services
• Point-to-Point (PPP) and Serial Line IP (SLIP), used for Remote Access Service (RAS)
• Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), used for virtual private remote networks
• TCP/IP network printing (lpr/lpd)
• SNMP agent
• NetBIOS interface
• 32-bit Windows Sockets interface
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Network Dynamic Data Exchange (NetDDE)
• WAN (wide area network) browsing support
• High-performance Internet Information Server with Web, FTP, and GOPHER services
• TCP/IP connectivity utilities, including finger, ftp, rcp, rexec, rsh, telnet, and tftp
• Server software for simple network protocols, including Character Generator, Daytime, Discard, Echo, and Quote of the Day
• TCP/IP management and diagnostic tools, including arp, hostname, ipconfig, nbtstat, netstat, nslookup, ping, route, and tracert

The following figure illustrates the Windows NT TCP/IP architecture model and shows the core protocol elements and the interfaces between protocol elements and services.

Figure 6.1 The Windows NT TCP/IP Architecture Model

Note

Specifications and programming information for Microsoft 32-bit TCP/IP are included in the Windows NT Device Driver Kit (DDK). The Transport Driver Interface (TDI) and the Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) are public specifications available from Microsoft.