IPX/SPX Overview

This section discusses how to use the Windows Sockets 2 API with the IPX family of protocols. Traditionally, the Windows Sockets 1.x specification has been used with the IP family of protocols such as TCP and UDP. With the advent of Windows Sockets 2, the API has been updated to access a wide range of transport and network types more easily.

The Windows Sockets 2 API is sufficiently generic. That is, programmers need to know very little about the specifics of the IPX/SPX implementation. However, if you are moving traditional IPX applications to Winsock or want more knowledge of the IPX/SPX implementation, this appendix is for you. Be aware that IPX networks operate differently than IP networks; consideration of this fact will most likely be manifest in your code.

IPX/SPX features are defined in the header file Wsipx.h.