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Introduction

Windows NT Server version 4.0 has extensive support for the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite both as a protocol and a set of services for connectivity and management of IP internetworks. For Windows 2000 this is the protocol of choice.

Knowledge of the basic concepts of TCP/IP is an absolute necessary for the proper understanding of the configuration, deployment, and troubleshooting of Internet Protocol - based Windows NT internet and intranets.

This examinations happens to be the toughest in the MCSE track. Due to it's importance in forth coming NT releases - which have an increased dependence on TCP/IP as the protocol of choice. It is very much in your interest to understand the underlying fundamentals.

TCP/IP is an industry-standard suite of protocols designed for large internetworks spanning wide area network (WAN) links. These standards were designed to platform independent, and allow easy networking between various Network Operating Systems - such as - Windows NT, Apple, Macintosh, Unix, Solaris, NetWare and so on so forth.

Origin

TCP/IP was developed in 1969 by the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the result of a resource-sharing experiment called Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET). The purpose of TCP/IP was to provide high-speed communication network links. Since 1969, ARPANET has grown into a worldwide community of networks known as the Internet.

Microsoft TCP/IP

Microsoft TCP/IP on Windows NT enables enterprise networking and connectivity on Windows NT–based computers. Adding TCP/IP to a Windows NT configuration offers the following advantages:

• A standard, routable enterprise networking protocol that is one of the most complete and accepted protocol available. All modern network operating systems offer TCP/IP support, and most large networks rely on TCP/IP for much of their network traffic.
• A technology for connecting dissimilar systems. Many standard connectivity utilities are available to access and transfer data between dissimilar systems, including File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Telnet, a terminal emulation protocol. Several of these standard utilities are included with Windows NT Server.
• A robust, scaleable, cross-platform client-server framework. Microsoft TCP/IP offers the Windows® Sockets interface, which is ideal for developing client-server applications that can run on Windows Sockets–compliant stacks from other vendors.
• A method of gaining access to the Internet. The Internet consists of thousands of networks worldwide connecting research facilities, universities, libraries, and private companies.

Note The word internet (lowercase i) refers to multiple TCP/IP networks connected with routers. References to the Internet (uppercase I) refer to the worldwide public Internet. References to an intranet refer to a private internetwork.

TCP/IP Standards and Request for Comments (RFCs)

The standards for TCP/IP are published in a series of documents called Request for Comments (RFCs). RFCs describe the internal workings of the Internet. Some RFCs describe network services or protocols and their implementations, whereas others summarize policies. TCP/IP standards are always published as RFCs, although not all RFCs specify standards.

TCP/IP standards are not developed by a committee, but rather by consensus. Anyone can submit a document for publication as an RFC. Documents are reviewed by a technical expert, a task force, or the RFC editor, and then assigned a status. The status specifies whether a document is being considered as a standard.

There are five status assignments of RFCs as described in Table 1.

Status	Description
Required	Must be implemented on all TCP/IP-based hosts and gateways.
Recommended	Encouraged that all TCP/IP-based hosts and gateways implement the RFC specifications. Recommended RFCs are usually implemented.
Elective	Implementation is optional. Its application has been agreed to, but is not a requirement.
Limited Use	Not intended for general use.
Not recommended	Not recommended for implementation.

If a document is being considered as a standard, it goes through stages of development, testing, and acceptance known as the Internet Standards Process. These stages are formally labeled maturity levels. Table 2 lists the three maturity levels for Internet Standards.

Maturity Level	Description
Proposed Standard	A Proposed Standard specification is generally stable, has resolved known design choices, is believed to be well understood, has received significant community review, and appears to enjoy enough community interest to be considered valuable.
Draft Standard	A Draft Standard must be well understood and known to be quite stable, both in its semantics and as a basis for developing an implementation.
Internet Standard	The Internet Standard specification (which may simply be referred to as a Standard) is characterized by a high degree of technical maturity and by a generally held belief that the specified protocol or service provides significant benefit to the Internet community.

When a document is published, it is assigned an RFC number. The original RFC is never updated. If changes are required, a new RFC is published with a new number. Therefore, it is important to verify that you have the most recent RFC on a particular topic.

RFCs can be obtained in several ways. Use the menu on top of this page to view some RFC's.

Another way to obtain any RFC or a full and up-to-date indexed listing of all RFCs published is to access http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc.html on the World Wide Web. RFCs can also be obtained by means of FTP from nis.nsf.net, nisc.jvnc.net, venera.isi.edu, wuarchive.wustl.edu, src.doc.ic.ac.uk, ftp.concert.net, internic.net, or nic.ddn.mil.

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