From the Introduction by the author, Ian McLean:
Who This Book Is For
This book is for network professionals, or for those aspiring to that title. Today's networking professional (even in a Netware or Apple Macintosh environment) needs to know about TCP/IP. I cover TCP/IP basics, so you can use this book even if you've no TCP/IP experience. Ideally, however, you'll know something about TCP/IP and realize that you need to know a lot more. If you can configure a host with an IP address and subnet mask, but aren't sure exactly what happens if you change the subnet mask value, then this book is for you. The book contains in-depth theory for the network designer, consultant, engineer, or academic who wants to know exactly how the protocols work. The structure of the book, with its "Immediate Solutions" sections, also makes it ideal for the network troubleshooter or support engineer who wants to learn the facts, carry out the procedures, and solve the problems--fast. Finally, the book covers the significant Windows 2000 abstraction layers and Network Application Interfaces and describes the facilities and routines provided with the Windows 2000 drivers development kit (DDK) and the Windows platform software development kit (SDK). It therefore provides useful reference material for device driver, transport driver, and applications developers.
How This Book Is Organized
The book is structured so that it starts at the lower TCP/IP layers and works its way up. This progress is, however, more of a meander than a march. I think it's better to look at features in context rather than in strict numerical order, so I'll be taking the odd detour. On the way, I'll take a fresh look at some old friends from the 1980s: IP, TCP, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Telnet, and so on. I'll also investigate some of the new kids on the block, such as Internet Protocol Security (IPSec), Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Real-time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) and, of course, IPv6.
Chapter 1 takes a broad-brush approach, introducing the topics, terms, and acronyms that you'll come across. The purpose of the chapter is to provide an overview, familiarize you with the concepts, and let you decide which topics are of particular interest to you.
Chapter 2 covers the low-level, abstraction layer that implements version 5 of the Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS5).
Chapter 3 describes ARP, but to describe a protocol you need to look at its structure. Microsoft's Network Monitor is a good tool for this purpose.
Chapter 4 describes IP (or, more correctly, IPv4). Routing Internet Protocol (RIP) versions 1 and 2 and the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol--are also described. The chapter provides design considerations that can help you decide whether static routing, RIP, or OSPF is the appropriate choice.
Chapter 5 is about another aspect of IP: Subnetting and Supernetting.
Chapter 6 covers two protocols that provide support to IP at the Internet Layer: Internet Control Management Protocol (ICMP) and Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) version 2.
Chapter 7 introduces Internet Protocol Security (IPSec).
Chapter 8 covers the basic operation of the protocol and the many enhancements provided in Windows 2000. Transmission problems are described, together with the algorithms that can solve them.
Chapter 9 describes User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Because UDP can't guarantee bandwidth, a separate Quality of Service (QoS) methodology is required. The chapter therefore covers the various QoS levels and mechanisms, as well as bandwidth reservation using Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP). Finally, the chapter describes the real-time multimedia protocols, such as RTP and RTSP, that operate over UDP.
Chapter 10 discusses File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP), Trivial File Transport Protocol (TFTP), Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP), and Secure HTTP (HTTPS).
Chapter 11 covers Kerberos 5, the Windows 2000 default authentication protocol. The chapter describes how mutual authentication is achieved using a shared secret protocol and discusses shared keys, session keys, key distribution centers, Kerberos tickets, the ticket granting service, and cross-domain authentication.
Chapter 12 investigates the many features provided by IIS5.
Chapter 13 covers Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and the dynamic configuration of IP addresses, subnet masks, default gateways, Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) server addresses, Domain Name System (DNS) server addresses, and a wide range of options.
Chapter 14 covers the concept of hierarchical domain namespace. The various types of DNS records are described, as is DNS database replication and how Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs) can be resolved over the Internet. The Windows 2000 enhancements, particularly Active Directory integration and Dynamic DNS, are described in detail.
Chapter 15 describes WINS, which provides a dynamic, centralized database that holds Network Basic Input/Output System (NetBIOS) names mapped to their corresponding IP addresses. The chapter covers Windows 2000 WINS enhancement, such as partner autodiscovery, manual tombstoning, and so on.
Chapter 16 concentrates on the Remote Access Service (RAS). The chapter covers the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) and Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol, together with the use of Microsoft Point-to- Point Encryption (MPPE) and IPSec. The use of Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service (RADIUS) clients and the Internet Authentication Service (IAS) RADIUS server to provide access control and accounting services is also described.
Chapter 17 covers the Transport Driver Interface, which is the high-level abstraction layer between the protocol stack and the application layer. This chapter revisits the DDK, this time to investigate the facilities provided for transport driver designers.
Chapter 18 concentrates mainly on Winsock version 2 (Winsock2).
Chapter 19 describes the wide variety of tools provided Windows 2000 for network management and troubleshooting. It covers Simple Network Management Protocol, Event Viewer, the Performance Logs and Alerts Tool, System Monitor, Network Monitor, and the various command-line tools.
Chapter 20 investigates the IPv6 protocol including IPv6 addresses, address notation, and address types, Neighbor Discovery and Address Autoconfiguration
Three appendices cover all the Registry parameters that you'll ever want to know about, and the fourth describes the powerful and useful Network Shell utility.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
