Managing Network Components

Modern Windows operating systems - by which we mean Windows 95, Windows 98, SE, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, and 2003 - include support for two collections of client software for networking:

Client for Microsoft Networks
Client for NetWare Networks (or Client Service for NetWare)

These two client-software collections appear in Figure 2-1, which shows the General tab of a Local Area Connection object in Windows Server 2003. These two different sets of client software provide access to two different sets of network resources.

Figure 2-1: The General tab of a Local Area Connection object from a Windows Server 2003 system.

Client for Microsoft Networks, as the name suggests, includes the necessary components for a machine to act as a client on a Microsoft network. Likewise, Client for NetWare Networks includes similar components needed to act as a NetWare network client. Additional software components come into play on Windows Server 2003 and on client machines (such as Windows 95, 98, SE, Me, 2000, and XP), all of which we cover in Chapter 8.

You can use the Windows 2003 utility called My Network Places (if it's not on the desktop, look in Windows Explorer) to view information about resources available on your network. By default, this icon displays a list of all the network shares you've created and the computers they reside on. However, you can instruct it to show all kinds of displays. In Figure 2-2, for example, you see a complete list of all the computers in the same domain as the listing machine.

Figure 2-2: My Network Places shows the computers in your nearby network neighborhood.

Unmasking the Microsoft network

In addition to the basic network client components used by Windows Server 2003 to communicate with a Microsoft or NetWare-based network, numerous other networking components are essential to the functional operation of a network:

MultiProtocol Router (MPR): Distributes requests for network services to a specific network provider , which represents some type of network client environment. (It routes requests for Microsoft services to the Microsoft network provider and requests for Novell services to the NetWare network provider.) MPR allows a Windows system to support multiple simultaneous client connections. MPR also defines a single common interface so that applications can access features common to all networks through a single set of interface calls.
Microsoft Network Provider: Defines an open interface that allows third-party vendors to integrate support for their networks. Microsoft Network Provider also grants access to (and management of) network resources and components through common utilities, such as My Network Places and the Network Connections utilities. Microsoft Network Provider offers a single set of well-defined functions to browse servers, to connect to or disconnect from servers, and to interact with other network resources.
Installable File System Manager (IFSMGR): This file-system access facility integrates multiple file systems through a single interface. IFSMGR also allows remote file-system access requests to look exactly the same as local file-system access requests in their structure and functions. (They differ only in how requested objects are addressed.)
Client for Microsoft Networks Redirector: This software component checks all application requests for resources. It hands off any requests for remote resources to the network interface but passes requests for local resources to the local operating system.
NetBIOS interface: This protocol interface defines a high-level request/response protocol that carries requests for remote resources (and their replies). In particular, the NetBIOS interface uses a special messaging protocol, called Server Message Block (SMB), to carry requests from clients to servers and responses to those requests from servers back to their originating clients .
Network protocols designed to support Microsoft's Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) Version 3.1 or higher: This refers to the built-in networking protocols for Windows operating systems that we discuss further in Chapter 3.
A generic NDIS interface: This programming convention defines a standard code interface to network adapters in Windows operating systems. It allows driver developers to interact with NICs using a wellknown, well-documented set of program calls to move data from the computer to the NIC for outgoing messages, and from the NIC back to the computer for incoming messages.
A specific NDIS adapter driver: This device driver translates generic network interface formats into formats specific to whatever NIC or NICs are installed in a Windows computer. (Note that Windows NT, 2000, XP, and 2003 support multiple NICs in a single machine but neither Windows 95 nor Windows 98 offers this capability.)

Figure 2-3 shows this collection of Microsoft Network components and how the various components interact with an application that makes requests and the network that carries those requests to a server and delivers the corresponding replies to those requests. Please note that although all Windows operating systems are all similarly constructed and use similar components, details among these individual operating systems vary.

Figure 2-3: The component structure for the Client for Microsoft Networks.

Understanding the Novell network

Even though the component structure for Client for NetWare Networks is similar to that for Client for Microsoft Networks (which we cover in the preceding section), their differences lie in specific NetWare-focused components that replace Microsoft counterparts. At many steps along the way from the application to the NDIS driver, different components specific to NetWare are used instead. The resulting collection of components is as follows :

MultiProtocol Router (MPR): This software component is common to all network clients for Windows operating systems. As is the case with Microsoft Network/Microsoft Windows Network, MPR hands off network service requests to the appropriate network provider.
A NetWare-compatible Network Provider: This software component provides access to and management of NetWare-accessible network resources and components through common utilities, such as the My Network Places and the Network Connections utilities. Like its Microsoft counterpart , the NetWare-compatible Network Provider offers a single set of well-defined functions to browse servers, to connect to or disconnect from servers, and to interact with network resources.
Installable File System Manager (IFSMGR): This file system access facility integrates multiple file systems through a single interface for consistent local and remote access to NetWare-based file and print resources when Client for NetWare Networks is at work.
Client for NetWare Networks Redirector: This software component hands off requests for remotes resources to the NetWare network interface and passes requests for local resources to the local operating system.
One of several Network protocols: Client for NetWare Networks can use either Internet Package Exchange/Sequenced Package Exchange (IPX/SPX) or TCP/IP to access the network.
Generic NDIS interface: This device driver defines a standard interface to network adapters in Windows operating systems. The same interface works for Microsoft and NetWare clients.
A specific NDIS adapter driver: This device driver translates generic network interface formats into formats specific to whatever NIC or NICs are installed in a Windows computer. (Note that Windows NT, 2000, XP, and 2003 support multiple NICs in a single machine but neither Windows 95 nor Windows 98 offers this capability.)

Note the absence of a separate NetBIOS interface in this collection. This omission means that NetWare doesn't use NetBIOS-based names to navigate its networks. Client for NetWare Networks loses none of its NetBIOS capabilities even though there's no separate NetBIOS interface; applications still need and get NetBIOS support. Notice also that MPR, the installable file system, the protocols (except for the range of choices), and the NDIS components remain more or less the same for both Microsoft and NetWare clients.

Warning

Observing this component-based software structure, you may feel compelled to ask whether you can mix and match software components from Novell and Microsoft. Unfortunately, you must go all one way (Microsoft) or the other (Novell) when installing network client software components on a Windows machine. No good comes of trying to meld the two!

You can run both Microsoft and NetWare clients side by side without difficulty, but you can't mix Novell components and Microsoft components willy-nilly on any Windows machine. Therefore, you can use Microsoft software to access both Windows Server 2003 and NetWare servers or Novell software to access both Windows Server 2003 and NetWare servers. But you can't use Microsoft software to access Windows Server 2003 and NetWare software to access NetWare servers on the same machine.