DHCP for Windows 2000

Summary

This chapter gave an overview of some of the configuration information that DHCP is expected to deliver to its clients.

TCP/IP is the dominant network protocol in use in today’s network environments. It is also the network protocol for the Internet, and I strongly urge that you learn as much about it as you can. Understanding TCP/IP will help you configure, maintain, and troubleshoot many systems that a network engineer will encounter.

The chapter began with a discussion of the TCP/IP protocol suite. This included a comparison of the two common reference models: the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) Model and the Department of Defense (DOD) Reference Model. During the discussion I delved into the various layers in the models and provided examples of how the various components in TCP/IP are implemented.

Next I moved into a discussion on hardware addresses. These addresses, also known as MAC addresses, are used to uniquely identify the network interface card (NIC) in a computer.

The next section described IP addressing. IP addressing is the heart of a TCP/IP-based network. An IP address is a 32-bit binary number that identifies a computer on a network. It contains two parts: the network portion and the host portion of the address. This section also included a discussion of IP address classes and how they are employed. The section concluded with a discussion of IP subnetting and Classless Interdomain Routing (CIDR). The entire concept of packet routing is made possible through the use of IP addressing.

The chapter concluded with a discussion of the various name resolution processes found on Microsoft TCP/IP-based networks. This included Domain Name System (DNS), which is the standard name resolution process for many corporate networks and the Internet. Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) is used on Microsoft networks to provide NetBIOS to IP address name resolution.