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Minasi c01.tex V3 - 05/29/2008 9:45pm Page 11

WHAT’S THE POINT OF NETWORKS AND NETWORKING? 11

network transport protocol exists, and over the years NT and other versions of Windows Server

have generally supported three of them:

◆ NetBEUI (Network Basic Input/Output System Extended User Interface), an old

Microsoft/IBM/Sytek protocol designed to support small networks

◆ IPX/SPX (Internet Packet Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange), the protocol that Nov-

ell NetWare predominantly used for years

◆ TCP/IPv4 (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), the protocol of the Internet

and intranets

Windows Server 2008 changes this equation somewhat. You won’t ﬁnd support for IPX/SPX

in Windows Server 2008, which means it won’t communicate with that old NetWare server on

your network. In addition, you won’t ﬁnd NetBEUI support in Windows Server 2008 because

Microsoft has replaced this protocol with TCP/IP. However, Windows Server does add support

for TCP/IPv6, which provides additional address space (which means it supports additional

devices) and better security. The article at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library

/bb878121.aspx provides great information on the new features provided by TCP/IPv6.

Your only choices for transport protocols in Windows Server 2008 are TCP/IPv4 and TCP/IPv6.

It’s a good bet that you’re using TCP/IPv4 right now. Why TCP/IPv4? Well, there have been

some really great protocols over the years, but because the Internet uses TCP/IP and the Internet

is so popular, TCP/IP has sort of trumped the other protocols. In fact, it’s impossible to do a fair

number of things that 2008 and its predecessors Windows 2000 and, to a lesser extent, Windows

NT 4 are capable of doing without TCP/IP. Because TCP/IPv6 is so new, few Internet service

providers (ISPs) require it and it’s doubtful you need this protocol for your company. So, I’m

going to assume for our discussion and indeed for most of this book that your network will use

TCP/IPv4.

Oh, and one more thing — once you’ve decided that TCP/IP is your network protocol of

choice, then you’ll need to install several more servers to support TCP/IP’s infrastructure. And

here again, when I say ‘‘more servers,’’ I’m not suggesting that you have to buy more PCs,

although you might. What I mean is that you’ll have to install software on some computer or

group of computers to perform three basic pieces of plumbing or infrastructure jobs:

◆ A Domain Naming System (DNS) server keeps track of the names of the computers in your

network (an important task, believe it or not). When working with a workgroup, you can

obtain DNS support automatically (without any conﬁguration) by using the Internet Con-

nection Sharing (ICS) feature of Windows Server 2008. You must install DNS support sepa-

rately for a domain.

◆ A Dynamic Host Conﬁguration Protocol (DHCP) server conﬁgures the speciﬁcs of TCP/IP

on each computer in your network, both great and small. Many routers provide DHCP

support, so make sure you check your router before you conﬁgure this feature on your

Windows Server 2008 installation because it may be a redundant service/role that your

Windows Server can do without.

◆ A Windows Internet Name Server (WINS) does something like what DNS does — keeps

track of names — but isn’t really necessary on a ‘‘pure’’ Windows 2008 network — its

main job is to support older Microsoft operating systems like Windows 9x,Me,andNT3.x

and 4.

You’ll learn more about the speciﬁcs of DNS, DHCP, and WINS in Chapter 11. I should point

out that if you’re a one-person shop, then you might not need all of that, as your ISP might be