NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol is the
Microsoft implementation of Novell's Internetwork Packet
Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange (IPX/SPX) protocol.
Windows clients can be configured to use NWLink to access
client and server applications running on Novell NetWare
servers and / or on intranets where IPX/SPX or NWLink is the
protocol of choice. Windows clients running NWLink and the
Client Service for NetWare or NWLink and Gateway Service for
NetWare can connect to NetWare servers and utilize their
file and print services.
NetWare clients can access client and server applications running on
Windows 2000 servers by using the protocol as well. NetWare
clients running IPX with NetBIOS, Named Pipes, or Windows
Sockets can connect to systems running Windows 2000 with
NWLink installed and utilize applications and services on
those systems. NetWare clients running IPX can also connect
to systems running Windows 2000 Server with NWLink and File
and Print Services for NetWare installed for file and print
services.
NWLink supports Winsock and NetBIOS over IPX networking application programming
interfaces (APIs) which provide interprocess communication
(IPC) services.
Winsock supports existing NetWare applications written to comply with the NetWare
IPX/SPX Sockets interface and NetBIOS over IPX supports
communication between NetWare clients running NetBIOS and
systems running Windows XP Professional and NWLink NetBIOS
In order for any of this to occur on an intranet, the NWLink
IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol needs to be
installed and properly configured on the Windows XP
Professional system..
[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - NWLink is not installed by default during the
installation of any of the current Windows client and server
operating systems. By default, you must be a member of the
Administrators group to install protocols on any given
system.
Windows 95 installed NWLink by default during the operating system installation.
Installing NWLink
There are a number of different
ways to go about beginning the installation of NWLink on a
Windows XP Professional system. All of the methods end up
bringing you to Network Connections.
The easiest way to go about it
is to right click My Network Places from the Start Menu and
select Properties.
[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] -
(Long time readers are sick of this, but I can't mention it
enough.) What your Start Menu options look like all depend
on how you have the menu set. If you are using the Classic
Start Menu, you would not see My Network Places as a
selection to right click on.
I seem
to continually repeat this from article to article, but it
is important to stress, the Windows XP Professional exam
rarely tests you on Classic anything. You need to know how
to get from Windows XP Professional settings to Classic and
back, but in 90% of the cases you're going to find
instructions laid out in the Windows XP Professional vein. I
will do my best to point out alternatives in the [NOTES FROM THE FIELD]
section as I have done here.
Once you have opened the
Properties of My Network Places you will see the Network
Connections box, as shown below.
In order to add the protocol
from here you would need to right click the installed LAN
adapter and select Properties.
Click on Install to open
the Select Network Component Type. Since we want to install
a protocol, we will select Protocol and click ADD
Next you will see the Select
Network Protocol window where you will be able to select
NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol. Once
you have done this and clicked OK the protocol will be
installed.
[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - Windows XP does not require you to restart the computer
after you install new protocols MOST of the time. What you
may find that you need to do is to Disable and then
Enable the network adapter to finalize all the
settings. When it is practical, you should restart the
system. If you have connectivity issues with the newly
installed protocol, or even the currently installed ones,
you're not going to be able to be sure where to start
troubleshooting if you haven't rebooted the system.
Configuring NWLink
Once NWLink has been installed
you need to properly configure it. By default, NWLink
automatically detects the frame type used on the LAN because
it is set to auto detect the network frame type. If NWLink
detects no network traffic or if multiple frame types are
detected as in use, NWLink sets the frame type to 802.2.
Each frame type on a IPX network
formats data differently for transmission and the different
types are incompatible with each other. Multiple frame types
can be used, but in order for all computers on a network to
successfully communicate with one another they must use the
same frame type.
You can determine which external
network number, frame type, and internal network number your
routers are using by typing ipxroute config at a
command prompt.
IPXroute.exe is a command-line
utility that allows Administrators the ability to modify the
NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol
(NWLink) settings that affect routing. The Ipxroute utility
provides the same functionality as the Route.exe
command-line utility that is supplied by Novell for its
MS-DOS-based clients.
The Ipxroute utility manages the source routing variables of
NWLink and is installed only if the NWLink transport
protocol is bound to a network adapter.
Any changes made with IPXroute are valid for the current
session only. When you log off, the settings are lost. To
permanently change NWLink settings, you must set them in the
registry.
H:\>ipxroute config
NWLink IPX Routing and Source Routing Control Program v2.00
Num Name Network Node Frame
===================================================
1. IpxLoopbackAdapter 1234cdef 000000000002 [802.2]
2. Local Area Connection 00000000 006097dead6b [EthII]
3. NDISWANIPX 00000000 9a2f20524153 [EthII] -
Legend
======
- down wan line
NWLink IPX Routing and Source
Routing Control Program v2.00 included in Windows 2000 and
Windows XP displays and modifies information about the
routing tables used by IPX.
H:\>ipxroute
NWLink IPX Routing and Source Routing Control Program v2.00
DEFault Node (Unknown) Addresses are sent SINGLE ROUTE
BROADCAST
Broadcast (FFFF FFFF FFFF) Addresses are sent SINGLE ROUTE
BROADCAST
Multicast (C000 xxxx xxxx) Addresses are sent SINGLE ROUTE
BROADCAST
IPX Routing Options
-------------------
IPXROUTE servers [/type=xxxx]
Servers displays the SAP table for the specified
server type. Server type is a 16-bit integer value. If no
type is specified, servers of all types are shown. The
displayed list is sorted by server name.
IPXROUTE ripout network
Ripout discovers the reachability of "network"
(specified in host order) by consulting the IPX Stack's
route table and sending out a rip request if necessary.
IPXROUTE resolve guid|name adapter-name
Resolve resolves the name of the given adapter to its
guid or friendly version.
def - Send packets that are destined for an unknown address to the ALL
ROUTES broadcast (Default is SINGLE ROUTE broadcast).
gbr - Send packets that are destined for the broadcast address (FFFF
FFFF FFFF) to the ALL ROUTES broadcast (Default is SINGLE ROUTE broadcast).
mbr - Send packets that are destined for a multicast address (C000 xxxx
xxxx) to the ALL ROUTES broadcast (Default is SINGLE ROUTE broadcast).
remove=xxxx - Remove the given mac address from the source routing
table.
config - Displays information on all the bindings that IPX is
configured for.
All parameters should be
separated by spaces.
You can configure the frame type
you wish to use manually by right clicking the adapter you
want to configure and going to the properties page.
On the General tab of the
property page for the adapter you would select the NWLink
IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol and click the
Properties button.
On the General tab of the
property page for the protocol you can manually select a
frame type from the drop down window in the Adapter section.
[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - Windows XP does not require you to restart the computer
after you change the frame type MOST of the time. What you
may find that you need to do is to Disable and then
Enable the network adapter to finalize all the
settings, as the system may not have "let go" the auto
configured frame type. When it is practical, you should
restart the system. If you have connectivity issues with the
newly set frame type, or even other currently installed
protocols, you're not going to be able to be sure where to
start troubleshooting if you haven't rebooted the system.
On Ethernet networks, the
standard frame type for NetWare 2.2 and NetWare 3.11 is
802.3. For NetWare 3.12 and later, the default is 802.2.
The different network topologies
and the frame types supported by NWLink are outlined in the
table below.
Ethernet supports
Ethernet II, 802.3, 802.2, and Subnetwork Access Protocol
(SNAP), which defaults to 802.2
Token Ring supports
802.5 and SNAP
Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) supports
802.2 and SNAP
That's a
wrap for this week. Be sure to check back in next week for
the next article in this series.
In
the meantime, best of luck in your
studies and please feel free to contact me with any
questions on my column and remember,
"Married people may in fact live longer than single
people, but it seems that they are more willing to die."
