In: Categories » Computers and technology » Software » Communication Protocols Used by Windows Systems
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• TCP is an industry-standard suite of protocols Automatic Private IP Addressing Alternate TCP/IP Configurations TCP/IP Client Utilities TCP/IP Server Utilities Internet Explorer 6 Windows Messenger Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) Internet Connection Sharing is a watered down version of Network Address Translation (NAT) and is intended for small networks, such as those typically found in the home or small business. Using ICS, one computer, called the ICS host, shares its Internet connection with the rest of the computers on the private network. Other computers on the private network can force the ICS host to initiate a connection to the Internet (if not already active) by beginning a task that requires Internet access, such as starting Internet Explorer or Outlook Express. The ICS host must have at least one Network Interface Card (NIC) connected to the rest of the private network through a switch or hub and one other network interface that connects to the Internet. This can be either broadband (Cable, DSL, etc.) or a standard dial-up modem. When ICS is enabled, it will reassign the private adapter the IP address of 192.168.0.1 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. All of the computers inside the private network must be configured to request IP addresses using DHCP. The ICS host will act as its own DHCP and DNS server for the internal private network. When configuring ICS you can enable the “Internet Discovery and Control” feature. This allows all ICS clients that support Internet Discovery and Control to monitor and manage their ICS connection and even force the ICS server to disconnect from the Internet, if need be. Windows XP clients support Internet Discovery and Control by default. Support for Internet Discovery and Control can be added to Windows 98 or higher clients running IE5 and up by running the Network Setup Wizard (available on the XP product CD) on them. Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) Internet Connection Firewall is Microsoft’s answer to securing single computers and small networks from the threats inherent today with usage of the Internet. ICF is directly related to Internet Connection Sharing, but the two may be used independently of each other (when used with ICS on the ICS host it can protect your entire network). ICF is considered a "stateful" firewall—that is to say that it monitors all communications that happen to cross its boundaries and in doing do inspects the source and destination IP address of each message that it sees. To prevent unsolicited traffic from the public (Internet) side of the connection from entering the private side, ICF makes a table that tracks all communications that originate at the ICF computer (in the case of a single computer) or the ICF/ICS host computer (when used in conjunction with ICS) and from all private network computers. All inbound traffic from the Internet is compared against the entries in the table and is only allowed to arrive at the computers in the private network when there is a matching entry in the table showing that the communication exchange began from within the private network. Communications that originate from a source outside the ICF computer, such as the Internet, are dropped by the firewall unless an entry in the SERVICES tab is made to allow passage. Rather than sending you notifications about activity, ICF silently discards unsolicited communications, stopping common hacking attempts such as port scanning. When dealing with ICF, there are three important items that you need to understand: 1. To configure ICF, you must be logged on locally as an administrator (or with administrative access). Neither Power Users nor the new security group Network Configuration Operators have the required privileges to modify ICF settings. 2. You should not enable ICF on the network adapter of a machine that does not connect directly to the Internet, as it will interfere with communications between that client and other clients on your network. It is for this reason that the Network Setup Wizard will not allow ICF to be configured on the private connection (the NIC that connects to the internal network) of an ICS configured machine. 3. Certain programs (Outlook 2000 for example) that rely on RPC messages from a server to the client (for new e-mail notification in this case) will not function correctly from behind ICF. This is because the RPC message originates unsolicited from outside the private network (at the ISP’s Microsoft Exchange Server in this case). ICF will not be able to find a corresponding entry in its routing table and thus the RPC messages will not be allowed to cross the firewall boundary. The message will be dropped and the user will not be notified of new e-mail. You can send and receive e-mail normally, but you would have to manually check for new e-mail. To start configuration on ICF: Start > Settings> Network Connections > Local Area Connection (as applicable, as you can rename it) > Properties > Advanced. Place a check in the check box next to “Protect my computer…”. After this is accomplished, click on Settings. Doing this opens a new window with three tabs: Services, Security Logging and ICMP. If your internal network is running any kind of Internet accessible services then the SERVICES tab should definitely get your attention. The default settings allow for none of the available services to be enabled; however you can easily modify this as your situation dictates. If a particular service that you need to support is not listed, you can simply add it. The Security Logging tab deals primarily with what to log, how much to log and where to keep the log. The default settings enable a log located either at C:\WINNT\pfirewall.log (if upgrading from a Windows 2000 Professional or Windows NT 4.0 installation) or C:\WINDOWS\pfirewall.log (if upgrading from Windows 9x/Me or performing a clean installation). The default log size is 4096KB and can be changed to fit the needs of your situation, though. By default, logging is not in effect. The last tab is ICMP settings. By default, none of the options are checked. This results in the most secure configuration possible. It may be useful to enable the first option “Allow incoming echo request” as this will enable the use of the PING command against the interface that ICF is configured on. Network Bridging Network Bridging is a new feature in Windows XP that allows you to combine several different network adapters for different networks into a single bridged network adapter that behaves as a single network. Bridging takes place at layer two of the OSI Network model, or Data Link layer. Windows XP treats the bridge as a physically installed device and it is configured in pretty much the same way other installed network devices are, as shown in Figure Remote Desktop Connections Windows XP Professional ships with a Remote Desktop Connection client installed by default. As well, it includes its own limited version of Terminal Services (called Remote Desktop Connection under Windows XP) that allows users and administrators to remotely work with and administer Windows XP Professional. Connecting to a remote server You can access the Remote Desktop Connection client by clicking Start > Programs > Accessories > Communications > Remote Desktop Connections. This brings up the Remote Connection Dialog box. Enter the Computer Name, IP address, or Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the computer you wish to connect to and click the Connect button. Use the Options button to configure some additional parameters for your connection: • Display settings can include colour depth (if not overridden at the server end)
and display size (640x480 to full screen). Connecting to Windows XP Professional Here are the important points to know for the exam: • Windows XP Professional only supports a single Remote Desktop Connection.
When a remote user connects to a Windows XP Professional system the
desktop on the local console automatically locks. Unlocking the desktop forces
the remote session to disconnect immediately. Troubleshooting: • Ipconfig and Ipconfig /all - displays current TCP/IP configuration NWLink (IPX/SPX) and NetWare Interoperability • NWLink (MS's version of the IPX/SPX protocol) is the protocol used by
Windows XP to allow Netware systems to access its resources. Other protocols • DLC is a special-purpose, non-routable protocol used by Windows XP to talk
with IBM mainframes, AS400s and Hewlett Packard JetDirect printers.
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