TCP/IP Support in Windows Embedded CE (Windows Embedded CE 6.0)

1/6/2010

The TCP/IP suite for Windows Embedded CE was designed to ease integration of Microsoft systems into the embedded market, telecommunications, the enterprise, the consumer market, government, and public networks. It also provides the ability to operate over those networks in a secure manner. Windows Embedded CE is an Internet-ready operating system.

Windows Embedded CE supports the following standard characteristics:

• The ability to bind to multiple network adapters with different media types, for example, 802.3 and 802.5.
• Logical and physical multihoming capabilities.
• Internal IP routing capability.
• Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) (IP Multicasting).
• Duplicate IP address detection.
• Multiple default gateways.
• Dead gateway detection.
• Automatic Path Maximum Transmission Unit (PMTU) discovery.
• Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

Windows Embedded CE also has the following performance improvements:

• Protocol stack tuning, including increased default window sizes.
• TCP Scalable Window sizes (RFC 1323 support).
• Selective Acknowledgments (SACK).
• TCP Fast Retransmit.

Windows CE .NET 4.1 and later supports both Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and version 6 (IPv6).

The following table shows services that Windows Embedded CE provides.

Service	Description
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) client	DHCP clients are dynamically assigned with various configuration parameters, such as an IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and other critical network configuration information. For more information, see TCP/IP and the DHCP Client.
Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)	WINS is a NetBIOS name client that manages the name resolution process by maintaining an up-to-date list of NetBIOS computer names and their respective IP addresses. For more information, see TCP/IP and WINS.
Domain Name System (DNS) client	Windows Embedded CE does not support hosting a DNS server. However, Windows Embedded CE queries a DNS server for name resolution if such a server exists on the network. For more information, see TCP/IP and the DNS Client.
Extended DNS Querying and Update	This service provides the Dynamic DNS protocol that allows you to set the device name in a DNS server database. You can do this programmatically or you can configure the device to register its name in the database automatically when its name is changed or when a network adapter becomes available. Windows Embedded CE also supports Secure DNS for more secure, dynamic updates. You can now modify or remove multiple resource record sets that are associated with a specific name. Dynamic Query and Modify allows you to query arbitrary records in a DNS Server. For more information, see TCP/IP and Dynamic DNS.
Dial-up (PPP/SLIP) support.	Windows Embedded CE implements dial-up networking with Remote Access Service (RAS) and Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). For more information, see TCP/IP and Dial-up Support.
TCP/IP network printing	In Windows Embedded CE, TCP/IP supports network printing through the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. It does not provide the Windows Line Printer Remote (LPR) Spooler. However, independent software vendors (ISVs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can add this support.
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) extension agent	The SNMP extension agent provides an MIB-2 subagent that allows the state of TCP/IP to be monitored and controlled. For more information, see SNMP Extension Agent.
Wide area network (WAN) support	This service provides users with access to the Internet.
TCP/IP connectivity utilities	Basic TCP/IP connectivity utilities, including File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and telnet servers. The telnet server allows remote administration through a standard telnet client. For more information, see Telnet Server. In Windows CE .NET 4.1 and later, a sample FTP server is used for copying files to and from remote computer systems over a network using TCP/IP. For more information, see FTP Server.
Network Utilities	Many network troubleshooting tools are available for Windows Embedded CE, for example, ipconfig, iPv6, ipv6tun, netstat, ping route, and tracert. For more information, see Network Utilities.
Internet Protocol Helper (IP Helper)	IP Helper provides application programming interfaces (APIs) that assist in the network administration of the local computer. For more information, see TCP/IP and IP Helper.
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)	Microsoft® Remote Procedure Call (RPC) is used to creating distributed client/server programs. The RPC run-time stubs and libraries manage most of the processes relating to network protocols and communication. This enables you to focus on the details of an application rather than the details of the network. For more information, see this Microsoft Web site, and then search for Remote Procedure Call (RPC). Note: The RPC functionality in Windows Embedded CE is used only by DCOM. It is not supported in other deployment scenarios.
Windows Internet (WinInet)	WinInet handles all communication between an application and Winsock. For more information, see TCP/IP and WinInet.
Windows Sockets (Winsock)	Applications access the TCP/IP stack through the Winsock interface. For more information, see TCP/IP and Windows Sockets.

See Also

Tasks

Core Protocols of IPv4

Concepts

Core Protocols of IPv6
IP Multicasting for IPv4
IP Multicasting for IPv6
Duplicate IP Address Detection for IPv4
Duplicate IP Address Detection for IPv6
Path Maximum Transmission Unit (PMTU) Discovery
Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)

Other Resources

TCP/IP Application Development
TCP/IP
Windows Sockets
Network Utilities