TCP/IP in Windows 2000 Professional

This chapter provides information about installing, configuring and troubleshooting the TCP/IP protocol in Windows 2000 Professional. Additionally, there is information to assist you in planning and deploying TCP/IP installation on a Windows 2000 – based computer. Use the following Quick Guide to determine where to find the information you need to configure TCP/IP to meet your networking requirements.

 Understand your network requirements for TCP/IP.

An understanding of the features found in the Windows 2000 Professional implementation of TCP/IP will assist in your implementation of the protocol on a client, as well as illustrate how it compares to other Microsoft operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows NT.

• See Overview of Windows 2000 TCP/IP later in this chapter.

 Verify that TCP/IP is properly installed.

TCP/IP is installed as the default protocol in a clean install of Windows 2000 Professional. If you have installed Windows 2000 Professional over an existing client, or performed a custom installation, make sure to confirm TCP/IP installation.

• See Install TCP/IP later in this chapter.

 Choose and configure an IP addressing method.

Depending on your home, small business, or enterprise network configuration, two methods of IP address assignment are available for a Windows 2000 Professional– based client: automatically obtain an IP address or manually specify an IP address. When you configure TCP/IP to automatically obtain an IP address, either Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or Automatic Private IP Assignment (APIPA) is used to provide an IP address (default setting). Select and configure the addressing method that best meets your needs.

• See Configure IP Address Assignment later in this chapter.

 Choose and configure a name resolution method.

Depending on the type of network access needed by your Windows 2000 Professional– based client, one or more of the following methods can be used to identify your computer by name, rather than IP address: Domain Name System (DNS), Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), Lmhosts/Hosts file, or B-node (broadcast) name resolution.

• See Configure TCP/IP Name Resolution later in this chapter.

 Configure multihoming, if needed.

If your Windows 2000 Professional configuration requires multiple network adapters, is connected logically to multiple networks, or uses different network connection types, configure TCP/IP addressing for each logical connection.

• See Configure Multihoming later in this chapter.

 Configure local routing table.

The local IP routing table on your Windows 2000 Professional computer must be configured to enable communication with other computers outside the local subnet. Depending on the enterprise configuration, the local route table can be automatically configured by using routers meeting specifications for ICMP Router Discovery or Routing Information Protocol (RIP). Otherwise, default gateways and the routing table might be necessary.

• See Configure Local Routing Table later in this chapter.

 Install and configure Internet Connection Sharing, if needed.

For small business and home office configurations, Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) can be installed and configured to allow computers in a private network to share a single public IP address and Internet connection to access the Internet.

• See Configure Internet Connection Sharing later in this chapter.

 Configure IP security methods, if needed.

To secure information within the network, IP filtering can be enabled on the Windows 2000 Professional– based client to limit the type of IP packets received. On a stand-alone computer or a member of a Windows 2000 domain, IP security can be enabled to provide data validation and encryption at the packet layer.

• See Configure IP Security and Filtering later in this chapter.

 Configure Quality of Service, if needed.

In a Windows 2000 – based enterprise with QoS-aware devices, enabling QoS at the Windows 2000 – based client can assist in the management of network bandwidth and allow prioritization of data within the network.

• See Configure Quality of Service later in this chapter.

 Diagnose network failures by troubleshooting your configuration.

Follow the troubleshooting guidelines to recover from an installation or configuration failure or to perform other diagnostic functions related to TCP/IP.

• See Perform TCP/IP Troubleshooting later in this chapter.