Winsock SPI

The Winsock Service Provider Interface, or Winsock SPI, is a specialized discipline of Winsock used to create providers; transport providers such as TCP/IP or IPX/SPX protocol stacks use the Winsock SPI, as do namespace providers such as the Internet's Domain Naming System (DNS).

Traditional network programming, such as enabling applications to communicate over the network, does not require use of Winsock SPI interfaces; use standard Winsock interfaces instead.

 

The Winsock SPI uses the following function prefix naming convention.

Prefix	Meaning	Description
WSP	Windows Sockets Service Provider	Transport service provider entry points
WPU	Windows Sockets Provider Upcall	Ws2_32.dll entry points for service providers
WSC	Windows Sockets Configuration	WS2_32.dll entry points for installation applets
NSP	Namespace Provider	Namespace provider entry points