TCP/IP Resources

3Com's Understanding IP Addressing An excellent whitepaper/tutorial by Chuck Semeria. Includes additional links, an appendix and exercises to help you understand the material. In PDF format. AN HTML version is here Cisco's "Beginning IP for new users" A great place to start if you find TCP/IP a little overwhelming at first. Cisco's Internet Protocols Guide A well done and comprehensive guide to IP. DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) Basics Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 169289 - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a standard protocol defined by RFC 1541 (which is superseded by RFC 2131) that allows a server to dynamically distribute IP addressing and configuration information to clients.

Information About TCP/IP Port Assignments
Microsoft TechNet Article Q174904. This article provides information about port assignments for various TCP/IP ports. This was previously documented in RFC 1700. The assignments are now listed as living documents, constantly updated and revised when new information is available and new assignments are made. The specific location of the port numbers list is now available at the following Web site: http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/port-numbers

Automatically Changing the Node Type of a Windows NT Workstation  
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 167640 - In network installations, where IP addresses are assigned statically (DHCP is not used), it is often desirable to change the NetBIOS name resolution node type of a computer. This is time consuming when large numbers of computers are involved

HOW TO: Change the IP Address of a Network Adapter in Windows 2000
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 308199 - This article describes how to change the Internet Protocol (IP) address that is assigned to a network adapter. An IP address may be assigned automatically if your network has a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, or you can specify an IP address. 

How to Configure an IP Address for NLB with One Network Adapter
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 256124 - This article describes how to properly configure IP addresses with Network Load Balancing. (updated 462000)

HOW TO: Configure Windows 2000 Server and TCP/IP Networking Without NetBIOS
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 299977 - This article describes how to configure a Windows 2000 server with TCP/IP networking while NetBIOS is disabled.

HOW TO: Configure Windows 2000 Subnets 
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 269098 - This article describes how to configure one or more subnets in Windows 2000. 

HOW TO: Configure Windows 2000 to Be a Router 
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 299810 - This step-by-step article describes how to configure Windows 2000 as a router on your local area network (LAN). 

How to Disable Media Sense for TCP/IP in Windows 2000
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 239924 - Windows 2000 contains the "Media Sensing" feature. You may use this feature on a Windows 2000-based computer using Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) to detect whether or not your network media is in a "link state". 

How to Enable TCP/IP Forwarding in Windows 2000
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 230082 - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) forwarding is disabled by default in Windows 2000. This article describes how to enable TCP/IP forwarding on a Windows 2000-based computer. 

HOW TO: Harden the TCP/IP Stack Against Denial of Service Attacks in Windows 2000 
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 315669 - Denial of service attacks are network attacks that are aimed at making a computer or a particular service on a computer unavailable to network users. Denial of service attacks can be difficult to defend against. 

How to Modify the TCP/IP Maximum Retransmission Timeout 
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 170359 - TCP starts a retransmission timer when each outbound segment is handed down to IP. If no acknowledgment has been received for the data in a given segment before the timer expires, then the segment is retransmitted, up to the TcpMaxDataRetransmissions times. The default value for this parameter is 5 

How to Remove and Reinstall TCP/IP on a Windows 2000 Domain Controller
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 299451 - This article describes how to remove and reinstall Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) on a Windows 2000 domain controller. 

Implementing IP Routing
Sample chapter from MCSE: TCP/IP for NT Server 4 Study Guide, published by Sybex, Inc. Source: TechNet CD Online (updated June 22, 2000)

Increasing the Number of IP Addresses on a Subnet
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 255999 - This article describes methods you can use to change the number of IP hosts on any given subnet. 

IP over ATM Information
From the Internetnetworking Over NBMA (ion) Working Group.

Traffic Prioritization Using IP Precedence
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 222102 - Describes prioritization of network traffic using IP precedence. 

TCP Behavior of a Busy Internet Server: Analysis and Improvements
A paper by H. Balakrishnan, V. Padmanabhan, S. Seshan, R. H. Katz and M. Stemm analyzing the way in which Web browsers use TCP connections based on extensive traffic traces obtained from a busy Web server.

TCP/IP & NBT Configuration Parameters for Windows NT
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 120642 - The TCP/IP protocol suite implementation for Windows NT 3.5x and 4.0 reads all of its configuration data from the registry. This information is written to the registry by the Network Control Panel Applet (NCPA) as part of the setup process. 

Creating the 8-bit subnetting Table for Class A, B, and C Networks
If you have ever taken a TCP/IP or IIS class, you know how difficult building your first subnet table was. First you had to have a scientific calculator. Then you had to do the "2 to the power of 2" thing, plus all the binary-to-decimal equations. Then you had to list all possible bit combinations for the subnet mask, and then convert them to decimal format to determine the beginning value of each subnet. Well, here's an easier way. Throw away your scientific calculator. Source: Microsoft TechNet (Jan 2000)

How to Configure Windows 2000 Subnets
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 269098 - This article describes how to configure one or more subnets in Windows 2000. 

How to Subnet (without a calculator) Part I Part II (This link is temporarily down)
A well written tutorial aimed at NT4 admins with limited subnetting experience. Source: BrainBuzz.com

Learn to Subnet.com
A free lecture based tutorial on IP addressing and subnetting. It combines audio with a slide presentation using Windows Media Player and is split into specific topics for easy downloading. The site also includes a DNS primer in the same format, and both lectures are available on CD-ROM.

Subnet Reference Guide
A must have subnetting table, from ntadmintools.

Using Scopes with Different Subnet Masks in a Superscope
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 169291 - When you use a superscope made up of scopes with different subnet masks, client computers may not be able to get an IP address using DHCP. This situation will occur if the first scope in the superscope is full. 

Description of the Portqry.exe Command-Line Utility 
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article  Q310099 - Portqry.exe is a command-line utility that you can use to help troubleshoot TCP/IP connectivity issues. Portqry.exe runs on Windows 2000-based and Windows XP-based computers. The utility reports the port status of TCP and UDP ports on a computer 

Diagnoses and Treatment of Black Hole Routers
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 159211 - On a TCP/IP wide area network (WAN), communication over some routes may fail if intermediate network segments have packet sizes smaller than the communicating hosts, and routers do not send appropriate ICMP responses to this condition. A router that causes this condition is sometimes known as a "black hole" router. The Ping utility, a standard utility installed with the Microsoft Windows NT TCP/IP protocol, can be used to find black hole routers. Some recommendations are provided to work around or fix problems with black hole routers.

HOW TO: Diagnose and Test TCP/IP or NetBIOS Network Connections
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 300986 - This article provides information about how to diagnose and test Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) or NetBIOS network configurations. This article also describes the use of the most common diagnostic tools along with basic network analysis techniques. 

How to Enable PPP Logging in Windows 2000
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 234014 - Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) is the protocol used to establish, authenticate, and assign IP addresses to incoming and outgoing dial-up connections. This article describes how to enable PPP logging, which can be helpful in troubleshooting these processes. 

How to Monitor TCP/IP Ports in Use
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 194938 - Describes how to write a VB program to check ports.

How to Test a TCP/IP Router or Multihomed Host
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 113342 - If you are on a subnet and are having problems talking to another subnet through TCP/IP, the following information can help you determine if the problem is with the router. To troubleshoot router problems, you need a network map and the Internet
addresses and subnet masks for your node, the router, the remote side of the router, and the destination node. 

How to Troubleshoot TCP/IP Connectivity with Windows NT
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 102908.The ARP, PING, FTP, NETSTAT, and NBTSTAT utilities can provide useful information when you are trying to determine the cause of TCP/IP networking problems with Windows NT.

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Basics
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 170292 - Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is an error reporting and diagnostic utility and is considered a required part of any IP implementation. Understanding ICMP and knowing what can possibly generate a specific type of ICMP is useful in diagnosing network problems 

IPCONFIG Diagnostic Utility: Parameters and Usage
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 117662 IPCONFIG.EXE is a new utility included with Windows NT 3.5 Workstation and Server. The purpose of this utility is to provide the user with diagnostic information related to TCP/IP network configuration. 

The Basics of Reading TCP/IP Traces
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 169292 that covers some basic concepts and tips needed for reading TCP/IP traces.

Using TRACERT to Troubleshoot TCP/IP Problems in Windows NT
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 162326 The TRACERT (Trace Route) command is a route-tracing utility used to determine the path that an IP packet has taken to reach a destination. 

Error Message When You Try to Set an IP Address on a Network Adapter
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 269155 - When you trying to set the IP address on a network adapter, you may receive the following error message:The IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter Name of adapter Name of adapter is hidden from the network and Dial-up Connections folder because it is not physically in the computer or is a legacy adapter that is not working. If the same address is assigned to both adapters and they become active, only one of them will use this address. This may result in incorrect system configuration. Do you want to enter a different IP address for this adapter in the list of IP addresses in the advanced dialog box? Where XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is the IP address that you are trying to set and Name of adapter is the name of the network adapter that is present in the registry but hidden in Device Manager.

Host May Send Packet with an Incorrect TCP Checksum
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 271708 - When a TCP connection is closed correctly, the connection changes to a TIME_WAIT state. If a duplicate segment is received for the connection while it is in the TIME_WAIT state, it is acknowledged and dropped. This acknowledgement may send a packet with an incorrect TCP checksum. 

Packets May Be Dropped When A Very Large Number of Fragmented UDP Packets Are in Use
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 255593 - When fragmented frames are in use on your network, you may experience intermittent network connectivity problems, and this may include complete loss of connectivity to network resources. 

"Stop 0x000000D1" Error Message in Tcpip.sys
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 260956 - Under certain circumstances when you are using TCP/IP for network communication, your computer may stop responding (hang) and display the following error message on a blue screen: 

TCP/IP Connectivity May Break If the Client Receives a Reset from the Server
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 285663 - When a client is configured with two gateways and one of the gateways is not working, existing Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connectivity may break if the client receives a reset from a remote server. may occur when the client tries to connect to a remote server port that is not listening. 

TCP/IP Routes May Be Incorrect If AddIPAddress() Is Used on Multihomed Computers
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 287032 - If the AddIpAddress function is used repeatedly to add dynamic IP addresses to adapters in a multihomed computer, the routes may be incorrect and it may not be possible to communicate with other computers.

Unable to Map Network Drive Using the Servers IP Address
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 227283 - When you attempt to map a drive using a computer running Windows 2000, you may receive the following error message: System error 53 has occurred.