Introduction

Prior to the release of Windows NT 4.0, company networks relied heavily on IPX/SPX and even NetBEUI as their primary network/transport protocols, due to their simplicity and ease of configuration. At that time, TCP/IP was still widely referred to as the protocol of the Internet, and was seldom used for internal networks. It was considered too complex, too clunky and slow, and too difficult to configure and manage. Novell Netware had the greater share of the Network Operating System (NOS) market, although it did not support native IP; UNIX had the majority share of the Internet market and was primarily run with only IP.

One of the deterrents to using TCP/IP for the company network was its complex addressing scheme. In order to be routable across multiple networks a necessity for an Internet protocol TCP/IP relies on IP addresses that define both network and host addresses. Each address must be unique, and keeping track of all the addresses assigned to devices in a large network environment could be an administrative nightmare.

However, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) provides a mechanism for assigning IP addresses automatically, ensuring that there will be no duplicates on the network and relieving much of the administrative burden. With the introduction of DHCP into the networking world, more and more companies started relying on TCP/IP for their client centric communication protocol.

In the previous two chapters, we discussed the TCP/IP protocol, IP addressing, and how assigned IP address blocks can be divided to fit your network...