Introduction

Microsoft Windows Vista includes a number of significantly improved networking technologies that are designed to enhance productivity and security for end users and the corporate environment, as well as simplify the administration process for system administrators. In this chapter, we ll take a look at some of the new networking technologies in Windows Vista, as well as technologies that have been significantly improved over previous versions of the Windows operating system (OS).

We begin with a discussion of Internet Protocol (IP) version 6, or IPv6. Windows Vista is the first Microsoft OS to provide full support for IPv6 straight out of the box, while still allowing complete interoperability with existing IPv4 networking technologies. We ll discuss the origins of IPv6, its advantages over IPv4, and how Windows Vista has deployed IPv6 support.

Next, we ll move on to the new home for Windows Vista networking, the Network and Sharing Center. This new interface provides much more streamlined and intuitive access to configuring Windows Vista networking components, and it includes new options for displaying a graphical view of your network infrastructure using the Network Map.

We ll then spend a good deal of time looking at the Windows Firewall, which has undergone a significant overhaul in Vista, even from the improvements that Microsoft made in Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 2. The Vista Firewall addresses a number of limitations that were present in the XP Windows Firewall, including the ability to monitor and restrict both incoming and outgoing traffic, as well as combining...