Welcome back to IT Free Training course on Windows 7 available free of charge. In this
video I will look at the internet protocol. The internet protocol was first developed
in the 1970’s as part of a number of defense research projects. The idea was to build a
decentralize network that would still operate when parts of it were damaged by war.
The Internet protocol consists of a suite of protocols that make it work. At the operating
system level first of all the type of service is selected. The service is not part of the
IP protocol, but uses the IP protocol to communicate on the network. For example, you may find
services like HTTP, DNS and SMTP at this level.
When software uses the IP protocol it must first decide if it is using reliable or unreliable
transmission. Reliable transmission ensures that packets are sorted so that they are delivered
in the same order that they were sent. Reliable transmission also checks to see if the packet
arrived. If the packet was lost in transmission anther copy of the packet is sent.
If reliable transport is selected it uses a protocol called TCP or transmission control
protocol. In some literacy you will see TCP IP. For many years this was what was referred
to when talking about the internet protocol. In recent years with IP version 6 becoming
more common, the TCP bit seems to have been dropped and the whole suite of protocols is
now just called IP. When deciding what connection you want, you
also have the option to use unreliable transmission. This is called UDP. When using this option,
there is no guarantee which order your data will arrive in or even if it will arrive at
all. TCP and UDP sit on top of the IP protocol.
The IP protocol is divided up in version 4 and IP version 6. So this brings up the question,
when an application on your computer communicates on the network, which protocol does it use?
With windows Vista, Microsoft completely re wrote the network protocols from the ground
up. The rewrite is called the next generation protocol. Windows X P supports IP version
6, but this was more of an add-on to the existing networking. IP version 4 and IP version 6
protocols on windows X P from the operating system prospective were independent of each
other.
With Windows Vista onwards, IP version 4 and IP version 6 protocols have been combined
together. This means they use the same code regardless of which protocol you use. This
means networking software is easier to write and it is easier for Microsoft to add additional
features.
When you have a computer that has both IP version 4 and IP version 6 protocols enabled,
windows will automatically select which protocol to use. With Windows Vista and above, Microsoft
preferences the IP version 6 protocols over the IP version 4 protocol when it is not clear
which one to use. In most case the IP address used will determine which protocol to use,
but in other cases, for example when you sent a broadcast out looking for the other computer,
windows will try IP version 6 first. This is why even if you don’t use IP version
6 on your network you should still leave it enabled.
Now that you understand about the IP protocol, let’s have a look at how to configure it
on windows 7. To modify the IP protocol settings, first
open the control panel from the start menu and select network and internet. To configure
your network settings next select network and sharing center. One of the new features
introduced in windows Vista is link layer topology discovery. This technology allows
windows to create a pictorial map of your network.
This computer is only on a small training network so at the top you can see the computer
is connected to the domain training dot local and to the internet. On a large network that
supports this technology you could see routers, switches and other network devices.
To see which network adapters are installed on your computer, select the option change
adapter settings on the left hand side. I could also select a specific adapter shown
on the right hand side, like local area connection, but by selecting change adapter settings will
show all the adapters on the system as well as v p n connections and adapters that are
disabled. If I now open the properties for my local area connection I can set the IP
configuration for this adapter. In the properties of the network adapter you
can see all the client, services and protocols that are bound to this adapter. The top one
is client for Microsoft networks which allows the adapter to connect to network shares and
access other Microsoft services like network neighbor. Also 3rd party clients could be
added here. The next ones listed are the quality of service
packet scheduler and file and printer sharing for Microsoft networks. These are services
that interface with your network adapter. The Q O S service attempts to manage your
bandwidth more effectively so that time critical services are not affected while large downloads
are happening at the same time. File and printer sharing allows your files and printers to
be shared on the network. Next you have the protocols used on the adapter.
The IP version 4 and IP version 6 protocols will always be in here by default. To start
with I will look at how to configure the IP version 4 protocol. All you need to do is
select is and press the button properties. By default the protocol will attempt to automatic
configure itself using D H C P for the IP address and the DNS servers. In some cases,
for example what is quiet common with servers you can configure a manual IP address.
In the next video I will go into more detail about IP version 4 addresses so don’t worry
if you don’t understand them yet. In this case I will configure a private IP address
and set a DNS server located on this network. If you need to configure more settings, select
the option advanced. In the advanced option you can configure items like multiple IP addresses
on an adapter. Down the bottom you can configure Items like
multiple gateways if your network supports them. A gateway provides an exit point for
your network to reach other networks or the even the internet. If you enter in multiple
gateways, windows will use one of the gateways until it fails. When if fails, windows will
switch to another gateway. Windows will not switch back to the first gateway if the other
gateway comes up again or load balance between gateways. For this reason, if you set up multiple
gateways on your network make sure that both gateways can access the same networks.
On the DNS tab you can set up which DNS servers your computer will use to resolve names. On
the previous tab you can configure two, but if you want to configure more you can do it
here. The options below determine how a DNS address
will be resolved. By default append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes is selected.
To demonstrate this, if I open a command prompt and ping d c 1, you will notice that training
dot local will automatically be added to d c 1. The domain is training dot local and
thus this suffix will always be added automatically when attempting to find computers.
The next option, append parent suffixes of the primary DNS suffix does not apply when
using a domain like this one. Instead imagine a domain like testing dot west dot training
dot local. When you attempt to resolve a DNS name with this option on, the operating system
will attempt to resolve it with the full DNS name of testing dot west dot training dot
local. If this fails it will drop the left most part of the DNS name in this case testing
and try again. If it fails again it will drop west and try training dot local. If this fails
to it will response that the DNS name could not be found.
The next option, append these DNS suffixes in order, allows you to customize the domain
suffixes used. For example, just say this computer was part of the domain example dot
local. Later on a network called west dot example dot local was added. I could manually
add both of these domain names and thus any resolve request would check both these domains
for that computer. I could even add additional DNS suffixes like training or testing networks.
The next option, DNS suffix for this connection allows you to set which DNS suffix you want
to use for this connection. By default the domain name will be used. But for example,
just say you had a wireless access point you may want to call it wireless dot example dot
local. Or if using a V P N connection give it a special name. This would allow you to
determine which type of connection was being used to connect to your network.
The option register this connections address in DNS means that this computer will attempt
to register its name in the DNS server using dynamic updates when it connects. By registering
your computer in DNS make it easier for other computers on the network to find you.
The last option, if ticked, will register the DNS suffix for the connection when the
computer is registered in DNS. The last tab is the wins tab. WINS is an old
name resolution system that was used before windows 2000. Some legacy applications may
still require a WINS server on your network, however now days these legacy applications
should be rare. The option L m hosts lookup means that a file
called l m hosts will be read and any names in this file will be used for name resolution.
Now days if you need to configure manual name resolution you would more likely use the other
file called hosts, but for backward compatibly the l m hosts file is still here.
The last setting is the net bios settings. Net bios is an old flat naming standard in
which computer names could be a maximum for 15 characters. Old legacy applications may
attempt to look up computers using this system. I would recommend leaving the setting on the
default which will use the D H C P server to configure it. If you need to enable or
disable it you can do so on the D H C P server. Otherwise you can manual enable and disable
it. Be warned, if you manually configure it on each client on an enterprise environment,
you will need to visits each computer to change it if you change your mind later on.
That it for IP version 4. If go back and select IP version 6, you will notice the options
are pretty much the same. You can configure the IP address to be obtained automatically
or manually. The only difference is the addresses that are used. I will go into IP version 6
addresses in a later video. In the advanced section you can see the options
the same as you can in IP version 4. You can configure multiple IP address, gateways and
you have the same options available for DNS as you did for IP version 4.
That is for our quick tour of the internet protocol. For more videos, study guides and
exam questions make sure you visit our web page. In the next video I will look at IP
version 4 in more details and how to deploy it on your network.