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Overview of networking and TCP/IP

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Overview of networking and TCP/IP

TCP/IP is the network protocol that provides Internet access. It is the protocol used by most servers, although you can use additional or different network adapters and their associated protocols on your servers.

To use TCP/IP, make sure that each server is provided with an IP address, either a dynamic or automatic address provided through software, or a static address that you obtain and set. Because these addresses are numbers and therefore hard to remember, you will also have to provide users with names that are easier to use. Mapping this type of name to an IP address is called name resolution, and can be accomplished by various methods, primarily the Domain Name System (DNS) and Windows Internet Name Service (WINS). For more information, see Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and Name resolution for TCP/IP.