Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Administrator[ap]s Pocket Consultant

Chapter 16. Managing TCP/IP Networking

As an administrator, you enable networked computers to communicate by using the basic networking protocols built into Microsoft Windows Server 2003. The key protocol you'll use is Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). TCP/IP is actually a collection of protocols and services used for communicating over a network. It's the primary protocol used for internetwork communications. Compared to configuring other networking protocols, configuring TCP/IP communications is fairly complicated, but TCP/IP is the most versatile protocol available.

In this chapter you'll learn about configuring and managing TCP/IP networking. Whenever you work with TCP/IP networking, you must tell the computer about the network. You do this by telling the computer how to route information on the network and how to access other computers. Once you configure TCP/IP, you also need to make the computer a member of the network so it can access network resources.

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Group policy settings can affect your ability to install and manage TCP/IP networking. Key policies you'll want to examine are those in User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Network\Network Connections and Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Group Policy. Group policy is discussed in Chapter 4 , "Automating Administrative Tasks, Policies, and Procedures."