Configuring TCP/IP on Windows Workstations

Configuring TCP/IP on Windows Workstations

Being able to configure your operating system to use TCP/IP is a must for any network administrator.
Because Microsoft Windows is the dominant operating system, we will show you how to configure a Windows client to use TCP/IP. The information in this section assumes that you already have Windows 2000 running on the client.
Because you are likely using Plug and Play network interface cards, Microsoft Windows 2000 automatically installs TCP/IP on your machine. In this case, you can skip ahead to the discussion
in Chapter 4 on how to use the TCP/IP utilities to confirm that your system is up and running properly.
       If, however, you want to look at or change some of the configuration settings or if TCP/IP

doesn’t seem to be installed on your system for whatever reason, stay with this chapter.

Note:

There is very little difference between configuring TCP/IP on a Windows 2000
device regardless of the exact version or function, such as Server or Professional.
The dialog boxes you use are virtually identical. Windows 2000 Professional
is used in the discussion that follows. Windows XP and 2003 are slightly
different in appearance, but still very similar.

 To begin configuring TCP/IP, follow these steps:

1. Choose Start Settings Control Panel Network and Dial-Up Connections to open the Network and Dial-Up Connections dialog box, which lists all of the currently installed network components.
2. Right-click one of your network adapters and select Properties to open the Properties dialog box for your adapter.
3. If you do not see Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in the scrolling list (assuming you have enough entries to scroll), follow the next three steps. If you do see it, skip to step 7.

4.  Click the Install button, which brings up the Select Network Component Type window.

5. Click Protocol in the list and click the Add button to bring up the Select Network Protocol dialog box.

6.  Select Microsoft from the left frame and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) from the right frame and click the OK button. This will take you back to the Properties dialog box for your adapter. Now Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) should appear in the scrolling list.

7.  Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click the Properties button, which brings up the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties window.

8. Initially, you see the General tab, which is set to obtain your IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS server(s) via DHCP. You may select the alternate radio buttons to manually enter this information.

9. Click the Advanced button, which brings up the Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog box.

10. Notice the IP Settings, DNS, WINS, and Options tabs along the top of the Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog box (shown in Figure 3.7 in the next section).

In the following sections, we will look at these four tabs. In addition, we will cover key information regarding the configuration database of Windows, known as the Registry, and the open

set of protocols, known as ZeroConf, designed to reduce the amount of manual TCP/IP configuration necessary to bring up a small network.