Network Device Drivers and Protocols

NetWare and LAN Manager workstations use different schemes for network device drivers. With NetWare, all workstations use an IPX.COM file. This is a monolithic driver, meaning that the single file serves as both a protocol (the IPX/SPX protocol) and a network adapter driver. Because IPX.COM is dependent on the network adapter, a different version of IPX.COM must be generated when installing each type of network adapter.

LAN Manager supports a variety of network device drivers. LAN Manager supports monolithic drivers (although none are shipped with LAN Manager), as well as separate protocol drivers and network adapter drivers. LAN Manager and Windows NT support the network driver interface specification (NDIS) standard, which defines standards for communication between protocols and network adapter drivers. Any protocols and network adapter drivers that conform to NDIS can be used together. All protocols and network adapter drivers shipped with LAN Manager conform to NDIS.

The use of NDIS and separate protocols and network adapter drivers lets each computer on the network use the same protocol driver regardless of the type of network adapter used. Generating different versions of the same protocol driver is not necessary.