- Introduction

This chapter is a guide to the contents of this book, allowing readers to preview what is to come. Because this book is focused upon Windows networking tools and the use of the Internet is the primary method associated with networking, we first turn our attention to obtaining an appreciation for the TCP/IP protocol suite, which can be considered the glue that binds the Internet together. In briefly examining the composition of this protocol suite, we primarily focus our attention upon gaining an appreciation for existing and emerging applications as well as discuss some of the problems associated with some applications. In later chapters we significantly enmesh ourselves in the details of the protocol suite; however, as an introduction, we focus our attention upon applications. This provides material to discuss in later chapters, for example, how the protocol suite has the ability to distinguish between applications flowing over a common communications path. In the second portion of this introduction we briefly preview succeeding chapters, providing readers with a road map to information contained in this book.