TCP/IP fundamentals

I have come across Developers and System Engineers who have trouble with networking time and again. The principle reason I have observed is a lack of thorough understanding of the underlying TCP/IP layer. Most engineers assume that if they know what is an IP Address, Subnet and DHCP they know networking. How wrong can they be?. This gets more complicated with the introduction of IPv6,  Security and Performance features newly introduced in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

Till now the hurdle in solving this was availability of easily accessible and digestible materials on the subject. Today thanks to one of my fellow MVPs who pointed me to this resource from Microsoft – a free book on “TCP/IP Fundamentals for Windows“. It is available both for online viewing and downloadable as a PDF file. Don’t let the 559 page count scare you, the book is easily readable with some effort. I highly recommend downloading the PDF file and saving – it will be a worthy reference.