Introduction to Network Services
Is This for You? This document set is written to meet the requirements of IT professionals who are responsible for the planning, design, deployment, and operations of network services in enterprise environments. The readers of this document set are expected to have an understanding of its technical details; however, service-level expertise is not needed to follow the enterprise-level discussions and to understand the decisions that are made.
On This Page
 | Introduction |
| Blueprint |
| Planning Guide |
| Build Guide |
| Operations Guide |
Introduction
In an information technology (IT) environment, users need to make use of resources such as file and print services, authentication services, e-mail and messaging services, and access to enterprise applications. In addition, for the resources of one computer or device to access resource on another, they need to be able to identify and reference each other. The network services defined and discussed in Windows Server System Reference Architecture (WSSRA) are considered essential because they provide the mechanisms on which such resources rely on for their functionality. IT networks in today's organizations have multitudes of computing devices that need to communicate with each other over the local area network (LAN). These computing devices range from high-end servers to personal computers. To do so, each device needs to have an identity in the form of either a logical device name (chosen by the organization) or an address that uniquely identifies the device and its location on the network. For small networks (those with up to 500 devices), it is possible to maintain and distribute names and addresses manually, but as networks grow in size and complexity, the maintenance of an effective name resolution service becomes more and more time consuming and resource-intensive. Large networks require some form of automation and centralized management for the allocation and reclamation of addresses. In addition, each device on the network needs to resolve the mapping between names and addresses, which has become especially true since the global adoption of the TCP/IP protocol as the default standard for networking in enterprise environments. All hosts and devices that use TCP/IP as their networking protocol require unique IP addresses to function properly. These addresses must be unique for each device on the network, and must be grouped together to form addressable networks and sub-networks. To maximize the benefits of TCP/IP while limiting the impact of its weaknesses, a management mechanism is required to enable the appropriate allocation of IP addresses to devices. To maximize usage of the limited number of IP addresses available, the reclamation of unused IP addresses and overall management of the available IP address space is also required. With the widespread adoption of directory services that provide simplified access to enterprise resources, name resolution has now become a key network service. Directory services need a reliable and efficient name resolution system so that users, client operating systems, and servers can locate resources using names rather than addresses. These functions need to be performed without compromising the security of the network or the services the network provides. As enterprises move to the deployment of IP version 6 (IPv6) name resolution, where the number of digits in the address may be as many as 48, effective name resolution becomes more important because even technical support staff will face difficulties remembering such IP addresses. Thus, it is essential to automate the process of configuring and maintaining the name resolution system as much as possible. In enterprise networks, any failures in the name resolution system will have an immediate and potentially devastating effect on the operation of the network and therefore on the services provided to customers, costs, and profitability of the organization.
| • | For in-depth information on DNS, DHCP, and WINS, refer to the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit at the following URL: |
| • | For updated technical information on DNS, DHCP, and WINS, refer to technical articles available from "Support Center Windows Server 2003" at the following URL: |
| • | For additional information, refer to the following resources:Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit. Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Corporation. |
| • | Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit. Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Corporation. |
| • | Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit. Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Corporation. |
| • | Microsoft Windows 2000 TCP/IP Protocols and Services Technical Reference. Lee, T., Davies, J. 2000. Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Press. |
| • | DNS on Windows 2000. Larson, M. and C. Liu. 2001. Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly and Associates, Inc. |
| • | Windows 2000 DNS Server. Wong, W. 2000. Berkeley, California: Osborne/McGraw-Hill |
| • | DNS and BIND, Fourth Edition. Albitz, P., Loukides, M. and C. Liu. 1998. Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly and Associates, Inc. |
| • | Internetworking with TCP/IP, Vol. 1, Third Edition. Comer, D. 1995. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. |
Blueprint
Blueprint DNS, DHCP, and WINS are three mechanisms that are key to the provision of IP address allocation and management services in enterprise environments. There are alternative mechanisms, but in most cases DNS and DHCP provide the backbone of any service, and WINS fulfills any requirement to collocate DNS and NetBIOS addressing schemes. Because the number of potential configurations of DNS, DHCP, and WINS is large, it is important that each service's designer follows the steps of defining the:
| • | Service design |
| • | Logical design |
| • | Physical design |
Each of these steps can incorporate considerations for service design goals such as availability, scalability, and manageability.
Planning Guide
This guide describes the design process and choices that were made for the network services for the CDC and SBO scenarios. The network services are comprised of DNS, DHCP, and WINS, which together provide the name resolution and IP address management infrastructure for the entire enterprise environment in the Contoso case study. This guidance is designed to be used in conjunction with the Network Services Blueprint.
Build Guide
This guide described the build process and steps that were followed for the network services for the CDC and SBO scenarios in the test lab instantiation. The network services are comprised of DNS, DHCP, and WINS, which together provide the name resolution and IP address management infrastructure for the entire enterprise environment in the Contoso case study. This guide also provided detailed instructions on the actual processes of testing the DNS, DHCP, and WINS services in a WSSRA configuration. Tests were conducted to verify that the services were built properly, to ensure availability, security, manageability, and for service interoperability with other network services and other components of WSSRA. The results obtained were as expected for all the test cases.Test case details and results are provided in the “Appendixes” section at the end of this guide.
Operations Guide
This guide helps the readers understand the extent of operations guidance that is available for the network services discussed in WSSRA. This guidance has been tested in a WSSRA environment and the project team deferred to this guidance as the authoritative source of operations content.