Concept of a network provider
Hello all, I'm trying to wrap my head around something. I know you can change the Network Provider Order for all network connections in Windows, but I have not really read a good explanation of what exactly the network provider is. From what I gather a provider is just a piece of software that is responsible for implementing the specific functions and methods used to manage connections for a specific type of network. Is that accurate? For example, a Windows computer sharing a folder would implement a set of functions that must be called when a new connection is established and the network provider for Microsoft Windows Network on the client is responsible for generating the correct calls. Whereas, a computer running Novell would have a different set of functions and the client connecting to the Novell computer would use the network provider for Novell to implement the correct functions. And how does it fit into the grand scheme of things? For example in relation to network clients bound to a connection for a particular network connection. Like, if I wanted to access a file share on another Windows computer, I am assuming Windows would use the Client for Microsoft Networks which would then in turn pass the request to a network provider. Is that correct? Is that kind of the order in which these components operate? Any help would be appreciated or if you have a good resource that explains these things, I'd be really interested. Thanks!
December 22nd, 2010 1:04pm

Hi, Thanks for posting here. > From what I gather a provider is just a piece of software that is responsible for implementing the specific functions and methods used to manage connections for a specific type of network. Is that accurate? According the explanation on MSDN website, that is correct: Network Providers http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa378775(v=VS.85).aspx > how does it fit into the grand scheme of things? If you are interesting in the selection mechanism of network provider on Windows platform, you may like post to MSDN forum, so that you can get the most qualified pool of respondents. http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/categories Thanks. Tiger LiPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
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December 24th, 2010 12:43am

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