TCP/IP is a popular suite of standard networking protocols. Widely used, these protocols enable dissimilar nodes in a heterogeneous environment to communicate with one another.

The general concept of connecting a network of dissimilar computers arose from research conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Within the framework of that research, DARPA developed the TCP/IP suite of protocols to communicate among networks such as the ARPAnet, which was the first network in the Internet. The TCP/IP suite of protocols defines formats and rules for the transmission and receipt of information independent of any given network organization or computer hardware. Although the protocols were developed for the Internet, now numerous private and public organizations use TCP/IP for their networking.

The network, as conceived by DARPA and implemented with the TCP/IP suite of protocols, is a packet-switched network. A packet-switched network transmits information about the network in small segments, called packets. If one computer transmits a lengthy file to another computer, for example, the file is divided into many packets at the origin and then reassembled at the destination. The TCP/IP protocols define the format of each packet, as well as the way computers on the networks receive and retransmit packets. This definition includes the origin of the packet, the destination of the packet, the length of the packet, and the type of packet.

The Novell TCP/IP transport subsystem brings TCP/IP connectivity to the NetWare operating system. This subsystem includes a collection of NLM files for NetWare, designed to support applications requiring TCP/IP connectivity, such as the NetWare NFS* (Network File System) product.

TCP/IP routing capabilities allow forwarding of IP traffic from one network to another to communicate with other nodes. Novell TCP/IP supports the Routing Information Protocol (RIP) version I and II, Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP) version 2, or Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol version 2. This lets all routers in the internetwork discover the internetwork configuration without human intervention.

In addition to routing services, TCP/IP provides transport interfaces for the use of higher-level network services. These interfaces are used by NFS and by third-party applications written for either the 4.3BSD* UNIX* socket interface or the STREAMS^TM Transport Layer Interface (TLI).

Novell TCP/IP supports Ethernet, token ring, FDDI, and ARCnet networks through the Novell Open Data-Link Interface^TM (ODI^TM) specification. Therefore, it works with any network adapters of these types supported by a NetWare LAN driver certified for version 4.11 or later.

Novell TCP/IP also supports routing over ATM, frame relay, PPP, and X.25 networks through the Novell WAN ODI specification. Again, any network adapters that are supported a NetWare WAN driver certified for version 4.11 or later can be used.