Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!bu.edu!Shiva.COM!news
From: thompson@Shiva.COM (Christopher "C.P." Thompson)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc
Subject: Re: NDIS
Message-ID: <1991May26.212928.22755@Shiva.COM>
Date: 26 May 91 21:29:28 GMT
References: <765@dgaust.dg.oz>
Sender: news@Shiva.COM
Reply-To: thompson@Shiva.COM (Christopher "C.P." Thompson)
Organization: Shiva Corporation
Lines: 29

>>> Can anyone tell what an NDIS driver is ?

NDIS is the Network Driver Interface Specification. The main benefit of using 
this type of driver is that multiple protocols can coexist on the same adapter.
A similar concept is the Open DataLink Interface (ODLI aka ODI). Both NDIS and 
ODI are commercial specifications. The forebearer of these two competing 
"standards" is the packet drivers collection now maintained by Clarkson 
University. The packet drivers were originally created by FTP. FTP made this 
specification public which has allowed drivers to be created for a wide variety 
of Network Interface Cards (NIC) (generally referred to as the ethernet or 
token-ring boards).
The main reason to use on of these specifiactions is to allow a single NIC 
simultaneous access to multiple protocol stacks. For example: A P.C. using such  
a driver with an ethernet board can have a telnet session going to an IP host 
(such as a SUN) and still be logged into a Netware Server. Without one of these 
drivers, the user was limited to a single protocol stack at a time: Thus to 
gain access to an IP host after mounting a NetWare server, the user would  
logout of the Netware Server, unload IPX (which is a neat trick in itself of 
you don't want to reboot :>) load the IP stack, telnet or FTP to the IP host, 
and then reverse the procedure when finished, i.e.  remove the IP stack, load 
ipx (and netx) relog into the Netware Server ..... (Not for the faint of heart 
and oh! what a pain)
For a more complete discussion of this standard, Byte magazine covered the 
Clarkson drivers in their May 1991 issue (p.297) and if memory serves me they 
discussed ODI versus NDIS in their August 1990 issue.
Hoped this helps
C.P. Thompson

"I knew I saw it all when the same type of machine I used at work to do financial analysis was being used by  my auto repair shop to fix my car"    --- That's 1 for P.C.s.... :)