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Connection-Oriented Environment

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NDIS supports the following connection-oriented drivers:

  • Connection-oriented client

  • Call manager

  • Integrated miniport call manager (MCM) driver

  • Connection-oriented miniport driver

The following figure shows a configuration of connection-oriented clients, a call manager, and a miniport driver.

Diagram illustrating a configuration of connection-oriented clients, a call manager, and a miniport driver.

The following figure shows a configuration of connection-oriented clients and an integrated MCM driver.

Diagram showing a connection-oriented environment with an integrated MCM driver.

A connection-oriented miniport driver controls one or more network interface cards (NICs) and provides an interface between connection-oriented protocol drivers (connection-oriented clients and call managers) and the NIC hardware.

For a summary of connection-oriented operations performed by a connection-oriented miniport driver, see Connection-Oriented Operations Performed by Miniport Drivers.

A call manager is an NDIS protocol driver that provides call setup and tear-down services for connection-oriented clients. A call manager:

  • Uses the send and receive capabilities of a connection-oriented miniport driver to exchange signaling messages with network entities, such as network switches or remote peers.

  • Supports one or more signaling protocol drivers. For a summary of connection-oriented operations performed by a call manager, see Connection-Oriented Operations Performed by Call Managers.

An integrated MCM driver is a connection-oriented miniport driver that also provides call manager services to connection-oriented clients. An MCM driver has the following characteristics:

  • An MCM driver provides the same connection-oriented services to clients as a call manager that is paired with a connection-oriented miniport driver; however, the call manager-to-miniport driver interface is internal to the driver and therefore opaque to NDIS.

  • Multiple call managers and MCM drivers can coexist in the same environment.

  • Each call manager or MCM driver can support multiple signaling protocol drivers.

For a detailed comparison of MCM drivers and call managers, see How an MCM Driver Differs from a Call Manager.

A connection-oriented client:

  • Uses the call setup and tear-down services of a call manager or MCM driver.

  • Uses the send and receive capabilities of a connection-oriented miniport driver or an MCM driver to send and receive data.

  • Can provide its own network and transport-layer services to a higher-layer application at its upper edge.

  • Uses the services of a call manager and a connection-oriented miniport driver, or it uses the services of an MCM driver at its upper edge.

  • Can be an adaptation layer, that resides between an old protocol and connection-oriented NDIS.

    Such adaptation layers use call management services to establish underlying connections but hide the connection-oriented nature of this interface from the connectionless protocols above it.

Note  The definition of a connection-oriented client's upper-edge interface is beyond the scope of the NDIS documentation. If a client serves as an adaptation layer, its upper-edge interface is defined by the protocol that it adapts to connection-oriented NDIS.

For a summary of connection-oriented operations performed by a connection-oriented client, see Connection-Oriented Operations Performed by Clients.

NDIS Miniport Drivers