The Windows networking stack in depth

Skills you'll practise

• Describe DHCP's four-message exchange and what failure at each step looks like on a Windows client.
• Explain the order in which Windows resolves a name and why tools can disagree.
• Predict which route and interface Windows will use from a route table and interface metrics.
• Read TCP connection setup in a capture and tell filtering from a closed port.

Course outline

1. 1.The Windows networking stack in depthVideo · 5 min
2. 2.Getting an address and finding namesLesson · 8 min
3. 3.Routes, metrics and connectionsLesson · 8 min
4. 4.IPv6 on the Windows clientLesson · 8 min
5. 5.The Windows networking stack in depth: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 22 questions
6. 6.The Windows networking stack in depth: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
7. 7.Internal sites fail on VPN from one homeScenario
8. 8.Final exam8 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out

Sources it draws on

The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.

• RFC 2131: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
• RFC 9293: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
• Microsoft Learn: DNS client resolution timeouts and behavior
• Microsoft Learn: An explanation of the Automatic Metric feature for IPv4 routes