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Understanding the Dial-Up Networking Client

The Dial-Up Networking client in Windows 98 uses the Dial-Up Adapter driver supplied with Windows 98 to enable the computer to connect to remote servers through a modem. The Dial-Up Networking client supports the following selection of connection protocols:

• Point-to-Point (PPP). The PPP protocol is rapidly becoming a standard protocol for remote access. Windows 98, Windows NT 3.5x or later, and many other remote access clients and servers support PPP. Many Internet service providers offer PPP support for their dial-in Internet access services.
• Novell NetWare Connect. NetWare Connect (also called NRN) is a proprietary RAS protocol that enables RAS clients to connect to a NetWare Connect server and remotely access resources on a NetWare LAN.
• Windows NT 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 RAS. These servers use asynchronous NetBEUI; Windows 98 supports connections to these servers. The server and client must both run NetBEUI.
• Serial Line Interface Protocol (SLIP). SLIP is a remote access protocol standard that originated in the UNIX environment. Windows 98 supports SLIP connections, which enables you to connect to UNIX servers through a dial-up connection. The software you need before you can establish a SLIP connection with Windows 98 is included on the Windows 98 CD. Using SLIP requires that the server and client run TCP/IP. The Windows 98 Dial-Up Networking Server does not support using Windows 98 as a SLIP server.
• Compressed SLIP. This version of SLIP uses IP header compression and is most commonly used on UNIX hosts.

You can use the Dial-Up Networking client for a variety of purposes, including accessing remote LANs, connecting to the Internet, sending and receiving mail remotely, and sharing files and printers with other non-networked users. If you simply want to share a few files with a friend, for example, one of you can configure your Windows 98 workstation as a Dial-Up Networking server, and the other can use the Dial-Up Networking client to connect to the server to copy files between the systems. Dial-Up Networking also is the mechanism Windows Messaging (Exchange) and Outlook Express use to enable you to process remote mail[md]sending and receiving mail from a LAN-based Microsoft Mail postoffice or POP3 account. Dial-Up Networking also makes possible dialing into a UNIX mail server to send and receive mail.

If you use an online service, such as America Online or CompuServe, you can use Dial-Up Networking to connect to an Internet provider or your LAN IP server, and then connect to the information service through the dial-up connection. If you don't have a local CompuServe access number, for example, but your office LAN is tied to the Internet, you can dial into your LAN's server to establish a TCP/IP connection to the Internet, then use WinCIM to establish a connection to CompuServe over that TCP/IP connection.

Tip
You must have a dial-up server that routes TCP/IP protocol before you can use the Windows 98 RAS client to establish a dial-up connection to the Internet. Windows NT and UNIX dial-up servers support IP routing. The Windows 98 Dial-Up Networking server cannot route IP, which prevents a Windows 98 Dial-Up Networking server from acting as a TCP/IP gateway.