Chapter 2 Network Driver Programming Considerations

This chapter describes general issues to consider when writing any network driver for Microsoft® Windows NT®.

Network drivers written for Windows NT and other operating systems that support the Win32 interface share many of the same design goals as Windows NT including:

• Portable across platforms

• Scalable to multiprocessor systems

• Simple configuration of hardware and software

• Object-based interfaces

• Support for asynchronous I/O

The following sections explain some of the implications of these design goals for Windows NT network driver writers:

• Portability in Section 2.1 

• Multiprocessor Support in Section 2.2

• IRQLs in Section 2.3

• Synchronization and Notification in Section 2.4

• Packet Structure in Section 2.5

• Using Shared Memory in Section 2.6 

• Asynchronous I/O and Completion Functions in Section 2.7