NetBEUI

NetBEUI

NetBEUI is a transport protocol that serves as an extension to Microsoft’s Network Basic Input/Output System (NetBIOS). Because NetBEUI was developed for an earlier generation of DOS-based PCs, it is small, easy to implement, and fast—the fastest transport protocol available with Windows NT. Because it was built for small, isolated LANs, however, NetBEUI is non-routable, making it somewhat anachronistic in today’s diverse and interconnected networking environment.

Fortunately, the NDIS standard enables NetBEUI to coexist with other routable protocols. For instance, you could use NetBEUI for fast, efficient communications on the LAN segment and use TCP/IP for transmissions that require routing (see Exercise 5.2).