Creating Components for Using a SAN

Windows Sockets applications can benefit from using a system area network (SAN). To use a SAN, these applications must have a SAN service provider DLL and a proxy driver for that DLL.

To use a specific SAN to transfer data, you also need a reliable transport for that SAN. If a reliable transport is not fully implemented in the SAN NIC hardware, you need a transport driver for the SAN. If required, a SAN transport driver is specified by the SAN NIC vendor and communicates with its overlying SAN proxy driver and underlying SAN NIC through private interfaces.

For information about implementing a SAN service provider DLL and its proxy driver, see Windows Sockets Direct. Note, however, that this section does not specify how to write a SAN transport driver.

You need an NDIS miniport driver to transfer data that must flow over networks other than your specific SAN such as Ethernet, ATM, or another SAN. TCP/IP uses the NDIS miniport driver to send data both to the SAN NIC and over such networks.

For information about implementing miniport and transport drivers, see Miniport Drivers and TDI Transports and Their Clients.