Adding and Removing Protocols

Different operating system will provide a specific method for installing and configuring protocols.
More often than not this takes place as a part of the setup process for the operating system.
However one can also add more protocols once the system has been fully installed.
For example in Windows OS one can always add a network device from the Control Panel.

Loading Multiple Protocols
Most modern networking systems support the installation of multiple protocols to improve networking flexibility.
The clients are using the NetBEUI protocol to communicate with the NT server.
They are using the IPX/SPX protocol to communicate with the NetWare server.
The disadvantage to this approach is the additional overhead of multiple protocols that slow the machine down.
Bindings
Sometimes some machines can have multiple protocols.
They have to try each protocol in order until a connection is established.
The order in which different protocols are tried is known as binding order.
Selecting the order is operating system specific.
However it is better that the more frequently used protocols are placed first in the binding order.
This will give us better performance.
Binding is the process of linking software components together.
This is done to provide communication.
It is also possible to bind a component to one or more components above or below it.
The course of binding takes place at the interface between each protocol in a protocol stack.
It can be summarized as the connection of a protocol to the driver for the NIC.
Microsoft NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification) and the Novell ODI (Open Driver Interface) are used by the NIC drivers to support multiple bindings.
For example 3 different protocols can be bound to the same NIC driver.
Now if the computer has 3 NICs then each can be bound to the same protocol.