CoNDIS WAN Is More Flexible (NDIS 5.1)
Note NDIS 5. x has been deprecated and is superseded by NDIS 6. x. For new NDIS driver development, see Network Drivers Starting with Windows Vista. For information about porting NDIS 5. x drivers to NDIS 6. x, see Porting NDIS 5.x Drivers to NDIS 6.0.
In the CoNDIS model, major functions such as call management and data transfer are compartmentalized into discrete components or subcomponents. This allows you to use system-supplied and third-party components, and update functionality more easily.
The CoNDIS model provides four types of drivers:
Connection-oriented client drivers
Call managers
Connection-oriented miniport drivers
Integrated miniport call managers (MCMs)
For more information about CoNDIS drivers, see Connection-Oriented NDIS.
The separation of call manager and miniport driver components allows you to update the miniport driver to support new hardware while the call manager remains unchanged. In many cases, the call manager might only require upgrades to correct defects.
The separation of architectural components remains clearly defined in an MCM. The call manager subcomponent of the MCM handles the signaling aspects of connections, and the CoNDIS WAN miniport driver subcomponent handles the NIC hardware.
You can use a system-supplied call manager, such as the ATM call manager. If the system does not provide a call manager for your media type (as with, for example, ISDN) you can write one or possibly obtain one from a third party.
Windows includes a PPP CoNDIS client, and CoNDIS WAN miniport drivers are available for many devices. You can write CoNDIS WAN clients to extend the system to support other protocols in addition to PPP.
The CoNDIS WAN model is not restricted to PPP data. You can implement a custom WAN client driver and miniport driver to handle, for example, raw data streaming or proprietary encryption.