HP OpenVMS Systems Documentation Compaq PATHWORKS for OpenVMS
(Advanced In addition to the network card and the network card
driver, a network computer must have a protocol driver, also
called a transport protocol or a protocol. The protocol driver
works between the upper-level network software---such as the
workstation and server---and the network adapter card. The
protocol packages the data that are sent over the network in a
way that the computer on the receiving end will understand. The
process of associating a protocol driver with the network
adapter card with which it will work and establishing a
communication channel between the two is called binding. For two
computers to communicate on a network, they must use identical
protocols. In the case where computers are configured to use
multiple protocols, they need to have only one protocol in
common to communicate. For example, a server that uses both
NetBEUI and TCP/IP can communicate both with workstations that
use only NetBEUI and with workstations that