network driver interface specification (LAN-Manager) (NDIS)
The Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) was specified by Microsoft for LAN Manager, and 3Com was instrumental in developing the NDIS specifications. NDIS allows one or more network cards and protocol stacks to operate at the same time.
The NDIS architecture describes two different driver types, namely the Protocol Manager Driver and the Media Access Control( MAC) Driver.
The Protocol Manager Driver is a driver used by the MAC drivers to obtain configurationinformation. This information is stored in the Protocol.ini file and is read from this file when the Protocol Manager is started. The Protocol Manager provides a standardized way to pass this information to the MAC drivers and to connect the protocol stacks.
The MAC drivers are the lower layer drivers that send and receive data packets. They are the actual NDIS drivers available for the various network cards.
The MAC (NDIS) drivers for the Disc Operating System( DOS) have the extension DOS, for OS/2 they have OS2 and are supplied by many network card manufacturers.