Dial Up Networking

The AutoDial feature in Microsoft^® Windows NT^® Workstation 4.0, Dial-Up Networking, maintains a map of network addresses to phonebook entries. When you reference a number in the Dial-Up Networking phonebook from an application or from the command line, it is automatically dialed. A network address can be an Internet host name, an IP address, or a NetBIOS server name.

AutoDial also learns about every connection made over a Dial-Up Networking link, for possible automatic reconnection later.

There are two possible scenarios when AutoDial attempts to make a connection:

• If the user is disconnected from a network, AutoDial attempts to create a network connection whenever an application references a remote address.
• If the user is connected to a network, AutoDial attempts to create a network connection for only those addresses that it has previously learned. Incorrectly typed server or Internet host names will not cause an AutoDial attempt.

Although AutoDial is automatically enabled when the computer is started, you can turn it off. For example, you might want to turn it off if you have multiple Internet providers on a computer at one location and want to use different providers at different times.

AutoDial requires at least one TAPI dialing location. AutoDial can automatically dial different phonebook entries for the same address, depending on the current TAPI dialing location.