It is a common practice to use the 'Networking Server' in a typical SQL Server deployment. The networking server is responsible for passing communication between various components within the SQL Server database. On the other hand, it is the SQL Server administrator who dictates how these components communicate with one another. An SQL Server administrator also modifies the TCP/IP settings to allow data to be delivered over long distances without significant delays. In short, the networking server in SQL Server is what coordinates the communication among the different database components.

Server network configuration tasks include configuring encryption to ensure secure communication between applications and data stored on a physical or virtualized server. Apart from protecting sensitive information, the use of encryption ensures that the TCP/IP-based packets do not become susceptible to attacks based on buffer overflow, data compression, replay, or flooding. Similarly, a well-designed firewall can prevent unauthorized access to the data from various parts of the system. It controls communication between servers and between client machines. The number of allowed connections is controlled by the firewall so that all application processes are not adversely affected by traffic shaping.

There are two types of TCP/IP-based port setup options: native and standard. The former enables the use of TCP/IP as part of server network configuration while the latter facilitates the use of standard protocols such as ICMP, ICACert, TCP SYN, TCP Landon, STD Socket, and others. The purpose behind native protocols is to allow a server instance to reuse a single IP address for multiple client applications. This method reduces the costs incurred to maintain separate ports for client and server applications.