In the Windows layer, networking at operating system and application level involves configuring Windows server-side technologies and client-side configurations. These server-side networking technologies includes DHCP, DNS, Active Directory, IIS web sites and servers, file shares, remote desktop services (RDS), and so on. The core networking services such as DNS, DHCP, and Subnets can be hosted on non-windows platforms as well as in an advanced hybrid enterprise scenarios. For the scope of this section, we'll cover all network services hosted in Windows platforms alone.

Windows server technologies have a broader scope and can directly affect users; these are maintained and administered by dedicated skilled professionals on those technologies. XenDesktop administrators should be closely working with them and should also have a fair understanding of almost all of the Windows server technologies.