This topic describes NifMan and how it works.
Network interfaces enable mobile devices to connect to a network. NifMan is a Symbian platform component that creates and manages network interfaces. Agent plug-ins set up the network interfaces. NIF plug-ins allow data to be transferred over the interface.
NIF plug-ins allow the NIF to be configured over a network interface such as PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) before a higher-level protocol such as TCP/IP is started. This functionality allows actions such as obtaining and setting of the IP address for the interface. Providing configuration functionality as a plug-in allows new configuration mechanisms to be added without rewriting the NIF. This allows a configuration plug-in to be used with different NIFs.
In Symbian platform the functionality of the NifMan component has been replaced by the architecture changes for the Comms Architecture. The NIFs have been changed so that they are Stack Nodes.
The Nifman component contains the following agent Stack Nodes: Subconnection Provider Agent node, Agent Connection Provider node, Tunnel Agent Connection Provider node. These nodes are used when building a Link layer. For example, the Ethernet protocol Flow node and Ethernet protocol MCPR node can be used with the Agent Subconnection Provider node and the Agent Connection Provider node. Nifman also contains an Agent Tier Manager node.