WINS, NetBIOS and their function

[Lim Seow Hua]

Hi!

I am new to the NetBIOS and WINS. Can anyone give me some concept what is the NetBIOS and WINS, and also what are they used for? Thanks

[Alen Danielyan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBIOS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBIOS_over_TCP/IP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Internet_Name_Service

P.S. Almost dead and not used anymore.

If you don't know what it is, then you obviously do not need them (espacially WINS).

[Lim Seow Hua]

I have read through about those article....but canot grasp the basic concept...can someone brief me on this?

[Alen Danielyan]

You have to ask specific questions.

What you want now is to tell you nearly the same what is written in wiki.

[Lim Seow Hua]

What is the different between DNS server and WINS server?

[Alen Danielyan]

DNS server serves DNS names and works on ip internet protocol, WINS serves NETBIOS names and works on NETBIOS broadcast protocol (=> can not be use in Internet environment).

NETBIOS names are flat, max 15 symbols, DNS - hierarchical, max - 255 (Each node can have a label with a maximum length of 63 characters).

Plus a huge amount of other differences. You have to read about NETBIOS and WINS to understand the difference...

[Lim Seow Hua]

WINS just use on the intranet only for those computer within the same domain name to communicate with each other?

[Alen Danielyan]

I'll say in LAN, but yes it is possible to use it also in intranet (but there are many issues connected with max allowed WINS, db replication, etc.).

Again, you should not need it, if you don't know waht it is.

P.S. The latter is especially true as in Active directory DNS is mandatory, and WINS is kept only by people who had to keep it because of legacy infrastructure.