NetBIOS Name Server

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NetBIOS Name Server

The LMHOSTS file has some limitations; even using a central LMHOSTS file requires a great deal of updating. If you don’t use a central LMHOSTS file, and you attempt to update a host’s address, you must visit every station on your network. In addition, the LMHOSTS file does not reduce broadcast traffic unless every entry is preloaded (meaning the system never has to perform a NetBIOS Name Query broadcast).

As the size of networks around the world began to increase, another method of name resolution had to be found. The method had to be able to reduce broadcast traffic and to update itself without intervention. TCP/IP already had a simple DNS service that computers could query to find the IP address for a given host name. The problem with DNS is it only resolves the basic host name; you are not be able to find services (such as Netlogon) that you sometimes seek.

In addition, DNS required a large—but, at least, centralized—file to be kept with a listing of all the IP-address-to-host name mappings. Of the three functions of NetBIOS naming—registration, resolution and release—the DNS service fit only one of the criteria.

So, a new type of name service had to be built that would enable systems to register their own IP addresses and that could respond to these systems’ queries about the IP addresses of others. The system that emerged was the NetBIOS Name Server (NBNS). Windows NT implements this in the form of the WINS (Windows Internet Name Service) server discussed in Chapter 8, “Implementing Windows Internet Name Service.”

Just as TCP/IP hosts had always had a DNS server entry, the NetBIOS world could now use an NBNS (such as WINS) server entry. The process was aided by the capability of the available routers to pass directed transmission over UDP port 137. A set of three basic commands was established, and NetBIOS networking was now capable of talking to the world.

You enter the WINS server address and a secondary WINS server address in the TCP/IP Settings page. This is all you need to do to use a WINS server as your NBNS.

The available commands include:

Name Registration. The transmission registers a computer name with the NBNS. In this way, the NBNS is a dynamic system requiring little or no maintenance by the network administrators.
Name Query. Normally, all the systems in an organization use the same NBNS. (Chapter 9 discusses replication, which makes a group of NBNS act as a single unit.) Then, it is easy to resolve a name—send the NetBIOS Name Query to the NBNS. The server responds with the IP address if the system has registered it.
Name Release. Some names, such as user names, can move from one computer to another and, therefore, from one IP address to another. By including the capability to release a registered name, conflicts in the database are avoided.

Using an NBNS such as WINS has some major advantages if you use TCP/IP as your networking protocol with Windows products. The advantages include the following:

Reduces broadcast traffic
Reduces administrative overhead for maintenance
Facilitates domain activity over a WAN
Provides browsing services across multiple subnets

You can customize a couple of registry entries for the NBNS. These are under the following subkeys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters

NameServerPort. The UDP port used for NetBIOS Name Queries going to the NBNS. The default is 137 (89 hex).
NameSrvQueryCount. Indicates the number of times your system should try each NBNS. The default is three times.
NameSrvQueryTimeout. Indicates how long your computer should wait for a response from the NBNS. Default is 15 seconds (5dc hex milliseconds).

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