Microsoft’s WINS Server
Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) is an essential part of the Microsoft networking topology. WINS works with TCP/IP to map NetBIOS names to IP addresses. (NetBIOS is a session-layer protocol that manages data exchange and network access on Windows operating systems.) Because TCP/IP cannot operate with NetBIOS directly, it relies on WINS to get the job done.
WINS operates much as DNS does in that it maintains a table of NetBIOS names mapped to their associated IP addresses. The main difference between WINS and DNS is that the WINS server automatically builds and updates its own tables without user intervention, whereas DNS tables must be built and updated manually. Remember, DNS maps TCP/IP host names to IP addresses, and WINS maps NetBIOS host names to IP addresses.
Each time you need to access a network resource on a Windows NT network using TCP/IP, your system needs to know the host name or IP address. WINS lets you continue using the NetBIOS names that you have already become accustomed to.
The WINS server’s IP address is defined when you configure TCP/IP after installing Windows NT, as you will see later in this chapter. When a Windows NT machine running TCP/IP is booted and attached to the network, it uses the WINS address settings in the TCP/IP configuration to communicate with the WINS server. The Windows NT machine then gives the WINS server various bits of information about itself so that the WINS server may include that information in its dynamic tables. WINS periodically refreshes this information so that its table remains current and accurate.
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