Introduction

With the release of Microsoft Windows 2000, the primary IP to name resolution method for all service-related queries is the Domain Name System (DNS). Microsoft has committed to using DNS as the backbone for all computer communications for Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and for all of its future operating systems (OS). This does not mean they have forgotten their roots with LAN Manager, Windows NT 3.51, and NT 4.0. All of these OSs used Network Basic Input/Output System (NetBIOS) as their primary name to IP resolution method because it worked quite well and got the job done. Though a good protocol for its time, Microsoft is urging its customers to slowly phase out the aging, less-scaleable and chatty protocol, promoting the use of host to IP name resolution for all application developers, and the reliability of a sturdy DNS. Microsoft sends a clear message, but they are dedicated to customers that continue to run and support legacy Windows operating systems, and will continue to support NetBIOS in their core OS. NetBIOS, although a broadcast protocol, can be centralized into a searchable service database, called the Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS). WINS is a database that is intended to receive client name registrations with their identifying IP addresses, cache those credentials, and reply with those cached names and IPs when queried against. WINS works in the same manner as do DNS servers when they resolve hosts names to IP addresses, except that WINS substitutes NetBIOS names. During this chapter s...