Windows Internet Name Service
Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) is the Microsoft implementation of NetBIOS Name Service (NBNS), a name server and service for NetBIOS computer names. Effectively, WINS is to NetBIOS names what DNS is to domain names — a central mapping of host names to network addresses. Like the DNS, it is implemented in two parts, a server service (that manages the embedded Jet Database, server to server replication, service requests, and conflicts) and a TCP/IP client component which manages the client's registration and renewal of names, and takes care of queries. Basically, Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) is a legacy computer name registration and resolution service that maps computer NetBIOS names to IP addresses.
WINS is Microsoft's predecessor to DNS for name resolution. Though WINS has not been deprecated, Microsoft advise against new deployments.[1]
References
External links
- Official sources
- Microsoft TechNet: Windows Internet Name Service Overview (Chapter 12 of the downloadable book "TCP/IP Fundamentals for Microsoft Windows")
- Microsoft TechNet: WINS Technical Reference
- Microsoft TechNet: WINS Concepts
- MSKB837391: Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange 2000 Server require NetBIOS name resolution for full functionality
- Other
- Name Resolution chapter in Using Samba online book (also published by O'Reilly as ISBN:0-596-00256-4), which talks about WINS.
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