Windows Internet Name Service
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Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) is Microsoft's 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.
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.