Windows Internet Naming Service
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Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) is Microsoft's implementation of NetBIOS Name Server (NBNS) on Windows, a name server and service for NetBIOS computer names. Effectively, it is to NetBIOS names what DNS is to domain names - a central store for information. However, the stores of information have always been automatically (e.g. at workstation boot) dynamically updated so that when a client needs to contact a computer on the network it can get its update normally DHCP allocated address. Networks normally have more than one WINS server and each WINS server should be in push pull replication, the favoured replication model is the hub and spoke, and thus the WINS design is not central but distributed, each WINS server holds a full copy of every other related WINS system records. There is no hierarchy in WINS (unlike DNS) but like DNS its database can be queried for the address to contact rather than broadcasting a request for which address to contact. The system therefore reduces broadcast traffic on the network, however replication traffic can add to WAN / LAN traffic.
As of Windows 2000, WINS has been deprecated in favour of DNS and Active Directory.
Samba can also act as a WINS (NBNS) server.
External links
Search on Microsoft's site for WINS to get specific articles.
- Name Resolution chapter in Using Samba online book, which speaks about WINS.de:Windows Internet Naming Service