| Windows Internet Name Service |
Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) is Microsoft's implementation of
NetBIOS Name Server (NBNS) on Windows, 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. However, the
mappings are dynamically updated (e.g. at workstation boot), so that when a
client needs to contact another computer on the network it can get its
up-to-date DHCP-allocated address. Networks normally have more than one WINS
server and each WINS server should be in push/pull replication; the favored
replication model is the hub and spoke, thus the WINS design is not central but
distributed. Each WINS server holds a full copy of every other related WINS
system's 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, DNS provides the favored alternative to WINS, as part of
Active Directory.
In theory, if DNS is available, WINS is only necessary if pre-Windows 2000
clients or servers need to resolve names. In reality, especially in large
enterprise environments, Exchange Server 2000 and 2003 often still require WINS
for full functionality.
Samba can also act as a WINS (NBNS) server.
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