DHCP for Windows 2000

WINS and NetBIOS Names

Windows 2000 is the first Microsoft operating system with the capability to rely completely on DNS for name resolution. The primary naming system for Microsoft networks before Windows 2000 was based on NetBIOS names. A computer’s NetBIOS name, sometimes called its “computer name,” is assigned by the administrator who first installs the operating system. Modifying the network properties on the operating system can also change the NetBIOS name. Although Windows 2000 relies heavily on DNS for name resolution, the installer must still assign the computer a computer name. This name is then used for the computer’s hostname as well as its NetBIOS name. Each computer has its own NetBIOS name that it broadcasts to all other computers on the network.

As you can imagine, maintaining NetBIOS names on a local area network is extremely easy, because whenever it is booted up, a computer always either broadcasts its NetBIOS name or adds itself to the NetBIOS name database on a WINS server.

However, using NetBIOS names in a subnetted environment suffers the major limitation that routers do not forward broadcasts. Therefore computers in different subnets are never aware of each other.

One method of eliminating this problem is using an LMHOSTS file (see Example 1.1). Much like a HOSTS file, an LMHOSTS file is a text file listing NetBIOS names and their corresponding IP addresses. To facilitate NetBIOS name resolution on an internetwork, an administrator has to manually edit ...