When a device needs to communicate using NetBIOS names, the following process occurs:
- The client device checks its NetBIOS name cache (similar to DNS cache).
- If no result is found, it sends a query to the primary WINS server.
- If the primary server has the necessary information, it responds accordingly.
- If the primary WINS server does not know the IP address, or it fails to respond to three requests, the client device attempts the query with the secondary WINS server, then the tertiary WINS server, and so on.
- If no resolution is made, the device will attempt to resolve the name using a file called LMHOSTS, checking its own name, checking the DNS cache, and querying DNS.
In the last step, I mentioned the LMHOSTS file. Let's look ...