Sams Teach Yourself TCP/IP in 24 Hours, Fourth Edition

NetBIOS Name Resolution

NetBIOS is an API and name resolution system originally developed by IBM that is common on Microsoft Windows networks. The NetBIOS name is the computer name you assign to your Windows computer. The NetBIOS computer name is used to identify the computer in Explorer and My Computer. NetBIOS was developed for networks that don’t use TCP/IP. The NetBIOS name system is actually a little redundant on TCP/IP networks because the NetBIOS name serves a role that is similar to the role of the hostname. Microsoft de-emphasized NetBIOS in Windows 2000/XP, and Windows Vista continues the trend; however, Vista fully supports NetBIOS name resolution techniques, and the huge install base of NetBIOS-enabled computers means that no discussion ...