Creating an Easier to Manage DNS Environment

DNS has historically been somewhat difficult to manage because it required the manual maintenance of text files containing the friendly name-to-address mapping for every computer in an organization. In the Windows NT Server operating system version 4.0, Microsoft introduced a DNS Server with built-in Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) Integration. The DNS Server in Windows NT includes a graphical administration tool, designed to make editing DNS files less cumbersome. To eliminate manual assignment of addresses, the DNS Server in Windows NT is tightly integrated with WINS, a Windows NT service that dynamically updates the friendly name-to-address mapping file. In a Windows NT Server-based network, client computers are automatically assigned TCP/IP addresses at startup using the Distributed Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). The clients then register their names and addresses in WINS. This is shown in Figure 3. The DNS Server in Windows NT uses WINS to resolve unrecognized names in the organization it serves.

Figure 3: DNS and WINS Integration.

Microsoft's solution for dynamically updating DNS tables, by integrating DNS and WINS, is a short-term solution. Currently, the Internet standards for DNS are being updated to support Dynamic DNS. Dynamic DNS will eliminate the need for WINS because it will allow clients with dynamically assigned addresses to register directly with the DNS server and update the DNS table dynamically. Servers running next generation Windows NT Directory Services will use Dynamic DNS to publish themselves in DNS. By deploying Windows NT 4.0, DNS, and WINS today, users lay the foundation for next generation Windows NT Directory Services and Dynamic DNS.