The Decision to Use WINS

As with dynamic addressing of computers, dynamic name registration and resolution of computers and associated addresses will reduce administrative costs at Terra Flora. If administrative tasks can automatically be performed by the computers running Windows NT Server with WINS enabled, administrators are free to perform other network administrative tasks.

A WINS server maintains a dynamic database that maps the NetBIOS computer names of WINS clients to their IP addresses. Both a computer name and IP address are necessary for network clients to communicate effectively on the enterprise network. At Terra Flora, clients are configured as both DHCP- and WINS-enabled.

The primary purpose of WINS is to respond to network clients that are trying to locate a computer on the network by using its' NetBIOS name. The WINS server responds to the network client with the IP address of the desired computer, thus enabling the client computer to connect to the desired computer via a TCP/IP session. To enable this functionality, the WINS clients register their NetBIOS names with the WINS server. The registered name is stored in a database on the server on a dynamic basis so the name can be reused later if the client stops using it.

A WINS client is responsible for maintaining the lease on its registered name and informing the WINS server periodically that it is still present on the network. When it shuts down, it also notifies the WINS server that the name is being released.

Terra Flora administrators decided to use WINS for the following reasons:

• Dynamic database maintenance will support computer name registration and name resolution. WINS provides dynamic name services, and it offers a NetBIOS name space, making it much more flexible than DNS for name resolution. The WINS and DNS servers will be integrated to serve all name resolution needs at Terra Flora.
• WINS centralizes management of the computer-name database and the database replication policies, which will alleviate the need for managing LMHOSTS files.
• Windows NT Server has been chosen as the integration tool to interoperate the heterogeneous networks at Terra Flora. Implementation of WINS will reduce the IP broadcast traffic while allowing client computers to easily locate remote systems across local or wide area networks.