Integrating DHCP, WINS, and DNS in Heterogeneous Networks

Terra Flora has a difficult mix of disparate network operating systems, supporting multiple protocols, and different services with various administration tools. Most of them can support the TCP/IP protocol, and many of them can be dynamically configured with their IP address via the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, or DHCP.

However, there are legacy UNIX servers, and other network devices that use static IP addresses, and use the Domain Name Space (DNS) services to provide hostname-to-IP-address resolution. Therefore, they need to have a DNS servers in the environment as well.

The long range goals at Terra are to be able to handle an expanding network, and reduce costs. In addition, the types of network clients are changing, with portable and fully mobile networking requirements that break the previous networking models, and exceed the capabilities of the existing administrative mechanisms.

With that understanding, it becomes clear that Terra Flora needs to deploy DHCP services in their network environment to address the dynamic nature of the network clients and reduce the administrative costs of assigning and updating the host table information on the DNS servers. As DHCP only provides the dynamic IP address leasing, WINS services must also be deployed to provide the name resolution for these dynamic network clients. However, due to the presence and limitations of the existing legacy systems in the network, Terra Flora must continue to support DNS as well.

In order to meet the objectives, Terra Flora will deploy DHCP, WINS, and DNS services in their network environment. However, this does not mean that these technologies are islands unto themselves, where clients or servers using DNS can only access machines in the traditional DNS host tables, or where DHCP and WINS clients can only access computers similarly configured.

Windows NT Server 4.0 includes integrated name resolution server components, which allows both DNS and WINS-based clients to resolve names from both types of clients, while minimizing the impact on the existing network infrastructure.

Using Windows NT Server 4.0 and integrating WINS, DNS and DHCP, the process of name and IP resolution becomes basically dynamic. A computer running Windows NT 4.0 will have a NetBIOS name. If a Windows NT, Windows 95 or Windows for Workgroups client sends a request for the IP Address location of a computer AshleyJ.Terraflora.com, and both computers are DHCP, WINS and DNS configured, the process of mapping the IP Address to the NetBIOS computer name of Ashleyj is as follows: