Unusual Mappings Appear in WINS Database

ID: Q194338

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.51, 4.0

SUMMARY

Mappings with an unusual or unfamiliar format may be seen when you view the Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) database in WINS Manager. The registered NetBIOS name may contain non-alphanumeric characters such as punctuation marks, underscores, and mathematical symbols.

These registrations may be valid and do not imply corruption of the WINS database.

MORE INFORMATION

WINS is an example of a NetBIOS name server, and, as such, it accepts registrations of NetBIOS service names.

Any application written using the NetBIOS application programming interface (API) has the ability to register a service name with a NetBIOS name server, such as WINS.

Many client/server applications, which include some database management applications as well as modem pooling applications, are written using the NetBIOS APIs and, therefore, may register their service names with WINS.

The application developer determines the naming convention used by the application in question. The conventions chosen may include the use of name registrations that include punctuation marks, underscores, and mathematical symbols.

A name registration containing the these characters will be accepted by WINS as WINS has no way of determining "correct" or "incorrect" naming conventions used by third-party applications.

Caution should be exercised when deleting any mapping from the WINS database as the mapping could be valid despite its unfamiliar appearance. The deletion of a valid mapping can cause connectivity issues related to the application that registered the name.

The RPC Endpoint Mapper can also register services in WINS if either NetBT or NamedPipes is a transport bound to the registering service. Therefore, any RPC-based application may register with WINS as a function of registering with the RPC Endpoint Mapper.

Applications that may register names of unusual appearance with WINS include, but are not limited to, the following.

SpartaCom SAPS

SpartaCom SAPS (SpartaCom Asynchronous Port Sharing, a modem pooling application)

SAPS uses a server registration of the form
```
      @MACHINENAME[20] 
```
-and-

A client name of the form
```
       "MACHINENAME----[00] 
```
where quotes are prepended onto the name and the dashes are padding to the fifteenth character.

Sybase SQL Anywhere

Sybase SQL Anywhere (a client/server database application)

NOTE: SQL Anywhere registers a server name padded to the fifteenth character. The SQL Anywhere client generates a name using an algorithm that starts with 8 bytes of binary clock information and calculates a unique name from that information.

Sybase SQL Anywhere uses a server registration of the form
```
      =*57-----[20h] 
```

This occurs each time the Sybase SQL Anywhere service is started. The registration will be different each time so numerous registrations of similar appearance from the same IP address may be present in the WINS database.

DCA IrmaLan Gateway Server Service uses a registration of the form:
```
   - Forte_$ND800ZA [20] 
```

The third-party products discussed here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

Additional query words: hex

Keywords : kbnetwork
Version : WinNT:3.51,4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbinfo