Host Name Resolution

Windows CE uses the Domain Name System (DNS) and the Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) for host name resolution. DNS is a naming service that resolves system names to current IP addresses and uses a hierarchical model to pass name resolutions between domains. DNS enables a TCP/IP host to find the IP address of another host using only the host name. WINS provides a distributed database for registering and querying dynamic name-to-IP address mappings in a routed network environment. Also, a host name can be found using an IP address. A Windows CE–based application can access DNS and WINS using the Winsock functions gethostbyname and gethostbyaddr.