Chapter 7. Name Resolution and Browsing (original) (raw)

WINS Clients and Server Interaction

There are two types of interaction between aWINS client and a server: the client keeps its own NetBIOS name[1] registered with the server and queries the server to get the IP address corresponding to the NetBIOS name of another system.

When a WINS client joins the network, it registers its NetBIOS name with the WINS server, which stores it along with the client's IP address in the WINS database. This entry is marked active. The client is then expected to renew the registration of its name periodically (typically, every four days) to inform the server that it is still using the name. This period is called the time to live, or TTL. When the client leaves the network by being shut down gracefully, it informs the server, and the server marks the client's entry in its database as_released_.

When a client leaves the network without telling the WINS server to release its name, the server waits until after it fails to receive the expected registration renewal from the client and then marks the entry as released.

In either case, the released name is available for use by other clients joining the network. It might persist in the released state in the WINS database, and if it is not reregistered, the entry will eventually be deleted.

More information on WINS can be found in the Microsoft white paper_Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) Architecture and Capacity Planning_. It can be downloaded from the Microsoft web site at http://www.microsoft.com.