Subject: NetBIOS Name vs. DNS name
Author: Alex_Raj
Posted on: 06/08/2006 08:19:54 PM
NetBIOS is an acronym for Network Basic Input/Output System.
A NetBIOS name is a 16-byte address that is used to identify a NetBIOS resource on the local area network (LAN).
It's importance is diminishing as TCP/IP becomes more and more popular. However, Windows 9x and Windows NT4 (and earlier) machines depend on NetBIOS for LAN communication. Furthermore, while Windows XP and Windows 2000 do not need NetBIOS to be installed for LAN communication, it is required if any of the clients are Windows 9x or NT4 machines.
WINS is similar to DNS: both systems will resolve a name into an IP address. DNS solves the general Internet naming problem, WINS is designed only for NetBIOS names.
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