Implementing WINS
Name Resolution Services
Product Manual
U7613-J-Z815-6-76
©
S
iem
e
n
s
N
ix
dor
f
In
fo
rm
at
io
n
s
s
y
s
te
m
e
A
G
1
9
9
5
P
fad
: D:
\O
7
613
e6
\u
761
3e
.k
10
Name Release
When a computer finishes using a particular name, it no longer challenges other registration
requests for the name. This is referred to as
releasing a name
.
If WINS is enabled on the client:
Whenever a computer is shut down properly, it releases
its name to the WINS server, which changes the state of the related database entry from
active
to
released
. If the entry remains released
for a certain period of time, the WINS server
marks it as
extinct
, updates the version number, and notifies other WINS servers of the
change.
●
If a name is marked released at a WINS server, and a new registration arrives using
that name but a different address, the WINS server immediately can give that name to
the requesting client because it knows that the old client no longer is using that name.
This might happen, for example, when a DHCP-enabled laptop changes subnets.
●
If the computer released its name during an orderly shutdown, the WINS server does
not challenge the name when the computer is reconnected. If an orderly shutdown did
not occur, the name registration with a new address causes the WINS server to
challenge the registration. The challenge fails and the registration succeeds, because
the computer no longer has the old address.
If WINS is not enabled on the client:
When a non-WINS computer releases a name, a
broadcast is made to allow any systems on the network that might have cached the name
to remove it. Upon receiving name query packets specifying the deleted name, computers
simply ignore the request, allowing other computers on the network to acquire the released
name.
For non-WINS computers to be accessible from other subnets, their names must
be added as static entries to the WINS database or in the LMHOSTS
/ names.cfg
file(s) on the remote system(s) because they will respond only to name queries that
originate on their local subnet.
Name Resolution
With WINS servers in place on the internetwork, NetBIOS computer names are resolved
using two basic methods depending on whether WINS resolution is available and enabled
on the client computer. Regardless of which name resolution method is used, the process
is transparent to the user after the system is configured.
i
