is netbios and netbeui still used?

A

AMD_Gamer

Fully [H]
Joined
Jan 20, 2002
Messages
18,287
is netbios and netbeui still used for windows networks? I still see some people talk about it?

Is it still used for network sharing in newer versions of windows to discover the other computers?

Can somebody explain to me exactly what they are?
 
I believe it sorta is, but think it works differently now. From my understanding NetBUI is a win98 thing and was basically a whole protocol on it's own, now netbios basically uses RPC and is TCP based. At least that's my understanding of it, I may be wrong.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netbios

Having netbios enabled for small networks allows you to connect to Windows shares using the hostname (netbios name) without having DNS implemented internally. That is the most common use I see for it lately.

Larger organizations that don't have legacy clients, e.g. NT and such, tend to disable it and use AD to publish shares and the integrated DNS to resolve names.
 
yes. Well, NetBIOS anyway.

I prefer to connect to my server via NetBIOS name, if I'm trying to access a share. I would rather not need to type in the FQDN.
And since WINS is for resolving a NetBIOS name to IP, yes we still use NetBIOS and WINS.

The NetBIOS name is the short-name. ie, server.mydomain.local is the FQDN, which of course is resolved to IP via DNS. But then I can use just server since it's NetBIOS name gets resolved to an IP via WINS.
 
You actually run WINS servers still?

Just an FYI but if your servers are all in the same domain, i.e. "example.com", you have internal DNS, and you have the box checked that indicates your machine should "append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes" you wouldn't need to type the FQDN.
 
mattjw916 said:
You actually run WINS servers still?

Just an FYI but if your servers are all in the same domain, i.e. "example.com", you have internal DNS, and you have the box checked that indicates your machine should "append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes" you wouldn't need to type the FQDN.
Click to expand...

Am I running WINS? Why should even care?

Years and years ago, NetBIOS, was "rehosted" from SMB (I think) to TCP/IP, based on RFCs 1003-1006 (going from memory here). And, PC networking today is a whole lot easier than back in the Win 3.1 For Networks day. Back then, you needed a third-party TCP/IP stack from someone like FTP Software, NetManage, or The Woolongong Group.

Nowadays, when I bring up a new system, I need to change only the minimal number of settings necessary, meaning I input gateway IP, and DNS for my ISP. I also change my desktop systems from DHCP to fixed IP addresses.

Aside from all that, why should I care if I'm running WINS, as long as my LAN works the way I want it to, including printing to network printers via LPR.

x509
 
WINS is a server which allows you to resolve netbios names outside of your host's broadcast domain. It was more prevalent in the days of Windows NT 4 although it stuck around for a while when Windows 2000 was introduced for backwards compatibility.

I think you are referring to netbios over TCP/IP actually, not WINS. The main reason to disable netbios over TCP/IP is for security.
 
x509 said:
Am I running WINS? Why should even care?
Click to expand...

Because WINS is something to keep an eye on, on your server. It's another service to manage,,,consumes resources, and sometimes takes some kicking in the ass when you remove a workstation and go to replace that workstation with a new one under the same name...errors joining domain...ack..yeah..god damned freaking WINS didn't release it yet, tombstoned entries, blah blah.

I don't have a problem running WINS..hell since most of my clients run on Small Business Server, 2003 version still came bundled with WINS assuming some Win9X clients might still be around. And actually it can help make WANS easier. But I certainly care that it's running...a competent server admin would care about any service that his/her servers were running.
 
j-sta said:
yes. Well, NetBIOS anyway.

I prefer to connect to my server via NetBIOS name, if I'm trying to access a share. I would rather not need to type in the FQDN.
And since WINS is for resolving a NetBIOS name to IP, yes we still use NetBIOS and WINS.

The NetBIOS name is the short-name. ie, server.mydomain.local is the FQDN, which of course is resolved to IP via DNS. But then I can use just server since it's NetBIOS name gets resolved to an IP via WINS.
Click to expand...

wtf? you know what an "fqdn" is but you don't know how to configure a search domain?
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Because WINS is something to keep an eye on, on your server. It's another service to manage,,,consumes resources, and sometimes takes some kicking in the ass when you remove a workstation and go to replace that workstation with a new one under the same name...errors joining domain...ack..yeah..god damned freaking WINS didn't release it yet, tombstoned entries, blah blah.
Click to expand...

Ah, good reasons to turn off WINS. Only comment is that for most of at home, we have a workgroup, not a server-based domain. ;)

I don't have a problem running WINS..hell since most of my clients run on Small Business Server, 2003 version still came bundled with WINS assuming some Win9X clients might still be around. And actually it can help make WANS easier. But I certainly care that it's running...a competent server admin would care about any service that his/her servers were running.
Click to expand...


All good points. But, again, for most (almost all?) of us at home, we don't have the "luxury" of a domain. ;) But do I really want all the extra work that goes with Active Directory, running an Exchange server, etc. :D

And last, as someone else noted, you can't assume that we're all competent server admins.
 
FWIW, NetBIOS is also used to populate the "My Network Places" in Windows, at least up until XP.
 
I used to install NetBEUI on Windows XP machines where they refused to see each other on the network. But that was years ago. I haven't used it since. Pretty sure Vista and 7 can't have it installed. It was an unsupported addon to install NetBEUI on XP.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top