Installing WINS
Before installing WINS, ensure that your server has a permanent IP address. WINS is installed using the Add/Remove Windows components wizard. To access the wizard click on Start.
Use the buttons below to navigate through the lesson
Select Control Panel. Double-click on Add/Remove Programs. Add/Remove programs will appear. Click on Add/Remove Windows Components. A list of available components will be displayed. To find Networking Services click on the scroll down arrow.
Select Networking Services. Click on Details. A list of all available networking services will appear. Currently DNS is installed. To install WINS click on the down scroll arrow.
To select WINS, tick the box next to it. WINS has been selected. Click on OK to continue. Any additional components can also be installed if need be. Click on Next to install the selected components. Windows will configure and install any of the selected Windows components. The Windows Server 2003 source files will be needed. Insert the CD or locate a network share with the files on and click OK. The relevant files will be copied and the different services will be configured. WINS has successfully been installed. Click on Finish to close the wizard.
Configuring a Client to use WINS
To configure WINS, right-click on My Network Places. Once WINS has been installed, the clients on the network will need to be configured to use the WINS server. Select Properties. The Network and Dial-up Connections page will appear. Right-click on Local Area Connection. Select Properties.
Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) to configure TCP/IP. Select Properties. To configure WINS click on the Advanced Tab. Select the WINS Tab. The WINS Properties page will appear. From here you can add WINS servers, enable and disable the LMHOSTS files and enable and disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP. To add a WINS server click on Add. Type in the IP address of the WINS server. Click on Add to continue. The WINS server has been added. Additional WINS servers can also be added. The WINS servers will be queried starting from the top. The order can be changed by using the up and down arrows next to the WINS addresses box.
The WINS Database
Once WINS has been installed, it can be accessed through the Administrative Tools program group. Click on Start. Then Administrative Tools. Click on WINS. The WINS management tool will appear. The WINS server and its IP address is displayed. Click the + sign next to the server to view its status. The green arrow next to the server indicates that the WINS service has been started.
To view the current WINS entries, click on Active Registrations. In order to view the current entries a search needs to be issued. Right-click on Active Registrations. From the properties page you can issue a search, create a new record or import an LMHOSTS file. LMHOSTS files where used in older networks without WINS. Select Display Records to issue a search. To view all entries, Select filter records and type in a wildcard (*) in the dialog box. Click on Find Now to begin the search. The current records are displayed. The record name displays the NetBIOS name. NetBIOS names can be up to 15 characters long. NetBIOS names have a hidden 16th character which determines what type of record it is. The Type box displays the type of record. The IP Address shows the IP address of the machine the name belongs to.
The state entry displays what state the current record is in. A record can be in the following states:
| State | Definition |
| Active | Record is currently in use |
| Tombstoned | Record is marked for deletion, once the change has been replicated to other WINS servers. The record is deleted. |
| Released | The machine is currently not available, NetBIOS names are normally released when the computer is properly shutdown. By default the record is marked as released for 6 days, after that, the record is removed. |
To create a new record manually, right-click on Active Registrations. Select New Static Mapping. The New Static Mapping box will appear. To create a new record, type the NetBIOS name into the Computer name box.
The NetBIOS scope box determines which scope the name belongs to. If two names have different scopes they won’t be able to be browsed for through My Network Places.
A NetBIOS scope name, can be entered if one is used on your network. In general, NetBIOS scopes are not recommended for use and this field should be left blank.
The record type can also be changed by selecting the type of record from the Type choices menu. The different choices are shown, click on Unique to create a new mapping. To add the IP address for the new name, type the IP address into the IP address box. Click on OK to accept and close the dialog box. The new record is displayed and it is marked as static. The new address is now active and can be resolved.
Viewing Server Statistics
To view statistics about the current WINS Server such as the number of records it contains, right-click on ADMIN1. Click on Display Server Statistics. Various statistics about the WINS server are displayed. e.g. This server has so far dealt with 61 Name queries, 0 were found and 61 were unsuccessful.
Scavenging the Database
The local WINS server database sometimes retains both released and old entries that were registered at another WINS server. The process of scavenging the database removes any records that aren’t in use. To scavenge the WINS database, right-click on the server. Select Scavenge Database. Click on OK to accept. The request has been queued on the server’s task list.
Configuring the WINS Server.
To configure the properties of the WINS server. Right-click on the server. Select Properties. The intervals tab specifies how often the WINS server will perform maintenance tasks on its database. The Renew interval controls how often a WINS client has to renew its registration. The default of six days is good enough for most networks. For more dynamic networks this value can be lowered. From the General tab you can configure how often the WINS server updates its statistics. The default implementation of 10 minutes is frequent enough for most uses. The Database backup section allows you to specify the location of the WINS database back up. The WINS server can also be configured to back up the database when the server is shutdown.
The Extinction interval states how long a released WINS record will remain marked as “released” before it’s marked as “extinct”.
The Extinction timeout states how long an extinct record may remain in the database before it’s removed.
The Verification interval states how long an unused record owned by another server can remain in the database before it’s verified to see whether or not the registration is still valid.
Database Verification allows a WINS server to cross-check its database entries against another machine. Hopefully, this allows any inconsistencies in the database to be recognised. The Verify database consistency check box controls whether verification is turned on or off and how often it will take place.
The Begin verifying at control allows you to specify when the verification begins after the service starts. The maximum number of records verified control allows you to specify the maximum number of records that are verified. The Verify against radio button allows you to specify which servers the database is verified against.
The Verify against radio button allows you to specify which servers the database is verified against. The WINS Database path allows you to specify where the WINS Database is stored. The Starting version ID can be used to identify which server has the most recent version of a registration. By changing this value you can make the WINS server database appear to be newer that the version on its partner’s database. The Enable burst handing check box and control group allows you to control how many simultaneous requests the WINS server can accept. If the server is busy, any client requesting a registration or renewal will have to wait until the server is free to handle it. The Use Computer Names That Are Compatible With LAN Manager check box tells the WINS server to allow the registration of names that are usable by older computers which use LAN Manager. This means names that are less than 14 characters and contain only letters, numbers, and the (_) character.
