Click on the image to zoom
Windows Internet Naming Service is a software service that determines the IP address associated with a particular network computer on a NETBIOS network. This is called name resolution and allows users to access resources by name instead of requiring them to use IP addresses that are difficult to recognize and remember. WINS supports network client and server computers running Windows and can provide name resolution for other computers with special arrangements. Determining the IP address for a computer is a complex process when DHCP servers assign IP addresses dynamically. For example, it is possible for DHCP to assign a different IP address to a client each time the machine logs on to the network.
How WINS works:
By default, when a computer running Microsoft Windows 2000/XP, or a Windows Server 2003 operating system is configured with WINS server addresses (either manually or through DHCP) for its name resolution, it uses hybrid node (h-node) as its node type for NetBIOS name registration unless another NetBIOS node type is configured. For NetBIOS name query and resolution, it also uses h-node behavior, but with a few differences.
DNS is an alternative system for name resolution suitable for network computers with fixed IP addresses.
