Shadow IPserver: WINS/NBNS

Support client-server applications over routed TCP networks
IPserver's NetBIOS Name Server permits workstations to establish connectivity to file and print servers using a dynamically created database of NetBIOS names and associated IP addresses.

Standard implementation integrates both OS/2 and Windows systems.
IPserver is the only NBNS solution that supports both Microsoft and IBM NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP implementations. This means that a Shadow IPserver offers the only alternative when users need TCP-based access to both OS/2 and Windows NT-based file servers.

Fully compatible plug-and-play replacement for Microsoft WINS.
WINS is Microsoft's implementation of the standard NBNS service on NT server. Shadow is fully compatible with the standard (RFC 1001/1002) and fully supports all Microsoft clients and servers. Simply enter an IPserver address for the WINS parameter, and users are up and running. Each desktop can be centrally configured to use NBNS through Shadow's DHCP service.

Shadow's NBNS eliminates NetBIOS broadcast traffic.
Without a NetBIOS Name Server, PCs can find one another only by broadcast techniques. But broadcast packets waste CPU cycles and generally are not usually forwarded through IP routers. IPserver's NBNS provides a central repository where stations go to register themselves and to look for their peers, eliminating the broadcast traffic associated with NetBIOS services.

This means you can employ your workgroup and enterprise client/server applications on Microsoft Windows 3.1, WFW, Windows 95 and 98, Windows NT, and on IBM LAN Server and OS/2 Warp systems in your routed intranet environment.

Automated NetBIOS name management reduces administration overhead.
The IPserver NBNS centralizes and automates management of your NetBIOS name database, eliminating the need for static LM Host files residing in each user's workstation.

Population and management of the NBNS database is fully automatic as individual clients and servers register their names. No ongoing system maintenance or intervention is normally required.

Distributed architecture uses network bandwidth more efficiently.
IPserver's NBNS uses a backup and co-server approach (similar to IPserver's Dynamic DNS). Multiple IPserver NBNS systems work together as peers to resolve names. This distributed architecture is more efficient, more reliable, and easier to administer than Microsoft's WINS push-pull (batch update) alternative.

Shadow's NBNS database is fully integrated with the Dynamic DNS service.
Names registered with IPserver's NBNS service are available to the DNS. When a user's PC registers its "computername" with the NBNS, it becomes accessible to DNS resolvers. DNS lookups for either the name "computername.yourdomain.com" will yield the associated PC's IP address.

Datagram Distribution Service reduces WAN bandwidth use.
Shadow's NBNS service also automates the distribution of datagrams to NetBIOS group names. This service eliminates the broadcast messages otherwise associated with datagram distribution and permits groups to span a routed network.