Difference between a WINS server and a DNS server

For many people, the relationship between the WINS server and the DNS server is still a mystery. However, we would like to use your questions to clarify this matter.

First, DNS refers to the "domain name server", while wins refers to the Windows Internet Name Service. Both are used to parse the domain name, but the method used is completely different!

To help illustrate this issue, I'm going to use an example to ensure that you have a good understanding of both of these services.

Consider a file server named "Jupiter" and the following two instructions:

Ping Jupiter.space.net

Net Use * Jupiter Mainshare

The above two instructions look very similar. The first instruction is to send a ping (ICMP echo) packet to our file server to confirm that the server is working. The second instruction calls the same server (Jupiter) to connect to a shared folder named "Mainshare".

Although these two directives point to the same server (Jupiter), the distinction between them is important.

The "Ping" here uses DNS to resolve Jupiter.space.net to an IP address, such as 204.45.12.1. The "net use" Directive uses WINS to resolve the NetBIOS name "Jupiter" to an IP address.

In this way, you may wonder why there are two different services that are actually accomplishing the same task.

The answer to this question is that each of these two services relies on a different protocol. They just work in a different way.

WINS is an important part of the Microsoft Network topology. In the past, you need to run a WINS server in the Windows network to avoid domain name resolution problems. The NetBIOS (Windows machine Name) protocol at that time only works on the NetBEUI transport protocol. If you've ever used Windows 95, you'll remember that the NetBEUI protocol often appears in your network properties. In Network properties, the TCP/IP protocol is also an option.

Currently, DNS replaces wins. Most DNS servers are capable of processing NetBIOS requests because of the modifications that Microsoft has made to NetBIOS, allowing it to do its work using the TCP/IP stack (NetBIOS on the TCP/IP protocol). This is why WINS servers are becoming less and fewer.

In short, DNS maps TCP/IP host names to IP addresses, and WINS maps NetBIOS host names to IP addresses.