See comments inline..... > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:ActiveDir-owner@;mail.activedir.org] On Behalf Of Michael Tock > Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 9:08 PM > To: Active directory > Subject: [ActiveDir] [activedir] OT netbios and host names > > > I am just a student who is trying to learn networking. One of > the problems that I have had are lousy teachers, who either > know the subject and don't know how to teach, or teachers who > don't know the subject, and don't know how to teach.
Yeah, don't I know it.... ;) > Therefore I could use some help. I would be very thankful. > > I need clarification using netbios names and host names, and > name resolution. > > Here is what I know, netbios name can use a LMHOST file for > name resolution, while a HOST is used for tcp names for name > resolution, both which have to be created. Which brings me to > a point I need clarified. When you name a computer when > installing, that would be the netbios name correct. For > instance if I named the computer "FRED". Then the host name > would be "fred.com" correct? Which would be considered a tcp/ip name? OK - a computer name is a NetBIOS name. It's nothing more than a name that corresponds to a given set of rules. In this case, the rule is the computer name for NetBIOS cannot exceed 15 characters. The 16th char is reserved for special things, like this is a DC, this is a messenger, this is a group, etc. There are a bunch of these defined within NetBIOS. So, FRED is the computer name. In TCP/IP, the rules change. We have a hostname - and this is what the computer is referred by. Again, it's a name given to this unique host. BUT! The hostname is not really the true identifier for the computer - it's a user friendly nym for the TCP/IP address of this computer. So, fred is equal to say, 192.168.0.1/24. So, in this case the hostname is fred. Nothing more. The nomenclature for '.com' or '.net' or '.org' does not come in until we begin to talk in the much bigger scope of domains which expand our TCP/IP network to a world-wide scope. NetBIOS cannot scale to this size without lots of help. > > > Ok I know that if the network is too large, you do not want > to create these files,the host and LMhost correct? Instead > you would have DNS to resolve the host name to a ip number > or have WINS to resolve the netbios into a ip number correct? Correct. Hosts and LMHosts files are way to high maintenance to mess with on a large scale. > > Now I have this simple three computer, peer to peer network. > It has windows 2000 pro and xp pro on these computers. I have > static ip numbers assigned to them. With no hosts file or > lmhost files on them. No DNS server or WINS server. How does > the computer resolve ip numbers or netbios names? > > Does Netbios over tcp/ip has something to do with that. If so > could someone explain this. Heh. OK - here's the big kahuna. Firstly, you'll need to do some research on how TCP/IP works. Next, you'll need to do some research on how NetBIOS works. Fact of the matter is this - your three machines are on the same network. These three machines could talk to each other almost regardless of how you configured it (given a couple of exceptions, but I'll leave you to ask the follow-ups). With all of your machines on the same network each of the machines already has a real good idea who is local to them. Each of the machines are going to have local cache entries for the other after the first time that they talk. If they don't have an entry, they just do something very basic. They just get on the wire and scream the name of the machine that they want to talk to. In essence, if ETHEL is looking for FRED, she's just going to broadcast a request that FRED answer. Hence, the broadcast comes into play - and both NetBIOS and TCP/IP both use it. (Each for similar and different purposes) BTW, if these machines were on different subnets, your machines would not be talking as easily as you find them talking today. I'll leave you to figure that one out, and why that's the case. Do some research on your own into this. It's a hard subject to get a grasp of, but it is foundational to your understanding of what is happening. There are way too many Techs out there already that have no clue at all what layers 1 - 4 do, or why they are important. Do yourself (and the rest of us) a favor - learn Networking in layers 1 - 4 COLD. You'll be glad that you did! > > Thankyou You're welcome! Rick Kingslan - Microsoft MVP [Windows NT/2000] Microsoft Certified Trainer MCSA, MCSE+I - Windows NT / 2000 "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." --- Arthur C. Clarke > > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm > List archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%> 40mail.activedir.org/ > List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/
