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[KB85]The NETBIOS interface

Tags: Multistation, NetBIOS, Networking

Communication interfaces
14 years ago
By RM
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Applies to:

PcVue version 7.10c onwards. From PcVue version 9.0 onwards the NETBIOS technology referenced in this article is supported for backwards compatability only.
While the basic content of this article remains valid, details may have changed since it was written.
Summary:

The interface by which PcVue accesses the network is called the NETBIOS interface. It provides access to transport protocols such as NETBEUI, TCP/IP, Token Ring and many less well known protocols.

Microsoft and other providers standardised the use of the NETBIOS interface for designing their software components and network system programs. The interface uses given names, limited in size to 16 characters, to identify each network resource.

NETBIOS defines a software interface and a convention for assigning names, but not a protocol. NETBIOS with TCP/IP provides the programming interface for NETBIOS by means of the TCP/IP protocol. It extends the range of NETBIOS client/server programs to wide area network (WAN).

It also ensures interworking with various other operating systems

The NETBIOS name space is flat, which means that the names can be used only once in a network.

These names are recorded dynamically at startup of the computers, when the services become available or when user sessions begin. NETBIOS names can be recorded as single names or as a group. The single names have an address associated with a name. The group names have several addresses mapped onto a particular name.
Details:

Before Windows 2000, all MS-DOS and Windows operating systems had access to the interface for assigning NETBIOS names to handle the required capacities for a network.

Since the launch of Windows 2000, it has no longer been necessary to deal with the interface for assigning NETBIOS names to the network computers. For example, an environment made up of host computers and programs in charge of using the DNS (Domain Name System) can be created to run Windows 2000 and other operating systems not requiring a NETBIOS name, like certain versions of UNIX.

However, the majority of the networks continue to need to integrate inherited operating systems that require the NETBIOS network names with computers running Windows 2000.

This is why, with Windows 2000, Microsoft has continued  to handle NETBIOS names by default so as to support interaction with inherited operating systems requiring their use. This takes two main forms:

  • By default, all Windows 2000 computers using TCP/IP protocol are activated to offer a service of recording and resolution of NETBIOS names. This method is available in NETBIOS on TCP/IP (NetBT) and can be disabled manually if you wish.
  • Windows 2000 Server continues to offer a function on the server side via Windows Internet Name Service (WINS). WINS can be used to manage NetBT networks efficiently.

 The resolution of NETBIOS names can be also handled by use of the LMHOSTS file. This is a static file used to support resolution of remote NETBIOS names on computers that cannot handle requests for NETBIOS names. It contains mappings of NETBIOS names to IP addresses. Its role is similar to that of the Hosts file, the difference being that the Hosts file can be used for mapping the DNS domain names for the host computers to their IP addresses.

List of NETBIOS functions used

Created on: 22 Oct 2010 Last update: 13 May 2024