WINS Behavior on a Multihomed System (121003)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
This article was previously published under Q121003
3.50
WINDOWS
kbnetwork
SUMMARY
Microsoft NT Server version 3.5 allows multiple network cards to bind to
the NetBT (NetBIOS over TCP/IP). However, the WINS service can only bind
to one network card. By default, the Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)
service will bind to the first adapter bound with NetBT. As a result, when
you configure WINS client addresses, be sure to specify the IP address of
the adapter and not another IP address such as that of an adapter that
might be on the same subnet as the client.
MORE INFORMATION
Microsoft does not recommend that the WINS service run on a computer with
two or more network cards (multihomed) on disjoint networks. MS-DOS
clients that query WINS may not be able to reach computers with multiple
network cards that straddle disjoint networks due to the fact that MS-DOS
clients always pick the first IP address supplied by the WINS server. The
MS-DOS client may fail to connect to that computer because it may be using
one of the "unreachable" addresses supplied by the WINS server. However,
you can configure a multihomed computer to register with different WINS
servers for each adapter card. If the multihomed computer straddles two
disjoint networks, the computers on either side would use the WINS server
on their network to resolve names. Then the WINS server would return only
the IP address registered on the requesting clients' network.
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 11/3/2003 |
|---|
| Keywords: | KB121003 |
|---|
|