Installing and Configuring WINS on Windows 2000/2003 ServersIf you're running a network that has Windows NT 4.0 and earlier versions of Microsoft operating systems, you can continue to use the WINS servers you've already installed. However, you can also set up Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 to offer the WINS service to your network. Installing the WINS service is a simple matter. You can choose to install the WINS service during the initial installation of Windows 2000 Server, as you would with other networking services. You can also install the WINS service after you've completed the operating system installation by using the following steps:
After you've installed the service, you won't have to reboot the computer. Instead, you can start managing the WINS service immediately. Managing the Windows 2000 WINS ServerThe Microsoft Management Console (MMC)discussed throughout this book because it's Microsoft's newest innovation in management interfaces introduced with Windows 2000is used to manage the WINS server, and you'll find a new utility in the Administrative Tools folder. Simply click Start, Programs/Administrative Tools and then select WINS from the available tools. When the MMC console appears, you'll see your server name and IP address listed in the tree in the left pane of the console. Click the server name and it will expand to show you two additional folders: Active Registrations and Replication Partners (see Figure 29.6). Figure 29.6. WINS is managed on a Windows 2000 server using the MMC console.To see a list of computers and group names in the WINS database, simply click the Active Registrations folder. Similarly, to see any other servers you've configured to be a replication partner, just click the Replication Partners folder. Of course, you'll first have to set up clients and reboot them before you'll see any computers registered in the database. And you'll have to set up replication partners before anything will show up in that folder. Adding Servers and Replication PartnersMost of the management capabilities for WINS servers can be accomplished through either the Action menu or by using properties pages. For example, to start or stop the WINS service, click the server once to highlight it and from the Action menu select Start or Stop. You can also use the Pause and Restart functions found there. These options work just as they did in the Windows NT 4.0 WINS server. The MMC console enables you to manage multiple WINS servers from a single console. Simply click the WINS entry in the left pane (refer to Figure 29.6) and then, from the Action menu, select Add Server. The Add Server dialog box pops up and prompts you to enter the NetBIOS name or IP address of the server you want to add to the management console. Once it's added, you can select which server you want to manage by simply clicking it once in the left pane tree of servers. To add a replication partner, open the Replication Partners folder found under the server you want to set up for replication and, from the Action menu, select New Replication partner. A dialog box again prompts you for the name or IP address of the server with which you want to enable replication. Using the Action Menu to Configure MMC PropertiesThe first entry in the tree structure found in the left pane of the MMC console is WINS. Click WINS and, from the Action menu, select Properties. Or you can right-click WINS and select Properties from the menu that pops up. In Figure 29.7, you can see the general properties page for the MMC WINS console. Figure 29.7. Use the WINS server's properties page to configure general properties for the server.
From this properties page, you can select to have WINS servers in the console tree be displayed using either their NetBIOS name or the IP address of the server. You can also select to show a DNS-style name for the server. Finally, you can configure the server to validate its cache of WINS servers when the server starts up to ensure that they're still online and that the list is accurate. Because this involves sending a message to each server, this can take some time if you manage a lot of servers or if they're connected by slow links. Using the Action Menu to Manage Individual WINS ServersYou can perform most of the basic management tasks associated with WINS servers by selecting the WINS server from those you've added to the tree structure in the left pane and then using options from the Action menu. Alternatively, you can right-click on a server and select the same options from the menu that pops up. The things you can manage from the Action menu for any server are
The properties page for a server (which can be displayed using the Action menu as just described) can be used to further configure the server. The properties page has four tabs:
Figure 29.8. The Advanced tab of the server's properties page enables you to configure important server properties, such as the location of the database.
The Advanced tab is singled out here for special mention because it contains some important configuration items. For example, you can specify the path to use for the database files. You can decide to enable logging detailed events to the event log for troubleshooting purposes. This is not a feature you should leave enabled unless you're having problems with WINS. The Enable Burst Handling check box enables you to customize (low, medium, high, or specify a number) the number of client registrations and renewals that the server can handle at a single time. This can be useful if you have a server that you want to use mainly as a backup for your primary WINS server. You can set its burst mode to low and then change this property to high on the server you want to handle the most requests. You can enter a starting version ID in a field at the bottom of this dialog box. Finally, you can use a check box to enable the use of computer names that are compatible with LAN Manager if you have older Microsoft clients on your network. Managing the Windows Server 2003 WINS ServiceOpen the WINS MMC management console by selecting it from the Administrative Tools folder (Start, Administrative Tools, WINS). In Figure 29.9, you can see that the MMC console looks the same as that used for Windows 2000. You can use this MMC snap-in to manage WINS just as you did in Windows 2000. Figure 29.9. The WINS MMC Console application looks the same in Windows Server 2003 as in Windows 2000.Using the MMC interface to manage WINS servers on Windows Server 2003 is, for all practical matters, the same as discussed in the previous section about Windows 2000. However, if you're still managing WINS in a network running Windows Server 2003, it might be time to consider an upgrade to the client systems or applications that still rely on the WINS infrastructure. Using netsh Commands to Manage WINSBoth Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 enable you to use the netsh command (Netshell) set to manage WINS as well as other network services, such as DHCP and other network configuration utilities. This can be useful for those who are accustomed to using a command-line interface (such as the Command Prompt), or when you want to include commands in a batch file or other scripting file to manage WINS servers. The netsh commands can be used to manage a wide variety of other utilities. They can even be useful when troubleshooting a server via a Telnet link. The netsh command is not limited to use with just WINS. Instead, netsh can serve to manage many other network services. Each different management scope is called a context. For example, after you enter the netsh> command prompt interpreter, you can enter the command WINS to set the Netshell command environment to enable you to manage WINS components. A selection of other contexts (which are discussed in much greater detail in their respective chapters) are
In this section, you learn about some simple tasks you can perform using netsh for WINS. However, it's important to understand that the command-line interface, which greatly expands on the simple DOS and newer commands available in the Command Prompt, means that many of you can continue to write script files to control logins, network functions, and so forth. Tip netsh commands can also be useful when you're administering a server across a wide area network link. In many instances, netsh commands can be accomplished more quickly than when using the GUI MMC interface. The following list shows you some of the more important netsh commands for Windows Server 2003 that relate to WINS. To enter an interactive command session using commands available using the WINS context, use netsh and then at the netsh> prompt, enter wins. Note The syntax listed here for netsh is almost identical to that used for Windows 2000. You can check to be sure by entering the command netsh /? at the Windows 2000 Command Prompt. For help on an individual command, use netsh <command> /? instead. This second syntax can be useful in determining the commands available for a certain context, for example. From the help topics displayed, you can further drill down to find out more specifics of this well-implemented addition to the standard command-line utilities offered in early Windows operating systems. You can create quite complex script files using netsh that can be used to manage many different aspects of a computer. Here you'll learn about some of the commands used with WINS. For example, the two following commands select a WINS server that will be the target of the netsh commands:
After you enter server or a remote server name, the prompt will change to netsh <wins server> prompt (to reflect the server you're now managing). From this prompt you can enter commands specific to this context, which are
The complete syntax of the commands available is too vast to cover in a single chapter. The topic of the netsh command syntax could very well be a good reference book on its own because it can be used in other contexts to control other utilities, such as DHCP, and to perform diagnostics on the system. |