aznan said:
Hi, i'm currently running Windows 2000 Domain with AD and all my clients
are
running Windows XP with SP2.
I do understand a little bit of DNS and WINS but not much cause i'm still
a
newbie and i would like to hear it from an expert , can anyone please tell
me
the difference between DNS and WINS and what would happen if i don't use
them
in my domain environment ?
They are similar enough to confuse even some of those who think they
are experts since they "resolve names to IP addresses" -- DNS resolves
the names used on the Internet (e.g.,
www.google.com) and WINS
resolves "NetBIOS" names to IP addresses.
NetBIOS was used historically for networking Microsoft (& IBM) networks
and is still use mainly for Browsing, external trusts, and a few other minor
feature including even some things in Exchange and Cluster services.
DNS is now, as of Win2000 and Active Directory, required for your domain
to work well.
In fact, most problems with AD replication OR authentication are actually
DNS
issue. And in many cases, problems with resource access or slow logons are
also due to DNS problems.
I have 2 DCs , 1 is Primary and another is secondary, do i install DNS &
WINS service on both of them ?
DNS almost for sure. Otherwise you will have problems when one DC is
down, even for short reboots.
You only need WINS servers if you have more than one Subnet, although
having a WINS server can reduce broadcasts. On a single subnet (i.e.,
no internal routers) the broadcasts can resolve the NetBIOS names without
the WINS server(s).
If you wish fault tolerance for NetBIOS names across routers you will
also need to have that second WINS Server.
All internal clients, especially DCs and servers, must be set STRICTLY
as clients of the Internet DNS server, and also of the WINS Server on
the NIC->IP Properties.
