Key message: Name resolution is an essential part of computer networking because it is easier for users to remember names than abstract numbers, such as an IPv4 address.
Discussion prompt: Ask students if they are familiar with NetBIOS naming.Demonstration: Display the host and NetBIOS names of the virtual machine.Additional information: Ensure that students understand that NetBIOS and Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) are legacy components.
Ensure that students are familiar with the different types of name.
Host Name
A host name is a user-friendly name that is associated with a host’s IP address and identifies it as a TCP/IP host. A host name can be no more than 255 characters in length and contains alphanumeric characters, periods, and hyphens.
A host name is an alias or a fully qualified domain name (FQDN).
An alias is a single name associated with an IP address.
The host name combines an alias with a domain name to create the FQDN.
The elements of the name include periods as separators. Applications use the structured FQDN on the Internet.
An example of an FQDN is payroll.contoso.com.
NetBIOS Name
Applications use the 16-character NetBIOS name to identify a NetBIOS resource on a network. A NetBIOS name represents a single computer or a group of computers. NetBIOS uses the first 15 characters for a specific computer’s name and the final sixteenth character to identify a resource or service on that computer. An example of a NetBIOS name is NYC-SVR2[20h].
Windows supports a number of different methods for resolving computer names, such as DNS, WINS, and the host name resolution process.
Name Resolution
When discussing the name resolution process, show the students how names are resolved. Start by writing down the various methods, and then demonstrate each method by using the virtual machine environment. Include insertion of entries into HOSTS and using tools such as NSLOOKUP. It is important that students know in which order name resolution methods are attempted.