Windows 7

Configuring and maintaining WINS

WINS is fairly easy to configure and maintain after you set it up and replication partners are configured. The key configuration and maintenance tasks are related to the following issues:

  • Configuring burst handling as the network grows
  • Checking server status and configuration
  • Checking active registrations, and scavenging records if necessary
  • Maintaining the WINS database

Configuring burst handling

If you configured the WINS server on a network with more than 100 clients, you should enable burst handling of registrations. As your network grows, you should change the burst-handling sessions as appropriate for the number of clients on the network. To configure burst handling of registration and name refresh requests, start the WINS console. Press and hold or right-click the server entry in the WINS console, and then select Properties. In the Properties dialog box, tap or click the Advanced tab.

Select the Enable Burst Handling check box, and then select one of the following burst-handling settings:

  • Low, for handling up to 300 registration and name refresh requests
  • Medium, for handling up to 500 registration and name refresh requests
  • High, for handling up to 1000 registration and name refresh requests
Set a Custom Threshold for Burst Handling
You can also set a custom threshold value for burst handling. To do this, select Custom and then enter a threshold value between 50 and 5000. For example, if you set the threshold to 5000, up to 5000 requests can be queued at once. Keep in mind that you would do this only if your network environment needs this setting. If you set the value to 5000 but only need a queue that allows up to 100 name registration requests, you would waste a lot of server resources maintaining a very large queue that you don't need.

Checking server status and configuration

Using the WINS console, you can do the following:

  • View the status of all WINS servers on the network by tapping or clicking the Server Status entry in the left pane. The status of the servers is then displayed in the right pane.
  • View the current replication partners for a server by expanding the server entry and selecting Replication Partners in the left pane. The replication partners for that server are displayed in the right pane.
  • View server statistics for startup, replication, queries, releases, registrations, and replication partners by pressing and holding or right-clicking the server entry in the left pane and selecting Display Server Statistics.

Using Netsh WINS, you can view server statistics by typing the command

netsh wins server ServerName show statistics

Here ServerName is the name or IP address of the WINS server you want to work with, such as \\WINS02 or 10.10.12.15. An example of the statistics follows:

***You have Read and Write access to the server corpsvr02.cpandl.com***

WINS Started 				: 8/11/2014 at 12:25:11
Last initialization 			: 8/13/2014 at 03:12:12
Last planned scavenging 		: 8/20/2014 at 11:22:24
Last admin triggered scavenging 	: 8/10/2014 at 18:41:31
Last replicas tombstones scavenging 	: 8/22/2014 at 10:31:44
Last replicas verification scavenging 	: 8/24/2014 at 13:42:12
Last planned replication 		: 8/10/2014 at 17:30:59
Last admin triggered replication 	: 8/27/2014 at 09:32:45
Last reset of counter 			: 9/01/2014 at 19:33:21

Counter Information :
No of U and G Registration requests = (250 222)
No of Successful/Failed Queries = (812/67)
No of U and G Refreshes = (213 144)
No of Successful/Failed Releases = (68/12)
No of U. and G. Conflicts = (12 10)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WINS Partner IP Address     -No. of Replication     -No. of Comm Failure
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
192.168.15.18 	      -     153     -    2

These statistics are useful for troubleshooting registration and replication problems. Scavenging and replication are automatic once configured. Problems to look for include the following:

  • Replication
    If there are problems with replication, you should see a high number of communication failures relative to the number of replications. Check the links over which replication is occurring to see if there are intermittent failures or times when links aren't available.
  • Name Resolution
    If WINS clients are having problems with name resolution, you'll see a high number of failed queries. You might need to scavenge the database for old records more frequently. Check the server statistics for the renew interval, extinction interval, extinction timeout, and verification interval on the Intervals tab in the server's Properties dialog box.
  • Registration release: If WINS clients aren't releasing registrations properly, you'll see a high number of failed releases. Clients might not be getting shut down properly.

You can view the configuration details for a WINS server by typing the command

netsh wins server ServerName show info

Here ServerName is the name or IP address of the WINS server. The output looks like this:

WINS Database backup parameter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Backup Dir 		:
Backup on Shutdown 	: Disabled
Name Record Settings(day:hour:minute)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Refresh Interval 		: 006:00:00
Extinction(Tombstone) Interval 	: 004:00:00
Extinction(Tombstone) TimeOut 	: 006:00:00
Verification Interval 		: 024:00:00

Database consistency checking parameters :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Periodic Checking : Disabled

WINS Logging Parameters:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Log Database changes to JET log files : Enabled
Log details events to System Event Log : Enabled

Burst Handling Parameters :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Burst Handling State 		: Enabled
Burst handling queue size 	: 500

Checking active registrations and scavenging records

Using the WINS console, you can view the active registrations in the WINS database by expanding the server entry, pressing and holding or right-clicking Active Registrations, and choosing Display Records. In the Display Records dialog box, tap or click Find Now without making any selections to see all the available records or use the filter options to specify the types of records you want to view, and then tap or click Find Now. To tombstone a record manually, press and hold or right-click it and then select Delete. This deletes it from the current server, and this deletion is then replicated to other WINS servers; that is, the record will be replicated marked as Tombstoned.

Netsh provides many ways to examine records in the WINS database. Because this is something you won't use that frequently, the easiest way to do it is to list all available records and write the information to a file you can search. To do this, type the command

netsh wins server ServerName show database Servers={}

Here ServerName is the name or IP address of the WINS server. The output shows you the registration entries in the database as follows:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    NAME  -T-S-VERSION    -G-   IPADDRESS   -   EXPIRATION DATE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Retrieving database from the Wins server 192.168.1.50
CPANDL     [1Bh]-D-A- 2   -U-  192.168.1.50  -7/30/2014 13:18:01 PM
CORPSVR02  [00h]-D-A- 7   -U-  192.168.1.50  -7/30/2014 13:18:01 PM
CORPSVR02  [20h]-D-A- 6   -U-  192.168.1.50  -7/30/2014 13:18:01 PM
CPANDL     [00h]-D-A- 4   -N-  192.168.1.50  -7/30/2014 13:18:01 PM
CPANDL     [1Ch]-D-A- 3   -I-  192.168.1.50  -7/30/2014 13:18:01 PM
CPANDL     [1Eh]-D-A- 1   -N-  192.168.1.50  -7/30/2014 13:18:01 PM

WINS automatically scavenges the database to mark old records for deletion. To see when this is done, check the server statistics for the renew interval, extinction interval, extinction timeout, and verification interval on the Intervals tab in the server's Properties dialog box.

You can initiate scavenging (referred to as an admin-triggered scavenging in the server statistics) by pressing and holding or right-clicking the server entry in the WINS console and selecting Scavenge Database. To initiate scavenging at the command prompt, type netsh wins server ServerName init scavenge, where ServerName is the name or IP address of the WINS server.

After scavenging, the renew interval, extinction interval, extinction timeout, and verification interval are used to mark each record as follows:

  • If the renew interval has not expired, the record remains marked as Active.
  • If the renew interval has expired, the record is marked as Released.
  • If the extinction interval has expired, the record is marked as Tombstoned.

If the record was tombstoned, it is deleted from the database. If the record is active and was replicated from another server but the verification interval has expired, the record is revalidated.

Maintaining the WINS database

The WINS database, like any database, should be maintained. You should routinely perform the following maintenance operations:

  • Verify the database consistency
  • Compact the database
  • Back up the database

Verifying the WINS database consistency

WINS can be configured to verify the database consistency automatically. This operation checks and verifies the registered names. To configure automatic database consistency checks, follow these steps:

  1. Start the WINS console. Press and hold or right-click the WINS node in the left pane, and select Add Server. In the Add Server dialog box, select WINS Server, type the name or IP address of the WINS server, and then tap or click OK.
  2. Press and hold or right-click the server entry in the WINS console, and select Properties. In the Properties dialog box, tap or click the Database Verification tab.
  3. Select the Verify Database Consistency Every check box, and then set a check interval. Typically, you'll want to perform this operation no more frequently than once every 24 hours.
  4. Use the Begin Verifying At section to set the time at which verification checks are started. This time is on a 24-hour clock, and the default time is 2 hours, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds, meaning 2:00 A.M. If you want verification checks to begin at 2:00 P.M. instead, you set the time to 14 hours, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds.
  5. Set other options as necessary, and then tap or click OK.

Compacting the WINS database

The WINS database should be compacted periodically-at least once a month or once every other month, depending on how often computers are added to or removed from your network. In addition to reducing the size of the database by squeezing out unneeded space that has been allocated and is no longer needed, compacting the database can improve performance and make the database more reliable.

At the command prompt, you can compact the WINS database by following these steps:

  1. Change to the WINS directory by typing cd %SystemRoot%\System32\Wins.
  2. Stop the WINS service by typing net stop wins.
  3. Compact the WINS database by typing jetpack wins.mdb winstemp.mdb.
  4. Start the WINS service by typing net start wins.

Backing up the WINS database

By default, the WINS database is not backed up-but it should be. You can perform manual or automatic backups. To back up the WINS database manually, follow these steps:

  1. Start the WINS console. Press and hold or right-click the server entry, and then select Back Up Database.
  2. In the Browse For Folder dialog box, select the folder where the WINS server should store the database backup files and then tap or click OK.
  3. The WINS server then writes the backup files to a subfolder of the designated folder called Wins_bak. When it finishes, tap or click OK.

To configure automatic backups of the WINS database, follow these steps:

  1. Start the WINS console. Press and hold or right-click the server entry, and then select Properties.
  2. In the Properties dialog box, tap or click Browse in the General tab.
  3. Use the Browse For Folder dialog box to select the folder where the WINS server should store the database backup files, and then tap or click OK. The WINS server will write backup files to a subfolder of the designated folder called Wins_bak.
  4. Select Back Up Database During Shutdown.
  5. Tap or click OK. Now whenever you shut down the server or the WINS service on the server, the WINS service will back up the database to the designated folder.

Restoring the WINS database

If something happens to the WINS database, you can use the backup files to recover it to the state it was in prior to the problem. To restore the WINS database from backup, follow these steps:

  1. Start the WINS console. Press and hold or right-click the server entry, point to All Tasks, and then select Stop. This stops the WINS service.
  2. Press and hold or right-click the server entry again, and select Restore Database.
  3. In the Browse For Folder dialog box, select the parent folder of the Wins_bak folder created during backup (not the Wins_bak folder itself) and tap or click OK.
  4. The WINS server then restores the database from backup. When it finishes, tap or click OK.
  5. The WINS service will be restarted automatically.

Enabling WINS lookups through DNS

You can enable WINS lookups through DNS. This integration of WINS and DNS provides for an additional opportunity to resolve an IP address to a host name when normal DNS lookups fail. Typically, this might be necessary for clients that can't register their IP addresses in DNS using dynamic updates.

You enable WINS name resolution on a zone-by-zone basis from within the DNS console. Follow these steps:

  1. In the DNS console, press and hold or right-click the zone you want to work with and then select Properties.
  2. In the Properties dialog box, tap or click the WINS or WINS-R tab as appropriate for the type of zone. The WINS tab is used with forward lookup zones, and the WINS-R tab is used with reverse lookup zones.
  3. Select Use WINS Forward Lookup or Use WINS Reverse Lookup as appropriate.
  4. If you're not using DNS servers running on Windows Server, select Do Not Replicate This Record. This ensures the WINS record that is created during this configuration won't be replicated to servers that don't support this feature.
  5. Type the IP address of a WINS server you want to use for name resolution, and tap or click Add. Repeat this step for other WINS servers that should be used.
  6. Tap or click OK.
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In this tutorial:

  1. Maintaining WINS
  2. Setting up WINS servers
  3. Configuring and maintaining WINS