NetBIOS Name Resolution

A s you have seen, there are really two different ways that
computers will be communicating over Microsoft TCP/IP.
This book has already discussed WinSock and NetBIOS, and
hopefully you are understanding the differences. One of the main
differences is that NetBIOS networking requires the use of NetBIOS
computer names. This chapter is going to provide you with the details
on name resolution.
Name resolution is quite simply the process of taking a NetBIOS name
and providing the underlying transport (TCP or UDP) with the TCP/
IP addresses for that name. The tricky part is that you must use the
underlying transport to find out what the name is.
When you work with Microsoft networking, each computer and each
user has a name, and so will the users. The names that can be used are
15 characters in length with an additional character that defines the
type of name, making the total 16 characters. Just as you use port
numbers when working with the WinSock interface, you use this
sixteenth character to provide an end point for the communication.
Table 12.1 summarizes some of the common name types showing what
the sixteenth character would be for these services—the values are in
hex.