Backing Up and Restoring the WINS Database

Protecting the WINS database

To protect your WINS databases from disasters and corruption, you should regularly back up your WINS databases.
The methods which you can use to back up the WINS database are:

You can use the WINS console to perform:

• A manual back up of the WINS database
• Schedule an automatic backup of the WINS database.

1. You can use the ntbackup.exe utility to back up the WINS database. The Windows Server 2003 Volume Shadow Copy feature allows you to back up the WINS database while it is online. In previous Windows versions, you first had to stop the WINS service before you could start backing up the database.
2. Back up the WINS database from the command-line, using the netsh.exe command line utility.

If you have backed up the WINS database, you can restore a previously backed up version when the existing WINS database becomes corrupt, or is lost.

1. You can use the WINS console to restore a previously backed up WINS database.
2. You can also use the netsh.exe command-line utility if you want to restore the database from the command-line.

How to manually back up the WINS database

1. Click Start, Administrative Tools, and then click WINS to open the WINS console.
2. In the console tree, right-click the WINS server whose database you want to back up, and then select Back Up Database from the shortcut menu.
3. The Browse For Folder dialog opens.
4. If you want to create a new folder to store the WINS database backup, click the Make New Folder button. Provide a name for the new folder.
5. If you want to store the WINS database backup in an existing folder, browse to the particular folder.
6. Click OK to start backing up the WINS database.
7. Click OK when a message appears, indicating that the database back up was completed successfully.

How to schedule an automatic backup of the WINS database

1. Click Start, Administrative Tools, and then click WINS to open the WINS console.
2. In the console tree, right-click the WINS server whose database you want to schedule for an automatic backup, and then select Properties from the shortcut menu.
3. On the General tab, specify the path (location) for the automatic backup in the Default Backup Path box.
4. Select the Back up database during server shutdown checkbox.
5. Click OK.

How to enable Volume Shadow Copy to perform an online back up of the WINS database

1. Click Start, My Computer, and then click Open
2. Right-click the particular system volume, and then select Properties from the shortcut menu.
3. The system volume Properties dialog opens.
4. Click the Shadow Copies tab.
5. Select the system volume in the Select A Volume: box, and click the Enable button.
6. Click Yes to the warning message that is displayed, to continue enabling the Volume Shadow Copy feature.
7. Once Volume Shadow Copy is enabled, you can run ntbackup to back up the WINS databases while they are online.

How to back up the WINS database from the command-line

You can use the netsh.exe command line utility to back up the WINS database from the command line.

The command syntax for backing up the WINS database is:
netsh wins winsserver init Backup Dir=c:backupdir Type=0

• winsserver, is name of the WINS server
• c:backupdir, is location for the back up. 
• Type=0, indicates full backup, Type=1 indicates incremental backup

How to restore the WINS database using the WINS console

1. Click Start, Administrative Tools, and then click WINS to open the WINS console.
2. I the console tree, right-click the WINS server whose database you want to restore, and select All Tasks, and then select Stop from the shortcut menu. The WINS service has to be stopped before any database restores can be performed.
3. In the console tree, right-click the WINS server again and then select Restore Database from the shortcut menu.
4. The Browse For Folder dialog opens.
5. Navigate to the location of the folder which was used to store the previous WINS database backup.
6. Click OK.
7. WINS proceeds to restore the database.
8. The WINS service is automatically restarted.

 

How to restore the WINS database from the command-line

1. The command syntax for restoring the WINS database is:
2. netsh wins winsserver init Restore Dir=c:backupdir Type=0
3. winsserver, is name of the WINS server
4. c:backupdir, is location that must be used for the restore

WINS (Windows Internet Name Server)

In the Windows Server family, the primary means for client computer to locate and communicate with other computers on a internet Protocol (IP) network is by using Domain Name System (DNS). However, clients that use older versions of Windows, such as Windows NT 4.0, use network basic I/O system (NetBIOS) names for network communication. Some applications that run on Windows Server 2003 may also use NetBIOS names for network communication. Using NetBIOS names requires a method of resolving NetBIOS names to IP addresses.


One can implement Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) in a Windows Server 2003 network to ensure that clients using the older versions of Windows can locate and communicate with network resources as needed. One can use WINS both to register NetBIOS names and to resolve those names to IP addresses.


The WINS service resolves NetBIOS names, which reduces broadcast traffic and enables clients to resolve the NetBIOS names of computers that are on different network segments (subnets).
Components of WINS


The complete Windows Server 2003WINS system includes the following components:
WINS Server: a computer that processes name registration requests from WINS clients, registers the client's name and IP addresses, and responds to NetBIOS name queries that clients submit. The WINS server then returns the IP address of a queried name, if the name is listed in the server database.
WINS database: the WINSdatabase stores and replicate the NetBIOS name to IP address mappings for a network.
WINS Client: computers that are directly pointing to a WINS server to register their NetBIOS name and to communicate with other computers registered with same WINS server on that network.
WINS proxy agents: a computer that monitors broadcast for name query and give responds for all those names which are not located on the local subnet. WINS server communicates with the proxy for resolving names and then it caches the names for a particular time period.