Networking

• PC networking commands

• Names

PC networking commands

Windows and DOS contain some useful tools for mapping drives, and changing and displaying a PC's network settings. You might find the following commands helpful:

• net

• nbtstat

• winipcfg on Windows 95

• ipconfig /all on other versions of Windows

In each case, you can use the command line option /? to get help on the command. For example:

• To find out all the NetBIOS names a computer has registered, enter nbtstat -a netbiosname or nbtstat -A ipaddress

• Use net view \\server to show the shares on a server

Names

In networking, a computer might have many different names, each used in particular circumstances. A computer might have:

• Exactly one hostname.

• Zero or more network interfaces (for example, Ethernet adapters), each with a single hardware address. Typically, there'll be a ``loopback'' interface (a software interface local to the computer, used to do networking to itself), and a physical network card (for networking with other computers).

• Zero or more IP addresses, each mapping to a single hardware address. Typically, there'll only be a single IP address.

• Zero or more DNS names, each mapping to one or more IP address. Typically, there'll only be a single DNS name.

VisionFS will work as expected, no matter how many DNS names, IP addresses, and network interfaces you have on your UNIX server.

Additionally, an application might have zero or more NetBIOS names. (NetBIOS names belong to applications, not computers, though typically there's only a single NetBIOS application per computer.)

VisionFS advertises all NetBIOS names over the network interfaces you specify on the Network tab of Server properties -- either through network broadcasts, or by registering with a WINS server. When other computers try to access VisionFS, the NetBIOS name will be resolved to the relevant IP address (as VisionFS uses NetBIOS over TCP/IP).

A typical UNIX server might use its different names in the following way:

• A hostname jelly.

• An IP address, 192.168.5.44, that maps to a single Ethernet address corresponding to the UNIX server's only Ethernet card.

• A DNS name, jelly.sales.acme.com, that maps to the single IP address.