Do you guys disable netbios over tcp/ip or just leave it alone?

Just wondering how everyone sets up their network; we don't use WINS,
everything is 2k3/XP, AD-integrated DNS. I thought it'd be best to disable
it, but can't find a lot on the 'net about good practice for this setting.

That's what makes me think everybody just leaves it at its default of
enabled? Or does everyone disable it?

Thanks!

The best way to find out if you need it is to disable it. If nothing stops
working, you didn't need it. If something stops working (printing, backups
or whatever) you know that you still do need it.

"Thomas H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:5F6F1ED4-3284-4D70-9EE4-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Just wondering how everyone sets up their network; we don't use WINS,
> everything is 2k3/XP, AD-integrated DNS. I thought it'd be best to
> disable
> it, but can't find a lot on the 'net about good practice for this setting.
>
> That's what makes me think everybody just leaves it at its default of
> enabled? Or does everyone disable it?
>
> Thanks!

Hello Bill, we don't have anything that relies on NetBIOS, and I even ran a
little virtualized test environment- everything works fine. Did you disable
it on your network?
-T

"Bill Grant" wrote:

> The best way to find out if you need it is to disable it. If nothing stops
> working, you didn't need it. If something stops working (printing, backups
> or whatever) you know that you still do need it.
>
> "Thomas H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:5F6F1ED4-3284-4D70-9EE4-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Just wondering how everyone sets up their network; we don't use WINS,
> > everything is 2k3/XP, AD-integrated DNS. I thought it'd be best to
> > disable
> > it, but can't find a lot on the 'net about good practice for this setting.
> >
> > That's what makes me think everybody just leaves it at its default of
> > enabled? Or does everyone disable it?
> >
> > Thanks!
>
>

No, I have an old printer which relies on Netbios names. I also like to
use Network Places.

"Thomas H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:F3D16845-5C0F-4192-A158-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello Bill, we don't have anything that relies on NetBIOS, and I even ran
> a
> little virtualized test environment- everything works fine. Did you
> disable
> it on your network?
> -T
>
> "Bill Grant" wrote:
>
>> The best way to find out if you need it is to disable it. If nothing
>> stops
>> working, you didn't need it. If something stops working (printing,
>> backups
>> or whatever) you know that you still do need it.
>>
>> "Thomas H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:5F6F1ED4-3284-4D70-9EE4-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > Just wondering how everyone sets up their network; we don't use WINS,
>> > everything is 2k3/XP, AD-integrated DNS. I thought it'd be best to
>> > disable
>> > it, but can't find a lot on the 'net about good practice for this
>> > setting.
>> >
>> > That's what makes me think everybody just leaves it at its default of
>> > enabled? Or does everyone disable it?
>> >
>> > Thanks!
>>
>>

Thomas H <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Just wondering how everyone sets up their network; we don't use WINS,
> everything is 2k3/XP, AD-integrated DNS. I thought it'd be best to
> disable it, but can't find a lot on the 'net about good practice for
> this setting.
>
> That's what makes me think everybody just leaves it at its default of
> enabled? Or does everyone disable it?
>
> Thanks!

If you like to browse (which I do), keep it (but use WINS).

Thanks for the reply! I think I'll mark all the boxes to disable netbios
over tcp/ip then. I wouldn't want to set up WINS just to browse; the less
services the better! I'm actually surprised NetBIOS is still around as a
pre-enabled option! I thought it would've been something you'd install if
you needed it (like WINS)...

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

> Thomas H <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > Just wondering how everyone sets up their network; we don't use WINS,
> > everything is 2k3/XP, AD-integrated DNS. I thought it'd be best to
> > disable it, but can't find a lot on the 'net about good practice for
> > this setting.
> >
> > That's what makes me think everybody just leaves it at its default of
> > enabled? Or does everyone disable it?
> >
> > Thanks!
>
> If you like to browse (which I do), keep it (but use WINS).
>
>
>
>

* Thomas H (Sun, 30 Dec 2007 12:33:02 -0800)
> Thanks for the reply! I think I'll mark all the boxes to disable netbios
> over tcp/ip then. I wouldn't want to set up WINS just to browse;

It's not just browsing. A MVP(?) has recently posted this link[1].
You'd be astonished how many services use NetBIOS.

> the less services the better!

WINS is good for you...


Thorsten
[1] http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832017/en-us

Wow, interesting stuff, thanks for the link! But we're not running WINS now
and everything's OK. We rely 100% on DNS because we go through a few routers
on different subnets (and NetBIOS can't route). So shouldn't I just go ahead
and get rid of netbios all together?

"Thorsten Kampe" wrote:

> * Thomas H (Sun, 30 Dec 2007 12:33:02 -0800)
> > Thanks for the reply! I think I'll mark all the boxes to disable netbios
> > over tcp/ip then. I wouldn't want to set up WINS just to browse;
>
> It's not just browsing. A MVP(?) has recently posted this link[1].
> You'd be astonished how many services use NetBIOS.
>
> > the less services the better!
>
> WINS is good for you...
>
>
> Thorsten
> [1] http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832017/en-us
>

If everything you want works without it, go ahead. If you start getting
odd problems with printers or backups or an application which has Netbios
names hardwired in, you will know that you needed it!

The non-routability of Netbios is a red herring. You are not using it
for routing. TCP/IP does that. You are using it for name resolution, and
WINS (using Netbios over TCP/IP) lets you do that across a routed network.

"Thomas H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:623BF5E7-DA82-461D-8DF3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Wow, interesting stuff, thanks for the link! But we're not running WINS
> now
> and everything's OK. We rely 100% on DNS because we go through a few
> routers
> on different subnets (and NetBIOS can't route). So shouldn't I just go
> ahead
> and get rid of netbios all together?
>
> "Thorsten Kampe" wrote:
>
>> * Thomas H (Sun, 30 Dec 2007 12:33:02 -0800)
>> > Thanks for the reply! I think I'll mark all the boxes to disable
>> > netbios
>> > over tcp/ip then. I wouldn't want to set up WINS just to browse;
>>
>> It's not just browsing. A MVP(?) has recently posted this link[1].
>> You'd be astonished how many services use NetBIOS.
>>
>> > the less services the better!
>>
>> WINS is good for you...
>>
>>
>> Thorsten
>> [1] http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832017/en-us
>>