Does a WINS server need to be part of a domain

Just a quick question? I have 2 networks that will be linked via VPN
shortly. I'm going to be putting 2 WINS servers at each site. Does the WINS
servers need to be part of a domain or can I leave them as standalone. I'm
using W2003R2

Thanks ...

The question would be why would you not want them to be part of the domain. The
goal should be to make every machine part of the domain for security sake and
management sake. It is the domain that makes security happen, not prevent it
from happening.

I don't think WINS require Domain Membership, but I'm will to be wrong if anyone
knows otherwise.

--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com


"MarkSJ" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:9A18C19B-8C89-48F1-B587-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Just a quick question? I have 2 networks that will be linked via VPN
> shortly. I'm going to be putting 2 WINS servers at each site. Does the WINS
> servers need to be part of a domain or can I leave them as standalone. I'm
> using W2003R2
>
> Thanks ...

Hello,
MarkSJ wrote:
> Just a quick question? I have 2 networks that will be linked via VPN
> shortly. I'm going to be putting 2 WINS servers at each site. Does
> the WINS servers need to be part of a domain or can I leave them as
> standalone. I'm using W2003R2
>
you won't need to many WINS servers. For our WAN we have only two at all, to
one of them all clients and servers are registered (while DNS servers are
available at each site).. It works well. Of cours it depends on the size of
your network as well.
But it is still the case, that certain features are using NetBIOS name
resolution (certain legacy hardware, Network Neighbourhood, older OS
versions), so it would be good to have them available.
Back to your question: They don't need to be part of the domain by my
experience (otherwise it would be hard to register a non Windows print
server ...), but I would say it makes no sense, to have them on extra
machines.
Best greetings from Germany
Olaf

Thanks guys. I was debating whether to put them in the domain or not becuase
we are still using NT4 domains and the servers I am going to use would
eventually be DCs when I eventually get round to upgrading to active
directory. I thought that it may complicate the upgrade process if I were to
install DNS and promote the servers to DCs. I'm not using the existing DCs
as the machines are way to old to use.

The networks I have are fairly small. There are about 100 PCs/servers on
one side and only about 20 on the other. I thought 2 WINS servers at each
end would suffice for redundancy purposes. Does this still sound ok?

"Olaf Engelke [MVP Windows Server]" wrote:

> Hello,
> MarkSJ wrote:
> > Just a quick question? I have 2 networks that will be linked via VPN
> > shortly. I'm going to be putting 2 WINS servers at each site. Does
> > the WINS servers need to be part of a domain or can I leave them as
> > standalone. I'm using W2003R2
> >
> you won't need to many WINS servers. For our WAN we have only two at all, to
> one of them all clients and servers are registered (while DNS servers are
> available at each site).. It works well. Of cours it depends on the size of
> your network as well.
> But it is still the case, that certain features are using NetBIOS name
> resolution (certain legacy hardware, Network Neighbourhood, older OS
> versions), so it would be good to have them available.
> Back to your question: They don't need to be part of the domain by my
> experience (otherwise it would be hard to register a non Windows print
> server ...), but I would say it makes no sense, to have them on extra
> machines.
> Best greetings from Germany
> Olaf
>
>

Hi Mark,
MarkSJ wrote:
> Thanks guys. I was debating whether to put them in the domain or not
> becuase we are still using NT4 domains and the servers I am going to
> use would eventually be DCs when I eventually get round to upgrading
> to active directory. I thought that it may complicate the upgrade
> process if I were to install DNS and promote the servers to DCs. I'm
> not using the existing DCs as the machines are way to old to use.
>
> The networks I have are fairly small. There are about 100
> PCs/servers on one side and only about 20 on the other. I thought 2
> WINS servers at each end would suffice for redundancy purposes. Does
> this still sound ok?
>
sounds still to much for me in the context of maintenance and
troubleshooting. (We do it with approx. 500 machines in several locations in
our company and never had trouble with the one central WINS server all these
machines use as primary.)
Put both servers into the larger site, have all clients and servers register
here. That way they access the same environment. And if the link is down,
for the small office broadcasting should be enough to resolve the few names,
which cannot be resolved via DNS.
Best greetings from Germany
Olaf