Optimizing WINS Performance
Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2
Although WINS is designed to help reduce broadcast traffic between local subnets, it creates some traffic between servers and clients. This is particularly important if you use WINS on routed TCP/IP networks.
To optimize performance, begin by estimating the amount of network traffic between WINS clients and WINS servers under normal conditions. Estimate and monitor the following:
NetBIOS names commonly registered by WINS clients.
WINS registration and renewal caused by daily startup of clients.
Mobile users and their effect when moving within a routed network.
The effects of slower links, such as WAN links and their effect on replication performance and convergence.
Reducing Response Time
Reducing the response time of WINS improves performance, with the greatest visibility to users and management. As a result, a design that reduces the response time of WINS is highly successful.
The performance of your WINS design largely depends on other network traffic. For example, a subnet that relies on a WINS server elsewhere on the WAN might experience poor performance during peak hours when network usage is high. Increase the NetBIOS name registration renewal period, which defaults at six days, to reduce client-to-server renewal traffic. This setting must be changed on the WINS server.
Obtain reliable figures on the number of locations and hosts that your WINS design must support. When planning for WINS client traffic on large, routed networks, estimate and monitor the effect of name query, registration, and response traffic routed between subnets. Name requests and responses that occur at the daily startup of computers must pass through the traffic queues on the routers and might cause delays at peak times.
Consolidating Multiple Subnets
When you have multiple subnets in a small remote office, consider consolidating the office to one subnet address.
You can do this using asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switching or a virtual private network (VPN) configuration. By consolidating to one subnet address, you can configure clients to use local broadcasts to resolve names before attempting to contact a WINS server across the WAN. Changing the client to M-node allows it to broadcast locally for resources before contacting a WINS server for NetBIOS name resolution. This can help to reduce the overall amount of WINS-associated traffic, especially WAN traffic.
Use DHCP scope option 046, WINS/NBT Node Type, to configure your WINS clients as M-node clients. For more information about configuring DHCP options at the DHCP server, see "Assign a scope-based optionAssign a scope-based option" in Help and Support Center for Windows Server 2003.
Configuring Burst Handling
Burst handling supports a high volume of WINS client name registration. When a large number of WINS clients simultaneously try to register their NetBIOS names, the WINS server can become saturated. In burst handling mode, the WINS server responds positively to clients that submit a registration request before the WINS server has processed and entered these updates in the WINS server database. The WINS server immediately sends a relatively short, random Time to Live (TTL) lease length to all WINS clients. The short TTL lease length forces WINS clients to reregister after the excessive WINS registration traffic subsides, therefore decreasing the load on the network and varying the delay interval to distribute the load over time.
Using the WINS MMC snap-in, you can configure the level of burst handling for the server, which modifies the size of the burst queue.
To configure burst handling
In the WINS MMC snap-in, right-click the appropriate WINS server.
Select the Advanced tab from the server name properties dialog box.
In Enable Burst Handling, select Low (300), Medium (500), High (1000), or Custom (50-5000) as the burst queue size.
Load Balancing with Redundant WINS Databases
A WINS implementation design provides higher performance by specifying that multiple WINS servers contain replicas of WINS databases. These redundant servers improve performance by providing load balancing.
Use load balancing with redundant WINS databases when:
The length of time to perform WINS functions is unacceptably long.
The connections between the WINS servers support the additional WINS replication traffic.
The traffic generated by WINS clients accessing a WINS server in another location saturates a WAN link.
The cost of adding a server is not prohibitive.