Format of WINS and WINS-R Resource Records

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The WINS resource record is used for forward lookups. When a resolver sends a query to the DNS server, requesting the corresponding A resource record, and the DNS server does not find the name in the forward lookup zone, it uses the WINS record to locate a WINS server that might be authoritative for the leftmost label of the FQDN. If present, the WINS record only applies for the topmost level within a zone and not for subdomains used in the zone. A WINS resource record has the following syntax:

< domain > < class > WINS [< TTL >] < Local > < LookupTimeout > < CacheTimeout > < IP address of WINS server >

where the placeholders have the following meanings:

domain . Domain name where the WINS record is found. It is always @.

class . Class is always IN for WINS records.

TTL . Time that a WINS record can be cached before it must be discarded.

Local . Specifies whether the record must be included in zone replication.

LookupTimeout . Time in seconds that a DNS server that uses WINS lookup waits before it gives up.

CacheTimeout . Time in seconds that a DNS server that uses WINS lookup can cache the response from the WINS server.

WINSServers . List of IP addresses of the WINS servers to be used.

The following is an example of a WINS resource record:

@ IN WINS LOCAL 5 3600 172.16.72.3

The WINS-R resource record is used for reverse lookups. When a resolver sends a query to the DNS server, requesting the corresponding PTR resource record, and the DNS server does not find the name in the authoritative reverse lookup zone, it uses a NetBIOS adapter node status query for the queried IP addresses. A WINS-R resource record has the following syntax:

< domain > < class > WINSR [< TTL >] < Local > < LookupTimeout > < CacheTimeout > < NameResultDomain >

where the placeholders have the following meanings:

domain . Domain name where the WINS record is found. It is always @.

class . Class the field is IN.

TTL . Time that a WINS record can be cached before it must be discarded.

Local . Specifies whether the record must be included into zone replication.

LookupTimeout . Time in seconds that a DNS server that uses WINS lookup waits before it gives up.

CacheTimeout . Time in seconds that a DNS server that uses WINS lookup can cache the response from the WINS server.

NameResultDomain . Domain to append to returned NetBIOS names.

The following is an example of a WINS-R resource record::

@ IN WINS-R LOCAL 5 3600 reskit.com.