[CentOS] How to make nodes in my local LAN see each other's names

Fri Dec 2 16:40:39 UTC 2011
Craig White <craig.white at ttiltd.com>

On Dec 2, 2011, at 9:17 AM, Lamar Owen wrote:

> On Friday, December 02, 2011 11:06:51 AM Craig White wrote:
>> ummm... there are WINS master browser elections on every subnet ...
> 
> 'Master browser election broadcasts' != 'broadcast-based name resolution.'
> 
> I have measured significant broadcast traffic reduction when migrating from non-WINS to WINS SMB/CIFS name resolution.
> 
> But this is straying quite far from the OP's question (he doesn't appear to be on a routed network, for one) and from the topic of the list.
----
Just having 1 Windows system on a network would automatically cause broadcast of it being the master browser (assuming of course, no AD). The election of a 'master browser' does indicate to all others to poll the master browser directly but this is automatic (with or without a WINS server). In general, a subnet doesn't really need a WINS server at all but yes, via some clever DHCP or individual configuration of all the workstations and usage of a designated fixed WINS server can really cut down on broadcast traffic.

While it is true that specifically, this is not CentOS - it is related to the usage of samba on CentOS (and was the OP original query) and is probably a very common topic for CentOS people.

As for how much broadcast occurs... A very detailed page is here...

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc767893.aspx

Craig