To enable Configuration Manager 2007 clients on the intranet to resolve the computer names of site systems to IP addresses, they can use either WINS or DNS. DNS is the recommended solution because it provides security features to help protect against name resolution attacks, and it provides a robust distributed service.

Most features in Configuration Manager can use either WINS or DNS for name resolution. However, in the following scenarios, you must use DNS for name resolution and cannot use WINS:

Although you might be able to use a mixture of short names and FQDNs for site systems in Configuration Manager, adhering to a single naming system will greatly aid troubleshooting if clients experience connection issues.

WINS

If you are not using FQDNs for your site systems, WINS can be used to resolve short computer names (NetBIOS names) to IP addresses.

In addition to name resolution, WINS might be required for clients to find the following Configuration Manager services:

  • Management points (default or network load balanced)

  • Server locator point

Note
For more information about using WINS for locating management points and server locator points, see Configuration Manager and Service Location (Site Information and Management Points).

Even if you are using short names for your site systems, you can still use DNS for name resolution if either of the following conditions is true:

  • Your Configuration Manager hierarchy is contained within a single domain.

  • Your Configuration Manager hierarchy spans multiple domains but all clients are configured with a DNS search suffix so that a client in one domain can resolve a server name in a different domain.

Note
For more information about using WINS for locating management points, see Configuration Manager and Service Location (Site Information and Management Points).

DNS

If you are using FQDNs for your site systems, DNS must be used to resolve the FQDN server names to IP addresses.

In addition to name resolution, DNS might be required for clients to find their default management point if Configuration Manager is configured to publish to DNS.

Note
For more information about using DNS for locating a management point, see Configuration Manager and Service Location (Site Information and Management Points).

See Also