A NetBIOS Name is a specific name given to the set of NetBIOS functions that are running on any given computer. The identifier is a 16 character long entry. The first 15 characters are used to describe the name of the identifier, and the final character is used to denote the service itself. These names are used to help better identify the NetBIOS network itself. The NetBIOS can cannot resolve it’s own name on the internet, however, due to the fact that the name doesn’t have a hierarchical type structure, which addresses typically use on the internet, like IP addresses for example.

A NetBIOS name can be described as “flat”, which means that it does not have any suffixes and because of this no two computers may share the same NetBIOS name. In any given network, a NetBIOS name must remain unique in order to be utilized.

There are a few different things that characterize NetBIOS names as unique in the world of naming conventions. Let us take a look at a few.

NetBIOS names are required by devices with NetBIOS services, so a NetBIOS naming resolution exists on Windows for example. Another example is that a NetBIOS name must not match the host name. The NetBIOS name is basically just an alternate identifier that is assigned to your computer by a network admin to help better identify the NetBIOS server that is running on a TCP/IP host.

A NetBIOS name must be 15 characters or less in length, which is quite small in comparison to the DNS name allowances, which is up to 255 characters or less. NetBIOS names must also be unique to their network. NetBIOS names simplify the way a user interfaces with the TCP/IP settings, and because of their simplicity NetBIOS names are easier to remember than what IP addresses are.

The name that is assigned to your NetBIOS information is applied when the operating system is first being installed. When the computer is being created, the installer for the NetBIOS name automatically created a host name for the computer and a NetBIOS name that are based on the computer name initially entered. If you bought your computer from a store, then the NetBIOS info was already configured before you even bought it. If you made your computer yourself, then the NetBIOS name was created as you installed the operating system during the first initial setup of the computer itself.

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