How do I compare two different NetBIOS names?

re: How do I compare two different NetBIOS names?

Richard — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 00:08:10 GMT

The DNS specification was first published in November 1983 by the IETF (RFC 881 through RFC 883). I would argue that DNS had been "designed" by 1984, just not used (at least on a PC).

re: How do I compare two different NetBIOS names?

LarryOsterman — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 00:24:38 GMT

Richard, fair 'nuf, I do know that at the time I left CMU (August 1984) it had not yet been deployed on any of the hosts at CMU - they were still using host tables.

re: How do I compare two different NetBIOS names?

Norman Diamond — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:29:11 GMT

> Microsoft's answer was essentially "don't use international

> characters in your computer names".

That needs some adjusting. In most countries where Microsoft operates, the answer is "don't use your own national characters in your computer names, ONLY use international characters from one particular country". Now, some Windows systems still sometimes warn when this advice is violated, and that warning is pretty much accurate. However, some don't obey their own warning! For example when Vista is being installed, it might recommend a computer name which is based on what might be the owner's name, which isn't very likely to be in ASCII.

> we STILL had this undefined, undeclared concept of a

> "network codepage".

We still DON'T have a "network codepage", which is why some problems persist to this day. I think it doesn't explain why odd occurences can be observed within a single computer, and it doesn't explain why filenames might still have problems, but it very well does explain why NetBIOS names still have problems.

For practical purposes it remains better to use a subset of ASCII for computer names. For the same practical purposes, it would be better if Windows would make that recommendation consistently. Sure it requires holding noses while doing so, but that's easier than tracking down bugs and incompatibilities afterwards.

Wait til you see my 'O'[EMCP based technology]

Sorting It All Out — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:48:35 GMT

(no, this post is not about a rap or hip hop song, or its lyrics, though I admit the title may have been

Wait til you see my 'O'[EMCP based technology]

Noticias externas — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:27:02 GMT

(no, this post is not about a rap or hip hop song, or its lyrics, though I admit the title may have been

Week's Links

Alessandro "jekil" Tanasi blog — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 12:34:48 GMT

How to restore XP activation status information after a reformatWeb Vulnerabilities in the Age of the iPhoneNo ROI? No ProblemEvent Logs in Unallocated SpaceIvan Voras FreeBSD 7 Live CDWindows Vista Integrity Mechanism Technical ReferenceSguil vs. BASEMi

re: How do I compare two different NetBIOS names?

Mike — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:15:16 GMT

Had netbios names been limited to what was reasonable at the time, such as a subset of ASCII (7-bit) (pulling something out of my behind and saying [a-z][A-Z][0-9] + some extra chars like ",.;_+-*#$%&", where I'd be very reluctant to include ",.;$%&" and especially "*" :-), leaving "_+-"), this would have been a non-problem then, and a non-problem now. Yes, even when shifting case.

But let me ask; have anyone here encountered a netbios name having chars outside this subset? If yes; have they created more joy or more trouble?

I know, hindsight is 20-20, but this should really have been a no-brainer - even at the time.

re: How do I compare two different NetBIOS names?

LarryOsterman — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:28:13 GMT

NetBIOS "names" were really a sequence of 16 octets. Nothing more, nothing less.

Any data could be put in those 16 byte fields.

And yes, I've encountered netbios names outside this subset. Many, many, many times.

re: How do I compare two different NetBIOS names?

Norman Diamond — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 03:54:14 GMT

Thursday, July 19, 2007 1:15 PM by Mike

> ,.;_+-*#$%&

I notice you omit @. Various Windows systems with various settings have various problems with @ in various places. You should have omitted $ for the same reason, instead of adding it to your "reluctant" list. Actually I recall reading that $ had a meaning in NetBIOS even before Microsoft copied it.

> this would have been a non-problem then, and a non-problem

> now. Yes, even when shifting case.

It would be a non-problem if shifting case would be done the way Turkey does it. Well maybe not completely, because it might be a problem outside Turkey, but that doesn't count. Turks know why Turkey is the only country that counts. Americans might disagree with one of the details there but Americans understand that reasoning very well.

Thursday, July 19, 2007 1:28 PM by LarryOsterman

> Any data could be put in those 16 byte fields.

Yes that is true. And this is why Windows sometimes gives warnings (not errors) where, for practical purposes, some selections might not be advisable. I think it would help if Windows would more accurately diagnose these conditions, for practical purposes, even though we have to hold our noses while doing so.

One common reason for encountering NetBIOS names outside that subset is the installer for Windows in the first place. After asking what the owner's name is going to be, it recommends a machine name that includes the owner's name. If I recall correctly, during installation it doesn't even warn at all that the recommended machine name will have a high probability of NetBIOS problems.

re: How do I compare two different NetBIOS names?

Aaron — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:36:47 GMT

As being discussed on MichKap's site, http://blogs.msdn.com/michkap/archive/2007/08/16/4421520.aspx, non-Windows NetBios names and comments cause a different problem altogether - the default is to use the MacRoman single quote, which isn't handled by any of these options. Any advice?