You can set up Samba to use a WINS server somewhere else on the network by simply pointing it to the IP address of the WINS server. This is done with the global
wins
server configuration option, as shown here:
[global]
wins server = 192.168.200.122
With this option enabled, Samba will direct all WINS requests to the server at 192.168.200.122. Note that because the request is directed at a single machine, we don't have to worry about any of the problems inherent to broadcasting. However, though you have specified an IP address for a WINS server in the configuration file, Samba will not necessarily use the WINS server before other forms of name resolution. The order in which Samba attempts various name-resolution techniques is given with the
name
resolve
order configuration option, which we will discuss shortly.
If you have a Samba server on a subnet that still uses broadcasting and the Samba server knows the correct location of a WINS server on another subnet, you can configure the Samba server to forward any name resolution requests with the
wins
proxy option:
[global]
wins server = 192.168.200.12
wins proxy = yes
Use this only in situations where the WINS server resides on another subnet. Otherwise, the broadcast will reach the WINS server regardless of any proxying.
