Under System Preferences < Network < Advanced < WINS there's something called NetBIOS name. Mine is NEW-HOST. I was wondering what this was and what it does. My computer, host, and localhost names are all different.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBIOS#NetBIOS_name_vs_host_name
Mac OS has this so that Windows machines may dynamically discover Macs, and/or report into a WINS server.
The NetBios name is usually the DNS name. For example in my Forescout Server the NetBios is always the DNS name for the computer.
is it possible I don't have a DNS name?
Yes and no.
You do have a "DNS" name with the .local prefix. But this isn't really DNS, it is something handled by Bonjour (mDNSResponder) to allow Mac's (and PC's) to communicate with one another via name instead of IP Address.
Your machine however does not have a DNS name in the typical sense, meaning you query a DNS server with a name and it returns your IP address.
Under System Preferences < Network < Advanced < WINS there's something called NetBIOS name. Mine is NEW-HOST. I was wondering what this was and what it does. My computer, host, and localhost names are all different.