NetBIOS Name Service (NBNS)
This service is often called WINS on Windows systems.
The NetBIOS Name Service is part of the NetBIOS-over-TCP protocol suite, see the NetBIOS page for further information.
NBNS serves much the same purpose as DNS does: translate human-readable names to IP addresses (e.g. www.wireshark.org to 65.208.228.223). (As NetBIOS can run on top of several different network protocols (e.g. IP, IPX, ...), other implementations of the NetBIOS services have their own mechanisms for translating NetBIOS names to addresses.) NBNS's services are more limited, in that NetBIOS names exist in a flat name space, rather than DNS's hierarchical one (multiple flat name spaces can exist, by using NetBIOS scopes, but those are rarely used), and NBNS can only supply IPv4 addresses; NBNS doesn't support IPv6.
With the advent of SMB-over-TCP, it is no longer necessary to have a machine's NetBIOS name in order for that machine to make connections to SMB servers or in order for SMB connections to be made to that machine, and with the advent of "dynamic DNS", a host can register its name and its IP address or addresses with a DNS server when it boots (note that its IP address might not be static - it might be granted by a DHCP server - so you can't necessarily statically register a machine's host name and IP address with a DNS server). Therefore, newer Windows systems, starting with Windows 2000, can use DNS for all the purposes for which NBNS was used. NBNS is still widely used especially on Windows networks, as there might still be older versions of Windows on those networks, or it might not yet have been converted to use only DNS.
WINS (Windows Internet Name Service) uses the same protocol, but unicast messages to a WINS-Server, multiple WINS servers can replicate the content with the WINS-Replication protocol.
The NetBIOS Name Service is part of the NetBIOS-over-TCP protocol suite, see the NetBIOS page for further information.
NBNS serves much the same purpose as DNS does: translate human-readable names to IP addresses (e.g. www.wireshark.org to 65.208.228.223). (As NetBIOS can run on top of several different network protocols (e.g. IP, IPX, ...), other implementations of the NetBIOS services have their own mechanisms for translating NetBIOS names to addresses.) NBNS's services are more limited, in that NetBIOS names exist in a flat name space, rather than DNS's hierarchical one (multiple flat name spaces can exist, by using NetBIOS scopes, but those are rarely used), and NBNS can only supply IPv4 addresses; NBNS doesn't support IPv6.
With the advent of SMB-over-TCP, it is no longer necessary to have a machine's NetBIOS name in order for that machine to make connections to SMB servers or in order for SMB connections to be made to that machine, and with the advent of "dynamic DNS", a host can register its name and its IP address or addresses with a DNS server when it boots (note that its IP address might not be static - it might be granted by a DHCP server - so you can't necessarily statically register a machine's host name and IP address with a DNS server). Therefore, newer Windows systems, starting with Windows 2000, can use DNS for all the purposes for which NBNS was used. NBNS is still widely used especially on Windows networks, as there might still be older versions of Windows on those networks, or it might not yet have been converted to use only DNS.
WINS (Windows Internet Name Service) uses the same protocol, but unicast messages to a WINS-Server, multiple WINS servers can replicate the content with the WINS-Replication protocol.