The end of Domain Names?

MrMOJO Well-Known Member Affiliate Manager

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#1

fascinating. Even though I've been on Vista for a loooonnng time..this is news to me:

http://apcmag.com/node/4332

Every Vista PC to get a domain name
7th November 2006 James Bannan internet, Vista
Want to be able to access your machine anytime, anywhere? Canâ€™t be bothered purchasing a domain name and configuring Dynamic DNS? Microsoft has a solution: the "Windows Internet Computer Name" -- a unique domain name for your computer.

There is one small catch though: you have to be using the next-generation networking protocol IPv6 which, although thoroughly integrated into Windows Vista, isn't supported by most home routers yet.

The Windows Internet Computer Name is an advancement on the Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP), which is a name registration and resolution protocol initially developed for Windows XP.

Unlike traditional DNS, where domain name servers are used essentially to store a list of domain names and their corresponding numeric IP addresses, PNRP does all the domain name resolution peer-to-peer. Put another way, users of Windows Vista provide PNRP domain name resolution services for other Windows Vista users.

If you are still trying to wrap your head around how exactly this can work efficiently, rest assured you're not alone. However, a Wikipedia article on the topic makes it sound suitably clever (speed of the system is 'logarithmic to the size of the cloud', for example.)

On a basic level, here's how PNRP works: your PC has an IPv6 address -- a much longer string of numbers than the typical xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx IPv4 address. IPv6 addresses are, by design, accessible to everyone on the public internet, because there's a practically unlimited number of them available (unlike IPv4). You specify a name for your PC, and PNRP makes that available to other PCs on the internet, allowing them to connect directly to you.

Yep, you're going to need a very solid firewall to ensure your PC is kept secure when running PNRP.

Thereâ€™s a full run-down on PRNP on Microsoft TechNet â€“ click here.

Vista's PNRP Services
To get PNRP up and running on your Vista machine, you need to decide whether to use a secure or non-secure address. Non-secure addresses are easier to remember, but are easily spoofed. Secure addresses are well, secure actually, but are a nightmare to remember (in fact theyâ€™re impossible) as they are the product of 128-bit hash encryption. On the plus side, they wonâ€™t be spoofed.

Either way â€“ first you need to open a command window with admin rights.

Open a Command Window with admin rights

If you havenâ€™t disabled UAC like everyone else using Vista, go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, right-click Command Prompt and select â€œRun as Administratorâ€. Type in the following commands and press Enter after each one: netsh, p2p, pnrp, peer.

PNRP Command Window

If you want a non-secure address, now type in: set machinename name=â€(peername)â€ publish=start autopublish=â€enableâ€. (peername) is the name you want to use â€“ Microsoft actually recommends using an email address without the dots or ampersand, to try and guarantee the uniqueness of the name. For example â€“ would make a computer name of jamesbannanemailcom.

Set PNRP machine name
For a secure name, instead of the above line type in: set machinename publish=start autopublish=â€enableâ€. So youâ€™re just leaving out the manual naming bit. Vista will auto-generate the name.

To view the name youâ€™ve just set, from the netsh/p2p/pnrp/peer command line, type in: show machinename. Press Enter.

Show PNRP machine name
Take a look in the Services list (Start, Run, services.msc) and youâ€™ll see that the Peer Name Resolution Protocol, Peer Networking Identity Manager and PNRP Machine Name Publication services are up and running.

PNRP Services - Enabled
This machine is now accessible publicly by another other machine running IPv6. You can PING, FTP, serve web pages via IIS and set up Windows Meeting sessions through the Windows Internet Name, as well as any other sort of peer-to-peer application, like game servers.

PING PNRP machine
WICN and PNRP are certainly very cool services. At the moment though, it does place the onus of security solidly on the client system. IPv6 does have quite a bit of in-built security, certainly more than IPv4, but we need to see some secure and practical implementations of IPv6 in the home before recommending that you go out and enable it.

The product manager for PNRP at Microsoft, Noah Horton, has a good blog that explains more about it.
Click to expand...

MrMOJO, Nov 7, 2006 IP

Kassi Peon

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#2

Why would you need that? I think we need to see Vista first, then weâ€™ll see what is good in that serviceâ€¦ For now, it looks like a new monopolization idea from Microsoft.

Kassi, Nov 8, 2006 IP

MrMOJO Well-Known Member Affiliate Manager

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#3

well I tried it, but I'm on RC1 still..so perhaps this isn't working in this edition of the beta... or maybe my system isn;t configured correctly.. was hoping to get a screeny to post with this

MrMOJO, Nov 8, 2006 IP

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The end of Domain Names?

MrMOJO Well-Known Member Affiliate Manager

Kassi Peon

MrMOJO Well-Known Member Affiliate Manager

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