The–a Switch

The –a switch displays a remote machine’s NetBIOS name table, which is a list of all the Net-
BIOS names that that particular machine “knows about.” The following command produced the
output for the server S1
nbtstat a S1
As you can see, using this switch produces an output with four columns. The Name column
gives the NetBIOS name entry of the host in the NetBIOS name table of the remote machine.
The next column displays a unique two-digit hexadecimal identifier for the NetBIOS name. This
identifier represents the last byte of the NetBIOS name shown in the Name column and is
necessary because the same name might be used several times on the same station. It uniquely
identifies which service on the host the name is referencing.
The Type column refers to the type of NetBIOS name being referenced:
• Unique NetBIOS names refer to individual hosts.
• Group names refer to the names of logical groupings of workstations, either domains or
workgroups.
The Status column refers to the status of the NetBIOS name for the specified host, regardless of
whether the name has been registered with the rest of the network.
The–A Switch
The –A switch works exactly as the –a switch and produces the same output; only the syntax of
the command is different. First, you use an uppercase A instead of a lowercase a. Second, you
use the IP address of the host whose NetBIOS name table you want to view instead of the Net-
BIOS name. The syntax includes the nbtstat command followed by the –A switch and finally the
IP address of the host whose NetBIOS table you want to view:
nbtstat –A 199.153.163.2
The–c Switch
The function of the –c switch is to display the local NetBIOS name cache on the workstation on
which it is run.
sample output of thenbtstat –ccommand.

Each entry in this display shows the NetBIOS name, the hex ID for the service that was
accessed, the type of NetBIOS name (unique or group), the IP address that the name resolves
to, and its Life (in seconds). The Life amount dictates how long (in seconds) each entry will live
in the cache. When this time expires, the entry is deleted from the cache.
The–n Switch
You use the –n switch to display the local NetBIOS name table on a Windows device. The output
is similar to the output of the –a switch, except that instead of displaying the NetBIOS name
table of another host, you are displaying it for the machine on which you are running the
command.
Sample output of thenbstat -ncommand

The–r Switch
This switch is probably the most commonly used switch when NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NBT)
statistics are checked. The –r switch displays the statistics of how many NetBIOS names have
been resolved to TCP/IP addresses.
As you can see, the statistics are divided into categories. The first category is NetBIOS Names
Resolution and Registration Statistics, which shows how many names have been resolved or
registered either by broadcasts on the local segment or by lookup from a WINS name server.
The second category gives the NetBIOS unique and group names and their associated hex IDs
that were resolved or registered. In Figure the output shows that no WINS server is operating,
so all NetBIOS names were resolved by broadcast only. This is evident from the lack of statistics
of names resolved by a name server.
The –R Switch
The -R switch is the exception that proves the rule because it has nothing to do with the –r
switch. Let’s say that you have a bad name in the NetBIOS name cachebut the right name is in
the LMHOSTS file. The LMHOSTS file contains NetBIOS names of stations and their associated IP
addresses. Also, the cache is consulted before the LMHOSTS file is. The problem here is that the
bad address will be in the cache (until it expires). To purge the NetBIOS name table cache and
reload the LMHOSTS file into memory, simply use the nbtstat command with the –R switch, like
so:
nbtstat –R
The–S Switch
You use the -S switch to display the NetBIOS sessions table, which lists all the NetBIOS sessions,
incoming and outgoing, to and from the host where you issue the command. The –S switch
displays both workstation and server sessions but lists remote addresses by IP address only.
sample output of the nbtstat –S command
The NetBIOS name is displayed along with its hex ID. The state of each session is also shown. An
entry in the In/Out column determines whether the connection has been initiated from the
computer on which you are running nbtstat (outbound) or whether another computer has
initiated the connection to this computer (inbound). The numbers in the Input and Output
columns indicate (in bytes) the amount of data transferred between this station and the station
listed in that entry.
The–s Switch
As with the –A and –a switches, the lowercase –s switch is similar to its uppercase sibling. The
nbtstat –s command produces the same output as nbtstat –S except that it tries to resolve
remote host IP addresses into host names, if possible.
Sample output of thendstat -scommand

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Using The Netstat Utility Using The File Transfer Protocol (ftp)

Using The Address Resolution Protocol (arp) Using The Ping Utility

Virtual Lans (vlans) Using Winipcfg, Ipconfig , And Ifconfig

Networking Related Tutorials

Network Security Tutorial

Networking Related Interview Questions

Network Technical Support Interview Questions
Networking Interview Questions
CCNA Interview Questions
Network Security Interview Questions
Computer Network Security Interview Questions
Hardware and Networking Interview Questions
CCNP Interview Questions
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CWNA (Certified Wireless Network Administrator) Interview Questions
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Interview Questions
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Network Technical Support Practice Tests
Networking Practice Tests
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Computer Network Security Practice Tests
Hardware and Networking Practice Tests
CCNP Practice Tests
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Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Practice Tests
Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) Practice Tests

Networking Tutorial

• Challenges In Sharing Data

• Network Elements
• Physical Topologies
• Physical Media
• Common Network Connectivity Devices
• Introducing The Osi Model
• The Osi Model's Lower Layers
• The Osi Model's Middle Layers
• The Osi Model's Upper Layers
• Networking Protocols
• Introducing Tcp/ip
• The Transmission Control Protocol
• The Internet Layer Protocols
• The Application Protocols
• Other Upper-layer Protocols(udp)
• Overview Of Ports And Sockets
• Understanding Ip Addressing
• Name Resolution Methods
• Configuring Tcp/ip On Windows Workstations
• Virtual Lans (vlans)
• Using The Address Resolution Protocol (arp)
• Using The Netstat Utility
• Using the nbtstat Utility
• Using The File Transfer Protocol (ftp)
• Using The Ping Utility
Using Winipcfg, Ipconfig , And Ifconfig