Is there a command in Linux to query a hostname from WINS server

Question

Someone suggested the command nmblookup. But when I ran this command, it issued the following error.

$ nmblookup -U 10.140.8.106 -R 'name'
querying name on 10.140.8.106
name_query failed to find name name

Which configure file or command line options does nmblookup use relating to a query? How does it know the WINS server address?

Thanks

Answer 1

According to the manpage, the -U option specifies the WINS server to query, and the name to lookup is the first positional argument.

Answer 2

Your command works fine with my WINS server, for any name that actually is in WINS. I get the failed message that you do, when the name is not in WINS:

% nmblookup -U 11.22.33.44 -R 'winchester'
querying winchester on 11.22.33.44
11.22.33.143 winchester<00>

% nmblookup -U 11.22.33.44 -R 'winchesxx'
querying winchesxx on 11.22.33.44
name_query failed to find name winchesxx

See the man page for nmblookup ("man nmblookup") to review the options available. You provide the address of the WINS server with that -U option ("-U 10.140.8.106").