3.4 Domain Master Browser Details

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A domain master browser server for a domain MUST act as a local master browser server for its subnet. Therefore, it acts exactly like a local master browser server (section 3.3) except where indicated differently in this section.

Historical note: By convention, the PDC of a domain SHOULD also be the domain master browser server for two reasons:

  • Some browser servers make use of the fact that the PDC and domain master browser server are on the same machine. In this way, they locate the name of the PDC. For more information, see section 3.3.5.8. After the name of the machine is known, the client can form the NetBIOS name <name of the machine>[0x1D] to construct a NetBIOS name that can be registered only by the domain master browser server.

  • The domain master browser registers the <domain>[0x1B] records to the WINS server if the browser protocol is implemented in a domain with WINS. For more information, see [MS-ADTS] section 6.3.4. The Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) server ensures that the network transport address of the machine that registered the <domain>[0x1B] address is always the first address returned when the <domain>[0x1C] address is queried.<63>