Persistent connections

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 8 Beta

Persistent connections

WINS includes persistent connections between WINS server replication partners. This feature is helpful because WINS servers typically disconnect from their replication partners each time replication is completed. In many cases, where WINS servers are interconnected through high speed local area network (LAN) links it is preferable to keep connections open, instead of closing them after replication is completed.

For earlier versions of WINS, servers had to establish new WINS-server connections each time replication was performed. Each connection required a modest number of processor cycles. For efficiency, network managers often configured systems to accumulate a larger number of changes before connecting for replication. These reconnections sometimes caused delays (perhaps as long as several minutes) in the replication process, which meant that inconsistencies in server data commonly existed when WINS was updated.

Persistent connections increase the speed of replication because a server can immediately send records to its partners, without incurring the cost of establishing temporary connections each time. Every record is immediately updated across the network upon registration in WINS, making replication more consistent. The bandwidth used by persistent connections is minimal because the connection is usually idle.