I’ve been installing Microsoft LANs for about 15 years. I’ve always installed the NetBEUI protocol.
It is the fastest protocol for small LANs and helps identify nodes and shares on the LAN for network
neighborhood. However, I know that NetBEUI sends periodic broadcasts to the other nodes letting them
all know it’s computer name and shares available. Recently, I had a 3 computer network that was working
fine but having some internet perfromance problem. Since the internet equipment was not mine, another
tech was called in. During his repair, he removed my NetBEUI on the 3 computers indicating that they
were flooding the network with broadcasts. He said using TCP/IP by itself was superior. Here’s my
question, and I needfacts . Just how much does NetBEUI flood the network with broadcasts,
and is it enough to be concerned with? Doesn’t the fact it’s a fast protocol offset the time for these
broadcasts? How many computers on the network can be considered “too many” where NetBEUI broadcasts
are concerned. NetBEUI can’t be routed, but doesn’t need to be in small LANs. Are there any disadvantages
to using NetBEUI over a pure TCP/IP LAN? Are there any disadvantages to using only TCP/IP in a small
LAN? Basically, I need to know the good and bad about NetBEUI with today’s networks. Thanks in advance.
