How to Find Lana Numbers for Applications

Microsoft LAN Manager redirector uses a NetBIOS interface to communicate with lower-level transport protocols (that is, NBF, TCP). NetBIOS requires that the redirector provide a LAN adapter (Lana) number to identify a unique combination of one protocol driver and one network adapter (NIC) MAC driver. For each protocol and network card, there is exactly one unique Lana number. In Windows NT, Lana numbers are not important to the redirector because the Windows NT redirector uses TDI (Transport Device Interface) to communicate with the lower-level transports.

Although TDI does not require Lana numbers, they are still important to other NetBIOS-based applications running in Windows NT. These applications submit NetBIOS commands called NetBIOS Command Blocks (NCBs). The NCB structure contains a field called Lana Number that must be filled in with the unique number (that is, the protocol/MAC pair) of the network where the destination computer is located.

For more information on NetBIOS, see the IBM Local Area Network Technical Reference.

To see the NetBIOS Interface dialog box (which includes a box that details the Network Route and Lana number associated with the particular network), choose the Networks icon in Control Panel, choose the Add Software button, select NetBIOS Interface, choose Continue, and choose Configure.

Any changes you make in the NetBIOS Interface dialog box, will appear in the Registry under the following key: To interpret this information, you can compare the LanaNumX value with the ROUTE values. For example, you can tell that "Ubnb" "Streams" is Lana number 0. The value LanaNum6 has a data value of 0 and the 6th position in the ROUTE list is "Ubnb" "Streams". Lana number 1 is the 5th position in the ROUTE list which corresponds to "Nbf" "Elnk16" "Elnk1601".

You can also obtain the order of Lana numbers from the following Registry key: If you look at the LanaMap, you can translate it and also figure out the Lana number associated with each network. For example, note the 01 before each set of numbers in the following portion of the LanaMap: If you disregard the 01, you will find the actual Lana numbers (in this case, 04 00 03 01 02 05).

From this information you can determine that: To see a list of the NetBIOS interface bindings, choose the Network icon in Control Panel, choose Bindings, select NetBIOS Interface, and choose Show Bindings For. If you use the arrow keys to manipulate the order of the bindings, you actually manipulate the BIND, EXPORT, and ROUTE order in the Registry.

For More information on the BIND, EXPORT, and ROUTE parameters, see the DDK or the Resource Kit Registry Help files.

NOTE: There is a new NCB command NCBENUM that is supported by the WIN32 API: Enumerate LAN adapter (Lana) numbers. When this value is specified, the NCB_BUFFER member points to a buffer to be filled with a LANA_ENUM structure.