NetBEUI

NetBEUI
NetBEUI is a Network layer protocol designed to provide support for NetBIOS networks. Net- BIOS is a protocol that was developed by IBM (and later enhanced by Microsoft and Novell)
for use with network-aware operating systems like LAN Manager/LAN Server, Windows 9x, and Windows NT, 2000, XP, and 2003. It is a very fast and efficient protocol with low overhead.
Because NetBIOS is small and efficient, it works well on small LANs with between 10 and 200 nodes. The two protocols are often referred to together as NetBEUI/NetBIOS. In the following sections, naming, addressing, routing, and interoperability will be presented for NetBEUI, as it was for IPX/SPX and TCP/IP.

Naming and Addressing
There is very little network addressing with NetBEUI/NetBIOS. Actually, for NetBEUI, naming and addressing are the same thing. Each device, not interface, is configured with a unique name
(called the NetBIOS name) that is used for all communications. It’s simple and quick. The only item that must be configured on the workstation is the name of the workstation. NetBIOS names can be up to 15 characters in length and must adhere to special-character exclusions similar to those listed for IPX/SPX (NetWare).

Routing
Because the NetBEUI/NetBIOS protocol stack does not have an address structure with a hierarchical format and has no network and host boundaries, it is not a routable protocol. Routers
will drop NetBEUI/NetBIOS packets by default. Some routers, however, may be configured to bridge these packets to all segments or to unicast them to a specific IP address, which must be
configured on the receiving interface.

Interoperability
Only a few operating systems run NetBEUI/NetBIOS. The operating systems for IBM and Microsoft are the primary supporters of this protocol. Windows 9x, NT, and 2000/2003 and LAN Manager and OS/2 support NetBEUI/NetBIOS. These operating systems can therefore communicate using
 NetBEUI/NetBIOS. The Macintosh operating system, however, does not support NetBEUI natively, nor do the latest implementations of Microsoft Windows, but you can add it back in, which, unless a strong case exists in favor of doing so, is highly frowned upon due to compatibility issues.

Note:

Note that the Apple Filing Protocol should be your certification focus and the
overall structure of the AppleTalk suite of protocols is provided for context.