DNS is spotty in the network, but netBIOS in enabled on most machines. I have a dozen netBIOS names for Windows servers somewhere in the network. It is impossible to just go to all machines, log in and ipconfig them. I don't know in the world these servers are. The only thing I know is they are in one of our data centers somewhere.
Is there a tool that will search for netBIOS names and return IP addresses?
If you have a WINS server and all your clients are configured to register with that WINS server, you can resolve NetBIOS names from outside your own broadcast domain. (e.g. from other network segments.) You hint that these servers are located in remote places outside your office, so I can't expect that you're all in one big broadcast domain.
I keep mentioning broadcast domains because Windows computers advertise their NetBIOS names with broadcast traffic. So if you can't hear the broadcast traffic of another computer in another office, you won't be able to find it by NetBIOS.
A WINS server is analogous to a DNS server except for NetBIOS junk. It's a server that provides a central database for all clients from different networks to query and register against.
Disclaimer: WINS is old and crusty by the way, and I am in no way advocating that you start using it if you are not already.
C:\> nbtstat -a workstation01 will attempt to resolve the name to an IP address via NetBIOS, and will consult your WINS server if you have one.
Here's a decent high-level overview of how NetBIOS and WINS work.
