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diff --git a/docs/faq/Samba-meta-FAQ-3.html b/docs/faq/Samba-meta-FAQ-3.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..63adff35f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/faq/Samba-meta-FAQ-3.html @@ -0,0 +1,101 @@ +<HTML> +<HEAD> +<TITLE> Samba meta FAQ: About the CIFS and SMB Protocols</TITLE> +</HEAD> +<BODY> +<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-2.html">Previous</A> +<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-4.html">Next</A> +<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ.html#toc3">Table of Contents</A> +<HR> +<H2><A NAME="s3">3. About the CIFS and SMB Protocols</A></H2> + +<P> +<A NAME="CifsSmb"></A> +</P> + +<H2><A NAME="ss3.1">3.1 What is the Server Message Block (SMB) Protocol?</A></H2> + +<P>SMB is a filesharing protocol that has had several maintainers and +contributors over the years including Xerox, 3Com and most recently +Microsoft. Names for this protocol include LAN Manager and Microsoft +Networking. Parts of the specification has been made public at several +versions including in an X/Open document, as listed at +<A HREF="ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/drg/CIFS/">ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/drg/CIFS/</A>. No specification +releases were made between 1992 and 1996, and during that period +Microsoft became the SMB implementor with the largest market share. +Microsoft developed the specification further for its products but for +various reasons connected with developer's workload rather than market +strategy did not make the changes public. This culminated with the +"Windows NT 0.12" version released with NT 3.5 in 1995 which had significant +improvements and bugs. Because Microsoft client systems are so popular, +it is fair to say that what Microsoft with Windows affects all suppliers +of SMB server products.</P> +<P>From 1994 Andrew Tridgell began doing some serious work on his +Smbserver (now Samba) product and with some helpers started to +implement more and more of these protocols. Samba began to take +a significant share of the SMB server market.</P> + + +<H2><A NAME="ss3.2">3.2 What is the Common Internet Filesystem (CIFS)?</A></H2> + +<P>The initial pressure for Microsoft to document their current SMB +implementation came from the Samba team, who kept coming across things +on the wire that Microsoft either didn't know about or hadn't documented +anywhere (even in the sourcecode to Windows NT.) Then Sun Microsystems +came out with their WebNFS initiative, designed to replace FTP for file +transfers on the Internet. There are many drawbacks to WebNFS (including +its scope - it aims to replace HTTP as well!) but the concept was +attractive. FTP is not very clever, and why should it be harder to get +files from across the world than across the room? </P> +<P>Some hasty revisions were made and an Internet Draft for the Common +Internet Filesystem (CIFS) was released. Note that CIFS is not an +Internet standard and is a very long way from becoming one, BUT the +protocol specification is in the public domain and ongoing discussions +concerning the spec take place on a public mailing list according to the +rules of the Internet Engineering Task Force. For more information and +pointers see +<A HREF="http://samba.anu.edu.au/cifs/">http://samba.anu.edu.au/cifs/</A></P> +<P>The following is taken from +<A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/cifs/">http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/cifs/</A></P> +<P> +<PRE> + CIFS defines a standard remote file system access protocol for use + over the Internet, enabling groups of users to work together and + share documents across the Internet or within their corporate + intranets. CIFS is an open, cross-platform technology based on the + native file-sharing protocols built into Microsoft® Windows® and + other popular PC operating systems, and supported on dozens of + other platforms, including UNIX®. With CIFS, millions of computer + users can open and share remote files on the Internet without having + to install new software or change the way they work." +</PRE> +</P> +<P>If you consider CIFS as a backwardsly-compatible refinement of SMB that +will work reasonably efficiently over the Internet you won't be too far +wrong.</P> +<P>The net effect is that Microsoft is now documenting large parts of their +Windows NT fileserver protocols. The security concepts embodied in +Windows NT are part of the specification, which is why Samba +documentation often talks in terms of Windows NT. However there is no +reason why a site shouldn't conduct all its file and printer sharing +with CIFS and yet have no Microsoft products at all.</P> + + +<H2><A NAME="ss3.3">3.3 What is Browsing? </A></H2> + +<P>The term "Browsing" causes a lot of confusion. It is the part of the +SMB/CIFS protocol which allows for resource discovery. For example, in +the Windows NT Explorer it is possible to see a "Network Neighbourhood" +of computers in the same SMB workgroup. Clicking on the name of one of +these machines brings up a list of file and printer resources for +connecting to. In this way you can cruise the network, seeing what +things are available. How this scales to the Internet is a subject for +debate. Look at the CIFS list archives to see what the experts think.</P> + + +<HR> +<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-2.html">Previous</A> +<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ-4.html">Next</A> +<A HREF="Samba-meta-FAQ.html#toc3">Table of Contents</A> +</BODY> +</HTML> |