From 1cc8103fd6508e0b710ef8e119bf71d7de65f9d9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Samba Release Account Date: Tue, 26 Aug 1997 01:43:28 +0000 Subject: Added draft cversions of the new Samba doco. Dan. (This used to be commit b5983092a6e63118564c6d1460b522ea8ef02c3a) --- docs/faq/Samba-meta-FAQ-3.html | 101 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 101 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/faq/Samba-meta-FAQ-3.html (limited to 'docs/faq/Samba-meta-FAQ-3.html') 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 @@ + + + Samba meta FAQ: About the CIFS and SMB Protocols + + +Previous +Next +Table of Contents +
+

3. About the CIFS and SMB Protocols

+ +

+ +

+ +

3.1 What is the Server Message Block (SMB) Protocol?

+ +

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 +ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/drg/CIFS/. 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.

+

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.

+ + +

3.2 What is the Common Internet Filesystem (CIFS)?

+ +

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?

+

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 +http://samba.anu.edu.au/cifs/

+

The following is taken from +http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/cifs/

+

+

+    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."
+
+

+

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.

+

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.

+ + +

3.3 What is Browsing?

+ +

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.

+ + +
+Previous +Next +Table of Contents + + -- cgit