SMB/CIFS Explained
SMB, dating back to documents published in 1985 by IBM and later further expanded by Microsoft and Intel, is a generalized system for sharing all kinds of system resources over a local network. Such resources include files, printers, serial ports, and software abstractions such as named pipes. It's a protocol that operates in a client-server fashion, even if Windows file sharing on the surface appears to be a peer-to-peer structure. SMB is a fundamental part of many operating systems, including MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2, and Linux—although the primary uses for SMB today are in Windows and promulgated by Microsoft.
SMB and CIFS commands are sent over network protocols such as IPX, NetBEUI, Banyan VINES, and DECnet. These protocols ...
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