<
protocol> (
SMB) A
client/server protocol that provides
file and printer sharing between computers. In addition
SMB
can share
serial ports and communications abstractions such
as
named pipes and
mail slots.
SMB is similar to {remote
procedure call} (RPC) specialised for file system access.
SMB was developed by
Intel,
Microsoft, and
IBM in the
early 1980s. It has also had input from
Xerox and
3Com.
It is the native method of file and print sharing for
Microsoft
operating systems; where it is called {Microsoft
Networking}.
Windows for Workgroups,
Windows 95, and
Windows NT all include
SMB clients and servers.
SMB is also
used by
OS/2,
Lan Manager and
Banyan Vines. There are
SMB servers and clients for
Unix, for example
Samba and
smbclient.
SMB is a
presentation layer protocol structured as a large
set of commands (Server Message Blocks). There are commands
to support file sharing, printer sharing, {user
authentication}, resource browsing, and other miscellaneous
functions. As clients and servers may implement different
versions ("dialects") of the protocol they negotiate before
starting a session.
The
redirector packages
SMB requests into a {network control
block} (NBC) structure that can be sent across the network to
a remote device.
SMB originally ran on top of the lower level protocols
NetBEUI and
NetBIOS, but now typically runs over
TCP/IP.
Microsoft have developed an extended version of
SMB for the
Internet, the
Common Internet File System (CIFS), which in
most cases replaces
SMB.
CIFS runs only runs over TCP/IP.
{
Just what is SMB?
(http://samba.anu.edu.au/cifs/docs/what-is-smb.html)}.
{
IBM protocols
(http://protocols.com/pbook/ibm.htm)}.
{
Microsoft SMB/CIFS documents
(ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/drg/CIFS/)}.
(1999-08-08)