What is cifs

File change notification: When file or directory contents are modified, the server is notified. Protocol version negotiation: CIFS has many versions and sub-versions, known as dialects, which are negotiated by network systems.

Extended attributes: Supports the addition of non-file system attributes, like author name, content and description. Distributed replicated virtual volumes: Supports file system subtrees with multiple volumes and servers.

Files and directories may be moved to different servers without changing names. Subtrees may be replicated for fault tolerance and load sharing. Batched requests: Facilitates multiple request batching as single messages to reduce round trip latencies. Messages are classified into connection establishment messages, namespace and file manipulation messages, printer messages and miscellaneous messages.

However, if using this method, exercise caution. Improper configuration can result in the inability to control the volume, and an inability to create snapshots.

It provides users with seamless file and print interoperability between VMs and Windows-based clients. CIFS allows multiple clients to access and update the same file while preventing conflicts by providing file sharing and file locking.

Allocating storage and network permissions for multiple organizations and dispersed users in branch offices or on a corporate network can be complicated. It is common practice to organize users into groups to provide specific permissions when accessing data. If networking, users, and groups have already been configured for your deployment, the only requirement to make your CIFS Share available is to create one and assign the appropriate permissions.

Otherwise Windows Networking and Authentication will need to be configured. The Create File Share section of the panel will be displayed. For most use cases, select the first radio button.

Enter a unique alphanumeric name for the share such as ' documents1 ' in the Share Name text entry box. This name will appear as the network mount point. Note: If you enter the name of a Unix user, his automatic home directory share will be overridden.

Click Browse to select the Volume from the filesystem for sharing. Click OK once the desired volume is selected. This also means Snapshots will be disabled for the volume. Set the Automatically Create Directory field option to Yes. The Create with Owner field determines which Linux user will be assigned to the shared folder.

Privacy policy. Skip to main content. This browser is no longer supported. Download Microsoft Edge More info. Contents Exit focus mode. Although its main purpose is file sharing, additional Microsoft SMB Protocol functionality includes the following: Dialect negotiation Determining other Microsoft SMB Protocol servers on the network, or network browsing Printing over a network File, directory, and share access authentication File and record locking File and directory change notification Extended file attribute handling Unicode support Opportunistic locks In the OSI networking model, Microsoft SMB Protocol is most often used as an Application layer or a Presentation layer protocol, and it relies on lower-level protocols for transport.

A CIFS client application can read, write, edit and even remove files on the remote server. Microsoft implementations are the de facto CIFS standards. This application CIFS helps a client make a specific request and server responds according to needs hence exchange data with authenticated computers.

However, over years there have been several usage models where CIFS was initially for file sharing and later has been used for network management and other network services - with networks becoming larger the need for privilege separation and scale of use.