Implementing CIFS: The Common Internet File System

This book gathers together and presents-in a readable, accessible form- the arcane knowledge of the Samba Team in understanding the CIFS protocol. The content is based on years of experience asking and answering questions on the Samba Technical and jCIFS Developer's mailing lists, as well as countless hours spent pouring over obscure documentation, packet traces, and source code. The approach is layered with basic concepts first introduced and then discussed before drilling down into the actual workings and internals. The goal is to help the reader, no matter what platform they are working in, develop an understanding of the protocols, and to act as a guide to the more detailed specifications and technical references that are available.The large installed base of Windows systems has granted de facto standard status to the CIFS (Microsoft's filesharing system) protocol suite. It lets programs make requests for files and services on remote computers on the Internet. Unfortunately, implementation documentation and detailed protocol specs are scarce, incomplete, or inconsistent.This is a problem both for network administrators and third-party CIFS implementors and so the need for this book is clear. Samba is an Open Source CIFS server that ships with most distributions of Linux and several commercial UNIX flavors. JCIFS is an SMB/CIFS implementation in Java.

CHRISTOPHER R. HERTEL is a member of the Samba Team and a founding member of the jCIFS Team. He has worked with SMB/CIFS networks since the 1980s, when he designed and installed a large-scale network based on DEC Pathworks, using Microsoft and IBM® networking protocols. Hertel is Network Design Engineer at the University of Minnesota.

Series Editor BRUCE PERENS is an Open Source evangelist and developer whose software is a major component of most commercial Linux® offerings. He founded or co-founded Linux Standard Base, Open Source Initiative, and Software in the Public Interest. As Debian GNU/Linux Project Leader, he was instrumental in getting Linux on two U.S. Space Shuttle flights, bringing respect to Linux when few people were taking it seriously. He now consults with companies on Open Source policies and processes.