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Users can also access interprocess communication services and print queues.
CIFS was developed in the early 1980s at IBM.
How CIFS works
CIFS follows a client-server model.
Three entities are involved; a client, an system, and the server.
CIFS is simply carried over a connection-oriented protocol.
A client/user can open, read, modify and close multiple files on a target server.
CIFS protocol can query and also, with limited capability, set directory, file, and volume attributes.
Access Control Lists (ACLs) are also supported on CIFS.
CIFS protocol supports various subprotocols that offer direct access to additional server functionality.
The client can open, write, read and close named pipes on the specific server.
Named pipes offer a communications path between the server and client services.
One client can connect to multiple servers.
Such a client can also make one or more connections to a server.
A protocols supported feature set and dialect are negotiated per-connection basis.
CIFS protocol support record and file locking.
The same protocol allows for opportunistic file locking, granting clients the opportunity to cache data for better performance.
DFS creates a global namespace containing resources on multiple servers.
A client can use and create one or more security contexts over a certain connection.
Preconditions to use CIFS
CIFS needs an underlying online grid transport (generally connection-oriented).
However, in some cases, CIFS messages can be transmitted through connectionless transport with some minor modifications.
Before CIFS messages can be exchanged over a connection-oriented transport, a connection must be established.
The above steps will turn CIFS on.
However, you gotta configure the internet you are connected to for CIFS.
This is the process;
2.
Click onNetwork and Sharing Center.
On the left, click onChange advanced sharing options.
However, you must note that the listed users are only those currently set up on your Windows machine.
The recipients must also configure everything on their side if they want to dive into the sent documents.
Server Message Block was designed to allow a client read, write and edit a file in a server.
The server, in this case, is a Local Area internet (LAN).
SMB over the years
Many people confuse CIFS and SMB.
It is worth noting that SMB was introduced earlier than CIFS.
Microsoft improved on SMB to create CIFS in the 1990s, which makes CIFS a dialect of SMB.
However, Microsoft has continued to improve CIFS, and the current version is SMB 3.1.1.
These are the major differences between the CIFS and SMB 3.1.1
What are the downsides of CIFS?
Support for direct connections over TCP port 445 was one of the biggest selling points for the CIFS.
You may also explore how torun system file checkerin Windows 11/10.
