HP CIFS provides HP-UX with a distributed file system based
on the Microsoft Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocols. HP
CIFS implements both the server and client components of the CIFS
protocol on HP-UX.
The current HP CIFS Server (version A.01.08) is based on the well-established
open-source software Samba, version 2.2.3a, and provides file and
print services to CIFS clients including Windows NT, XP, 2000 and
HP-UX machines running HP CIFS Client software.
The HP CIFS Client enables HP-UX users to mount as UNIX file systems
shares from CIFS file servers including Windows servers and HP-UX
machines running HP CIFS Server. The HP CIFS client also offers
an optional Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) that implements
the Windows NTLM authentication protocols. When installed and configured
within HP-UX’s PAM facility, PAM NTLM allows HP-UX users
to be authenticated against a Windows authentication server.
What
is the CIFS Protocol? |
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CIFS, or the Common Internet File System, is the Windows specification for
remote file access.
CIFS had its beginnings in the networking protocols, sometimes
called Server Message Block (SMB) protocols, that were developed
in the late 1980's for PCs to share files over the then nascent
Local Area Network technologies (e.g., Ethernet). SMB is the native
file-sharing protocol in the Microsoft Windows 95, Windows NT, XP
and OS/2 operating systems and the standard way that millions of
PC users share files across corporate intranets.
CIFS is simply a renaming of SMB; and CIFS and SMB are, for
all practical purposes, one and the same. (Microsoft now emphasizes
the use of “CIFS,” although references to “SMB” still
occur.) CIFS is also widely available on UNIX, VMS(tm), Macintosh,
and other platforms.
Despite its name, CIFS is not actually a file system unto
itself. More accurately, CIFS is a remote file access protocol;
it provides access to files on remote systems. It sits on top of
and works with the file systems of its host systems. CIFS defines
both a server and a client: the CIFS client is used to access files
on a CIFS server.
HP CIFS speaks the CIFS protocol from the HP-UX machines,
which enables directories from HP-UX servers to be mounted on to
Windows machines and vice versa.
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