While there is documentation readily available for protocol suits such as AppleTalk, DECnet, IPX/SPX and TCP/IP, it is difficult to find documentation for the suite or family of protocols which includes the NetBIOS Frames Protocol, NBF, (often referred to as NetBEUI or sometimes as NetBIOS), the Server Message Block protocol, SMB, and Common Internet File System, CIFS; this documentation attempts to provide some information on these protocols. This document is primarily concerned with the networking protocols rather than specific implementations such as Samba, which are well documented elsewhere. Network programming (and discussion of the various APIs) is also outside the scope of this documentation.

It is assumed that the reader is familiar with one or more networking protocols. Comparisons are made with other well-known protocols in order to better explain the roles of the various protocols described here and how they fit together.

This documentation is organized in to the following chapters: Introduction The various protocols to be discussed are introduced and a brief history is provided. NetBIOS, NetBEUI, NetBIOS Frames Protocol The NetBIOS Frames Protocol (NBF) is described in terms of the various protocols that were associated with the original NetBIOS implementation. Supporting Technology, Ethernet and Token Ring This chapter discusses the various technologies used when NetBIOS is implemented "on the wire". Encapsulation in TCP/IP The most popular configuration, NetBIOS over TCP/IP is described here. Encapsulation in various protocols and encapsulating NetBIOS can be encapsulated in many protocols and some of the configurations are described in this chapter. Server Message Block Protocol The SMB protocol, used for file and print sharing is examined in this chapter. Browser Service Although the Browser Service is part of SMB networking (and indeed is implemented over SMB frames), the protocols are sufficiently important to merit particular discussion. CIFS and the future This chapter looks at the latest implementation of the SMB protocol, now called CIFS. Appendices Three appendices provide some additional information. The way in which the protocols discussed might be mapped to the OSI model is illustrated. Information on the original NetBIOS protocols in the IBM PC Network is provided. A brief look at Microsoft's Active Directory is also included. A glossary is included for convenience. Following a Bibliography is a brief history of this documentation.

I would like to thank the following people for their comments and corrections. Ernie Cooper (bama@us.ibm.com) Giampaolo Tomassoni (tomassoni@ftbcc.it)

Hexadecimal numbers are shown either as 0xNNNN or NNNNh.

This document has been written in UK English. My apologies for any spelling or grammatical errors.