0.1 First Impressions

First impressions are important. The handshake, the smile, here's our brochure, would you like a cup of tea?

Microsoft's Windows family of operating systems makes good first impressions. There's a pleasant sound at start-up, all of the basics are represented by simple icons, and everything else is available through a neatly categorized menu.

As the relationship progresses, however, it becomes clear that there is a lot going on beneath the candy -coated surface. This is particularly true of the CIFS protocol suite. The Network Neighborhood icon that appears on the Windows desktop hides a great deal of gear-churning and behind-the-scenes fussing.

The large installed base of Microsoft's Windows products has granted de facto standard status to CIFS. Unfortunately, implementation documentation and detailed protocol specifications are scarce , incomplete, and inconsistent. This is a problem for network administrators, third-party CIFS implementors, and anyone else who wants to know more about the ingredients than you can read on the bottom of the box.

Despite the dearth of good under-the-hood documentation, there are several non-Windows CIFS products. Some of these are based on older versions of Microsoft's own software, but the majority were created by studying the few available references and reverse-engineering to fill in the gaps.