I never metaphor I couldn't mix. Common pun We have spent a lot of time and effort preparing for this expedition, and we are finally ready to venture into SMB territory. It can be a treacherous journey, though, so before we push ahead we should re-check our equipment.  Test Server If you are going to start testing, you have to have something at which to fling packets. When choosing a test server, keep in mind that SMB has grown and changed and evolved and adapted and mutated over the years . You want a server that can be configured to meet your testing needs. Samba, of course, is highly configurable. If you know your way around the Windows Registry, you may have luck with those systems as well. In particular, you probably want to avoid strong password encryption during the initial stages. Handling authentication is a big chunk of work, and it is best to try and reduce the number of simultaneous problems to a manageable few. Repetitive Terminology Redundancy Notification Alert  | The SMB server software running on a file server node is known as the "File Server Service," or just "Server Service." When running on top of NBT, the Server Service always registers a NetBIOS name composed of the Machine Name and, of course, a suffix value of 0x20 . The Machine Name is typically but not necessarily the same as the DNS host name . |
Test Client The next thing you will want is a packet flinger that is, a working client. You need this for testing and to compare behavior when debugging your own client. Samba offers the smbclient utility, and jCIFS comes with a variety of example programs. Windows systems all have SMB support built-in. That's quite a selection from which to choose. Sniffer Always your best friend. A good packet analyzer one with a lot of builtin knowledge of SMB will be your trusted guide through the SMB jungle . Documentation When exploring NBT we relied upon RFC 1001 and RFC 1002 as if they were ancient maps, drawn on cracked and drying parchment, handed down to us by those who had gone before. In the wilds of SMB territory, we will count on the SNIA CIFS Technical Reference as our primary resource. The old X/Open SMB specification and the SMB/CIFS documentation available from Microsoft's FTP server will also come in handy. For the sake of efficiency, from here on out we will be a bit less formal and refer to the SNIA doc as "the SNIA doc," and the X/Open doc as "the X/Open doc." Yet Another Tasty Terminology Treat Alert | | As we have explained, "SMB" is the S erver M essage B lock protocol. It is also true that " an SMB" is a message. In order to implement SMB, one must learn to send and receive SMBs . Got that? |
Keep in mind that the goal of our first trip into the wilds of SMB-land is to become familiar with the terrain and to study SMBs in their natural habitat, so we can learn about their anatomy and behavior. We are not ready yet for a detailed study of SMB innards. That will come later. | 