Server Message Block

(S-M-B)

A file and device sharing format. Many network products use SMB, including NetBIOS which is based on it. Additionally, some products interface with SMB in order to share files between different platforms (e.g., Samba).

SMB was developed in the 1980s by Intel, Microsoft, and IBM with help from Xerox and 3Com.

While SMB originally ran on top of NetBEUI and NetBIOS lower level protocols, it now is usually found over TCP/IP. An extended version of SMB, developed by Microsoft to run over TCP/IP is called the Common Internet File System (CIFS).

More Information

• What is SMB?
• IBM protocols
• Microsoft SMB/CIFS documents (ftp link)