Glossary of terms

Netbios - NetBIOS is a service which allows communication between applications such as a printer or other computer in Ethernet or token ring network via NetBIOS name.

NetBIOS name is 16 digits long character assign to a computer in the workgroup by WINS for name resolution of an IP address into NETBIOS name.

WorkGroup - Workgroup: It is a peer-to-peer network for a maximum of 10 computers in the same LAN or subnet. It has no Centralized Administration, which means no computer has control over another computer. Each user controls the resources and security locally on their system.

Domain - Domain: It is a client/server network for up to 2000 computers anywhere in the world. The administrator manages the domain and its users and resources. A user with an account on the domain can log onto any computer system, without having the account on that computer.

SMB - Server Message Block: the modern dialect of which was known as Common Internet File System, operates as an application-layer network protocol for file sharing that allows applications on a computer to read and write to files and to request services from server programs in a computer network. The SMB protocol can be used on top of its TCP/IP protocol or other network protocols. Using the SMB protocol, an application (or the user of an application) can access files or other resources at a remote server. This allows applications to read, create, and update files on the remote server. It can also communicate with any server program that is set up to receive an SMB client request.

SMB functions as a client-server protocol

CIFS: The old version of SMB, which was included in Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 in 1996.

SMB 1.0 / SMB1: The version used in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2.

SMB 2.0 / SMB2: This version used in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

SMB 2.1 / SMB2.1: This version used in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

SMB 3.0 / SMB3: This version used in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

SMB 3.02 / SMB3: This version used in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2.

SMB 3.1: This version used in Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10.