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CIFS at the U

CIFS Network Scope

  • Point-to-point
    Two systems using SMB protocols for a specific purpose, eg. file transfer.
  • Small "intra"nets
    Some administrative groups run NetBIOS over NetBEUI in order to isolate their traffic.
  • Larger multi-segment LANS
    Large departments and large projects often span subnets, buildings, and even campuses. Scalability is a factor here.
  • Cross Border
    There are a small number of projects that use CIFS across the University network border.


As noted previously, CIFS is among the file and print sharing systems which do not currently scale to the University as a whole. It is, however, used in a variety of different configurations ranging in scale from small to large.