Configuring CIFS clients

About this section

If you purchased a license for the CIFS protocol, follow the instructions in this section to configure CIFS clients to access information on the filer.

Filer is visible to CIFS clients after setup finishes

After setup finishes, the filer becomes visible to CIFS clients by automatically registering with the master browser on its local network.

If cross-subnet browsing is configured correctly, the filer is now visible to all CIFS clients. For more information about cross-subnet browsing, refer to Microsoft networking documentation.

CIFS client connection methods

The following table describes the various methods by which CIFS clients can connect to the filer. For more information about commands and windows mentioned in the table, refer to the operating system manual for your computer.


Method	Client operating system	Command or window	Description
1	Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0	Map Network Drive window (from Network Explorer)	Connect to the filer as a network drive.
2	Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0	Network Neighborhood	Click the filer icon in the Network Neighborhood window.
3	Windows NT 3.51, Windows for Workgroups	Connect Network Drive window (from the File Manager)	Connect to the filer as a network drive.
4	Any operating system that supports the dos command-line interface and supports the `net use` command	`net use command`	Map a share to a drive letter on the command line. For example: `net use f:\\toaster\home`

Steps

Complete the following steps to inform users about how to access the filer.


Step	Action
1	From the preceding table, determine the connection methods that are correct for your CIFS clients.
2	If your CIFS clients can use methods 1, 3, and 4 to connect to the filer, inform your users of the filer's UNC path. The UNC path consists of a computer name and a share name in the following format: \\computer_name\share_name Example If the filer is named toaster and the directory that contains users' directories is shared with the name "home," the UNC path is \\toaster\home.
3	If your CIFS clients can use method 2 to connect to the filer, inform your users of the filer name so that they can locate the filer in Network Neighborhood.

Results

After you provide users with information about how to access the filer, they can connect to the filer, view directories, and read and write files.