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Preparing CIFS clients to access the filer

How filer data is visible to CIFS clients  Top

Once setup is complete, the filer establishes CIFS client connectivity by automatically registering with the master browser on its local network.

Note
Although CIFS connectivity has been established, you need to configure shares with CIFS access permissions before any filer data becomes visible to CIFS clients. For information about how to make a test share available to CIFS clients, see the File Access Management Guide.

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

CIFS client connection methods  Top

The following table enumerates and describes the methods by which CIFS clients can connect to the filer, depending on the client operating system.

For more information about commands and windows mentioned in the table, see the operating system manual for your computer.

Method

Client operating system

Command or window

Method 1:

Clicking the filer icon

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0

Network Neighborhood

Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003

My Network Places

Method 2:

Connecting to the filer as a network drive

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me

Map Network Drive window--available according to Workgroup or domain membership

Windows NT 4.0

Map Network Drive window (from NT Explorer)

Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003

Map Network Drive

Method 3:

Connecting to the filer as a network drive

Windows NT 3.51, Windows for Workgroups

Connect Network Drive window (from the File Manager)

Method 4:

Mapping a share to a drive letter on the command line

Operating systems that support the DOS command-line interface and support the net use command, including Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003

net use drive_letter:\\path

Example


net use f:\\toaster\home

Information users need for accessing the filer  Top

To inform users about how to access the filer, complete the following steps.

Step

Action

1

Determine the connection methods that are correct for your CIFS clients.

2

If your CIFS clients can...

Then...

Use methods 2, 3, or 4 to connect to the filer.

See CIFS client connection methods.

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 for users' directories has the share name "home," the UNC path is \\toaster\home.

Result

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.

Use method 1 to connect to the filer.

See CIFS client connection methods.

Inform your users of the filer name so that they can locate the filer in Network Neighborhood.

Configuring filer storage options  Top

Once you have verified the filer is configured, you need to configure it for your storage needs. For information about storage configuration, see the Storage Management Guide.

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