SMB stands for Simple Network Management. It is used to connect two computers to share files. In the past, Windows systems have used SMB for file and printer sharing. SMB has been around since the 1990s, and many people still use it. It is a popular protocol, but its history is complicated. Microsoft changed it to CIFS and added additional features such as support for symbolic links and hard links. It also introduced a pipeline mechanism, which sends another service request before responding to a previous one.

SMB was originally a protocol that allowed people to share files and printers, but was soon renamed as the Common Internet File System by Microsoft in 1996. Over time, SMB gained more features, including support for hard links and larger file sizes. In addition, SMB was adopted by a number of small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Unlike large enterprises, SMBs have limited IT resources, and therefore need a way to share information and files across a wide variety of platforms.

CIFS is an alternative protocol to SMB, which was originally designed by IBM. Microsoft added significant modifications to the protocol and merged it with its LAN Manager product. In fact, Microsoft combined SMB and LAN Manager to create LANManager, a network file system for OS/2. Later versions of Windows added more features, and the SMB protocol became the default for file sharing in Windows NT. However, there are still many differences between the two protocols.