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Managing miscellaneous CIFS server tasks

The followling lists all tasks that you can perform for a CIFS server:

  • Terminate or restart SMB access to CIFS servers

  • Change or reset the domain account password

  • Move the CIFS server to a different OU

  • Change the CIFS server's domain

  • Display information about NetBIOS over TCP connections

  • Modify or display information about CIFS servers

  • Delete the CIFS server

  • Configure the default Linux user

  • Stopping or starting the CIFS server
    The CIFS server on an SVM can be stopped, which can be useful when performing tasks while users are not accessing data over SMB shares. SMB access can be restarted by starting the CIFS server. By stopping the CIFS server, you can also modify the protocols allowed on the storage virtual machine (SVM).
  • Moving CIFS servers to different OUs
    The CIFS server create-process uses the default organizational unit (OU) CN=Computers during setup unless you specify a different OU. You can move CIFS servers to different OUs after setup.
  • Modifying the dynamic DNS domain on the SVM before moving the SMB server
    If you want the Active Directory-integrated DNS server to dynamically register the SMB server's DNS records in DNS when you move the SMB server to another domain, you must modify dynamic DNS (DDNS) on the storage virtual machine (SVM) before moving the SMB server.
  • Joining an SVM to an Active Directory domain
    You can join a storage virtual machine (SVM) to an Active Directory domain without deleting the existing SMB/CIFS server by modifying the domain using the vserver cifs modify command. You can rejoin the current domain or join a new one.
  • Displaying information about NetBIOS over TCP connections
    You can display information about NetBIOS over TCP (NBT) connections. This can be useful when troubleshooting NetBIOS-related issues.
  • Commands for managing CIFS servers
    You need to know the commands for creating, displaying, modifying, stopping, starting, and deleting CIFS servers. There are also commands to reset and rediscover servers, change or reset machine account passwords, schedule changes for machine account passwords, and add or remove NetBIOS aliases.
  • Enabling the NetBios name service
    Beginning in ONTAP 9.4, the NetBIOS name service (NBNS) sometimes called Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) is disabled by default. Previously, CIFS-enabled storage virtual machines (SVMs) sent name registration broadcasts regardless of whether WINS was enabled on a network. To limit such broadcasts to configurations where NBNS is required, you must enable NBNS explicitly for new CIFS servers.