What is SMB? · Ultra Transcenders glossary

Protocol for Windows file shares, used by Azure Files and supporting authentication based on identity.

Also called Server Message Block.

In the Ultra Transcenders books

Each book explains SMB in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.

Azure Files
Azure's managed file shares over SMB or NFS. There is no Archive tier, and a single encryption key applies across the whole storage account.
Authentication
Checking an identity claim made by a person, device or app, for instance by asking for a password plus an extra factor. Authorisation only happens once this step has succeeded.
IDENTITY
A column property, written IDENTITY(seed, increment), that gives each new row the next number in a rising sequence. SCOPE_IDENTITY reports the latest value created in the current scope, and a rolled-back transaction still uses up the numbers it took.

Access-based enumeration
When turned on for an SMB share or a DFS namespace, users only see the files, folders and links they're allowed to read; everything else is hidden from them.
Access this computer from the network
Accounts holding this user right can connect across the network, to SMB shares for instance.
AD DS authentication (Azure Files)
Option that domain-joins a storage account to on-premises AD DS, letting synced hybrid users mount its SMB shares using Kerberos. RBAC controls share-level access, while Windows ACLs govern files and folders.
Azure Files OAuth over REST
Capability allowing Microsoft Entra users, groups and managed identities to use OAuth tokens against the FileREST data API. The roles that grant it carry readFileBackupSemantics or writeFileBackupSemantics; the SMB share roles don't apply.
Azure NetApp Files
Azure service offering managed file volumes over NFS and SMB.
Continuous availability
Clustered file servers can give SMB 3 shares this property so that clients keep going uninterrupted when the share fails over between nodes.
Default share-level permission
Account-wide option granting one SMB share role to all authenticated identities on every file share, so individual users don't need their own assignments.
Default to Microsoft Entra authorization in the Azure portal
When enabled on a storage account, the portal accesses data with the signed-in user's Entra identity instead of keys. Identity-based SMB access does not depend on it.