Instructor: In this lesson,
we're going to talk about file and print servers.
Now, when it comes to file and print servers,
there are two main types.
One, you're going to find inside your local intranet,
which is your local area network,
and the other you're going to find over the internet
or your wide area network connection.
As you'll soon see as a technician in the field,
file and print servers are very important
to our local area networks,
because most organizations and most businesses
have a local file share being served internally
to their local area network,
as well as share large scale printers
that they can use with multiple employees
by sharing them using a print server.
When you're dealing with a file or print server,
you're dealing with a server or a machine
that's going to be doing all of the hosting,
and this is called the server.
This server can be configured
to allow clients on the network
to access it over the network
and be able to read and write to its disk,
this is known as the file share.
Normally, in a Windows-based environment,
this is going to be assigned a drive letter
on those Windows clients,
and most organizations tend to use S as their share drive
for this file share,
but that's just something I've commonly seen done
and not a hard and fast requirement.
Now, when it comes to a print server,
we're dealing with another server
that could be a physical workstation or server
or network infrastructure
to be able to provide this functionality.
When we talk about a print server,
we're talking about a machine whose function it is
to collect the print jobs from all different clients
on the network, prioritize them,
and then feed them over to the printer
to be able to create the output that you're seeking,
which is a printed copy of whatever document it was
that you were trying to print.
Let's first talk about the ones internal to your network,
which are known as file and print servers.
Generally, these come in two different types,
you're either going to have
a Windows-based file and print server,
or you're going to have a Linux
or Unix-based file and print server.
If you're using a Windows-based file and print server,
this is going to rely on the NetBIOS protocol or SMB,
which is Server Message Block.
When you're dealing with the NetBIOS protocol,
this is the Network Basic Input/Output System,
and this operates over ports 137 and 139.
This allows you to conduct name services
and session services over a NetBIOS connection running
on top of TCP/IP.
Now, in addition to this, you also have SMB,
which is Server Message Block.
Now, Server Message Block operates over port 445
on a Windows-based network.
When you're using file and print sharing
on Windows networks, you're going to be relying on SMB.
Now, another name for this if you're using a Linux system
that's going to support these Windows machines
is known as Samba, S-A-M-B-A,
and this is the ability for a Linux or Unix server
to be able to host files or printers that can then be used
by Windows clients running the SMB protocol.
Now, on the other hand, we also have these servers
that can be set up on the internet
or a wide area network connection
for file and print services.
Most commonly, you'll see a file server set up as an FTP
or File Transfer Protocol server.
Now, an FTP server is going to operate over ports 20 and 21,
and these servers are set up to allow a client
to upload or download files from this network file server
that's sitting out there on the internet.
File Transfer Protocol is considered an unencrypted
and unprotected protocol,
so it should only be used with anonymous login.
If you need to log in with a username and password
before being able to upload or download the file,
you should instead use either FTPS,
which is File Transfer Protocol Secure,
or FTP over Secure Shell, which is known as SFTP.
Now, another type of print server you may come across
is one that is hosted out on the internet,
and these are known as IP-based file print servers.
This is sometimes referred to also as cloud printing,
because it will allow you to print
from anywhere in the world over to this print server
that's sitting on the internet,
and then that print server will relay that request
back to your own local area network and to your printer.
For example, HP devices for a long time
had touted this ability of using cloud-based printing,
and this was a way for you to be able to print
from anywhere in the world
as long as you had an internet connection,
and that thing would then print out in your office
or in your home, depending on where your printer is located.