NetBEUI as main protocol

[John E. Malmberg]

Jason Hihn wrote:

> I've a need for Samba to work over NetBEUI. We have a file server 
> here that only speaks that way to bar out TCP-based hackers,

There is a popular misconception that you can use NetBeui in this way.

There is no security advantage in use NetBEUI in this manor.

It is just as easy to block the NetBios TCP/IP ports at the router
between your private network and the one where the hackers are.

If the hackers are on the local network, the NetBios exploits work just 
as well on NetBeui based networks as TCP/IP based networks.

You get the same level of security if you control the router.  You have 
no additional security if you do not control the router.  Routers can be 
configured to bridge NetBeui.

The only advantage that I can see to running NetBeui is that a network 
recovery disk for most PCs using MS-DOS can fit on a high density floppy.

For small networks, NetBeui is more responsive than TCP/IP, but because 
it is a broadcast protocol, it does not scale well.

> and now I need to move files between hat and the Linux box.  Changing
> it to use TCP is out of my authority too. I've scoured the archives,
> and the most I could come up with is a 1 year-old post saying that it
> was working, but with some patches, and only for printing.

> I am wondering if SAMBA can go over NetBEUI yet? I realize I'll 
> probably have to re-compile my kernel (easy enough), but what if 
> anything has to be done on the SAMBA side?

It probably will take some sort of layer to translate the NetBios over 
NetBeui so that it looked like TCP/IP to SAMBA.  I do not know how much 
work that would be.

-John
wb8tyw at qsl.net
Personal Opinion Only