other ways of file and printer sharing

whats a more secure way of file and print sharing other then netbios? thanks
-paul

there is third party software that you can buy to enable you toshare files over a windoze network, i assume you are using windoze here?

you could look on tucows (www.tucows.com) and see if they have anything that may help you, google could be useful too, i would give you some links but im not sure of any software name or brands but i know it is available as ive heard about it on here i think

you could also consider a domain with a server if you have the cash to afford server software and another box to act as the server, i dont know much about servers and domains but i understand they are more secure than netBIOS sharing

also you could try samba (www.samba.org), i use it to share between my windoze and linux boxes and havnt had any trouble yet, im pretty sure there is a windows version of it, if there isnt all you need is a linux box and samba, set it up as a dedicated samba server, even have it as a router / gateway, it works beautifully as this is how i use my linux box most of the time

Technically, netbios is not for file sharing. It's SMB that is uses (or CIFS if you like)

On a windows LAN you can use protocols other than TCP and only bind file sharing to those (IPX or NETBEUI), however AFAIK, this is becoming deprecated and at some point will no longer be supported (Does windows server 2003 support it?) - of course those protocols don't run over the internet.

If you need to make it more secure, but still use it over the internet, consider a VPN. Another (rather lame) security tip is to use the little-known "Netbios scope" option - all the machines have to have it set the same and they cannot then communicate with any other machines. The option cannot AFAIK be changed without a reboot.

y not just use ftp for file sharing? you can map a network drive to an ftp server just like a network folder, as far as printer sharing, IPP Internet Printing Protocol, allows you to print over the internet with authentication. Also to print over a network, and is more secure than netBEUI.

<to the coward who negged me without posting> :flip: