HP CIFS Server and Encrypting Client Connections

Introduction
HP CIFS Server with Windows or other Server Message Block (SMB) clients does not have
configurable encryption options for data being transmitted over-the-wire, and therefore SMB is not
considered a secure protocol. The Windows 2008 and Vista enabled SMB2 does not add
encryption capability. For installations that require over-the-wire data encryption for SMB client-server
connections, a custom deployment is required.
A custom deployment for SMB-connection data transmission can be accomplished using free-of-charge
and commonly available components. However, the configuration is not persistent over connections
or reboots and actually may temporarily disable some client functionality (like web browsing). In
addition, the details are borderline confusing and may not be appropriate for the average enterprise
user.
Use this paper as a task-driven example of how to configure an encrypted Vista client SMB
connection to an HP CIFS Server share.