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Which two application protocols does NAS use?

Hello, I took my Network + test and in that test I saw this question, "Which two application protocols does NAS use?" The options where:

a) NFS
b) EMI
c) ATM
d) SMB

I answered "a" and "c" but I still have doubts about it because on your help files I only saw NFS as one of the valid answers. Could you clarify this for me? Thank you.

PS. I passed my test.


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Congratulations on passing your test. The question is interesting and not exactly accurate. NFS is one of the remote file system access that is used for NAS. It typically operates over Ethernet (of some type) but can also operate over ATM. The ATM implementation is primarily from the US government that tried to standardize on ATM very early in its development. It never really took off as Ethernet did but is still used in some government agencies. Some vendors such as EMC support ATM connectivity but most do not.

I don't believe it is accurate to call this an application protocol today but at the time ATM was in development and early deployment, that was considered a correct term. The semantics have changed since then.

Randy Kerns
Evaluator Group, Inc.


This was first published in March 2002

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