A systems administrator is deploying a new Network Attached Storage (NAS) device to serve as a central file repository for a company's finance department. The department's employees exclusively use Windows-based workstations and need to collaborate on shared spreadsheets and documents with full support for file locking. To ensure seamless integration and native support within the Windows environment, which file-sharing protocol should the administrator primarily configure on the NAS?
The correct answer is CIFS. Common Internet File System (CIFS) is a dialect of the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, which is the native file-sharing protocol for Windows environments. Using CIFS/SMB ensures the best compatibility and integration for Windows clients, providing essential features like file and record locking for collaboration.
NFS (Network File System) is incorrect because it is the standard file-sharing protocol for Unix and Linux-based systems. While Windows clients can connect to NFS shares, it often requires additional software or configuration and is not the native protocol, potentially leading to compatibility issues.
iSCSI and FCoE are incorrect because they are block-level storage protocols used for Storage Area Networks (SANs), not file-level protocols used for NAS. They present raw storage volumes (LUNs) to an operating system, which would then need to be formatted, rather than providing direct access to a shared file system.