CIFS/SMB

CIFS/SMB datasources allow CloudQuant Data Liberator to read CSV, TSV, and other delimited files from Windows file shares or Samba servers. This is commonly used in enterprise environments where data is published to shared network drives.

See Supported Data Formats for every file extension Liberator can ingest from CIFS/SMB shares, including formats added in 2.1 and 2.2.

Connection configuration

Required fields

Field	Type	Description
`username`	string	Windows/Samba domain username
`password`	string	Password for authentication
`server`	string	Server hostname or IP address
`path`	string	UNC path to the share (e.g., `"sharename"` or `"sharename/subfolder"`)

The connection_type for CIFS/SMB connections is inferred from the presence of the server and path fields. Unlike other connection types, there is no explicit connection_type field required.

Optional fields

Field	Type	Default	Description
`prefix`	string	`""`	Subdirectory within the share to use as root

Example connection

{
  "name": "cifs-shared-drive",
  "username": "DOMAIN\\datauser",
  "password": "w1nd0wsP@ss",
  "server": "fileserver.corp.example.com",
  "path": "MarketData",
  "prefix": "daily/equities/"
}

Use a dedicated service account with read-only permissions on the share. Avoid using personal credentials, as password changes would break the connection.

Domain authentication

For Active Directory environments, include the domain in the username:

{
  "username": "CORP\\svc-liberator"
}

Or use the UPN format:

{
  "username": "svc-liberator@corp.example.com"
}

Dataset configuration (data_args)

The data_args fields are identical to all file-based sources. See Local File for the full reference. The file_pattern is evaluated relative to the prefix configured on the connection.

Required data_args

Field	Type	Description
`file_pattern`	string	Glob pattern relative to the prefix, e.g., `"*.csv"`
`data_dt_column`	string or list	Column(s) containing the datetime value
`data_dt_format`	string or list	strptime format or special values (`"muts"`, `"uts"`, `"datetime"`)
`data_key_column`	string or list	Symbol/key column(s)

Optional data_args

Field	Type	Default	Description
`sep_override`	string	`","`	Delimiter character
`encoding`	string	`"utf-8"`	File encoding
`data_dt_timezone`	string	`"UTC"`	Source data timezone
`fname_dt_regex`	string		Regex to extract date from filename
`fname_dt_format`	string		strptime format for filename date
`fname_dt_timezone`	string		Timezone of filename date
`fname_dt_nudge`	int	`0`	Microsecond offset for filename date
`fname_dt_approx_seconds`	int		Approximate seconds per file
`arrow_sort`	list	`["symbol", "muts"]`	Sort order
`arrow_timestamp`	bool	`true`	Generate human-readable timestamp column

Complete example

Connection

{
  "name": "cifs-risk-reports",
  "username": "CORP\\svc-liberator",
  "password": "s3rv1ceAcct!",
  "server": "nas01.corp.example.com",
  "path": "RiskReports",
  "prefix": "daily/"
}

Dataset

{
  "name": "daily-risk-metrics",
  "connection": "cifs-risk-reports",
  "data_args": {
    "file_pattern": "risk_*.csv",
    "sep_override": ",",
    "encoding": "utf-8",
    "data_dt_column": "report_date",
    "data_dt_format": "%Y-%m-%d",
    "data_dt_timezone": "America/New_York",
    "data_key_column": "portfolio_id",
    "fname_dt_regex": "risk_(\\d{8})\\.csv",
    "fname_dt_format": "%Y%m%d",
    "fname_dt_timezone": "America/New_York",
    "fname_dt_approx_seconds": 86400,
    "arrow_sort": ["symbol", "muts"],
    "arrow_timestamp": true
  },
  "schema": [
    { "name": "portfolio_id", "type": "string", "group": "key", "description": "Portfolio identifier" },
    { "name": "report_date", "type": "string", "group": "time", "description": "Report date" },
    { "name": "var_95", "type": "double", "group": "value", "description": "95th percentile VaR" },
    { "name": "var_99", "type": "double", "group": "value", "description": "99th percentile VaR" },
    { "name": "cvar", "type": "double", "group": "value", "description": "Conditional VaR" },
    { "name": "beta", "type": "double", "group": "value", "description": "Portfolio beta" },
    { "name": "sharpe", "type": "double", "group": "value", "description": "Sharpe ratio" }
  ]
}

Network requirements

Requirement	Detail
Outbound port	TCP port 445 (SMB) to the file server
DNS resolution	The server hostname must resolve from the CloudQuant Data Liberator host
Authentication	NTLM or Kerberos (depending on domain configuration)
SMB version	SMB 2.0 or higher recommended; SMBv1 is deprecated and insecure

If the CloudQuant Data Liberator host is Linux-based, install cifs-utils for CIFS mount support.

apt install cifs-utils

yum install cifs-utils

Troubleshooting

Issue	Possible Cause	Solution
Mount fails with “Permission denied”	Incorrect credentials or insufficient share permissions	Verify credentials and ensure the service account has read access to the share
Mount fails with “Host is down”	Network connectivity or firewall blocking port 445	Check firewall rules and verify SMB port is reachable
Files not found	Incorrect `path` or `prefix`	Verify the UNC path using `smbclient` or Windows Explorer
Encoding errors	Files use non-UTF-8 encoding	Set `encoding` in data_args (common alternatives: `"latin-1"`, `"cp1252"` for Windows-origin files)

​CIFS/SMB

​Connection configuration

​Required fields

​Optional fields

​Example connection

​Domain authentication

​Dataset configuration (data_args)

​Required data_args

​Optional data_args

​Complete example

​Connection

​Dataset

​Network requirements

​Troubleshooting

CIFS/SMB

Connection configuration

Required fields

Optional fields

Example connection

Domain authentication

Dataset configuration (data_args)

Required data_args

Optional data_args

Complete example

Connection

Dataset

Network requirements

Troubleshooting