{
  "slug": "smb-persistent-handle",
  "term": "SMB persistent handle",
  "aliases": [
    "SMB persistent open"
  ],
  "definition": "An SMB persistent handle extends durable-open recovery to server failover on a supporting continuously available share.",
  "note": "For a non-directory open whose underlying store grants durability, SMB 3.x processing requires the requested persistent flag, a continuously available share, and advertised server support before marking the open persistent. Check the granted response, not merely the request. [persistent] Microsoft's 2012 clustered-file-server design combines persisted handle state with write-through and describes an I/O pause during recovery. This implementation account is not a guarantee against arbitrary storage failure or a latency bound. [failover] The protocol also specifies write-through for supporting SMB 3.x continuously available disk shares before the open is marked persistent. [createprocessing]",
  "status": "shipping",
  "advantages": [],
  "limitations": [],
  "related": [
    "smb-protocol",
    "smb-durable-handle",
    "smb-lease",
    "smb-flush"
  ],
  "supersedes": [],
  "supersededBy": [],
  "firstSeen": null,
  "lastSeen": null,
  "citations": [
    {
      "id": "persistent",
      "title": "Microsoft MS-SMB2 section 3.3.5.9.10: Durable Handle Request V2 processing",
      "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/windows_protocols/ms-smb2/33e6800a-adf5-4221-af27-7e089b9e81d1",
      "accessed": "2026-10-13"
    },
    {
      "id": "failover",
      "title": "Microsoft Windows Server engineering team: Taking Server Application Storage to Windows File Shares (2012)",
      "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/blog/2012/03/15/windows-server-8-taking-server-application-storage-to-windows-file-shares/",
      "accessed": "2026-10-13"
    },
    {
      "id": "createprocessing",
      "title": "Microsoft MS-SMB2 section 3.3.5.9: Receiving an SMB2 CREATE Request",
      "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/windows_protocols/ms-smb2/8c61e928-9242-44ed-96a0-98d1032d0d39",
      "accessed": "2026-10-14"
    }
  ],
  "updated": "2026-10-14"
}