The embodiments described herein generally relate to a protocol for implementing data operations, e.g., a version of SMB, atop RDMA transports. In embodiments, systems and methods use the protocol definition, which specifies new messages for negotiating an RDMA connection and for transferring SMB2 data using the negotiated communication. A new protocol message may include new header information to determine message size, number of messages, and other information for sending the SMB2 data over RDMA. The header information is used to accommodate differences in message size requirements between RDMA and SMB2. The SMB Direct protocol allows SMB2 data to be fragmented into multiple individual RDMA messages that a receiver may then logically concatenate into a single SMB2 request or SMB2 response. The SMB Direct protocol also may allow SMB2 to transfer application data via efficient RDMA direct placement and to signal the application data's availability when the transfer is complete.