DCS AIX Installation Guide

12.0: Glossary:

Access Control List (ACL)

The list of AFS users and AFS groups which have or do not have various access permissions for a particular directory.

AIX

AIX is a trademark of IBM. It is a UNIX compatible operating system that controls the resources of a host computer. AIX is IBM's version of UNIX and therefore meets standards developed by the UNIX community. AIX runs on many hardware platforms offered by IBM, The PS/2, The RISC/6000, The RT/PC, and the 370. AIX communicates with other UNIX based operating systems and hardware platforms offered by other computer manufactures such as HP, DEC, SUN, and APPOLLO. For every AIX license IBM sells, royalties are paid to AT&amp.T the developers of UNIX. AIX is considered an open system rather then a proprietary system.

Cell

A collection of servers and clients which are grouped together and administered as a unit.

Client

A user's machine which gets data from and puts data to servers.

Domain

A domain is part of a human-readable hierarchy that further defines where a particular machine is located in the network. A domain name consists of a sequence of names separated by dots. Some examples: btv.ibm.com (Burlington)

end.ibm.com (Endicott)

fsh.ibm.com (Fishkill)

Foreign cell

Any cell which is not the local cell.

FTP

File Transfer Program as used in the AIX environment is a function of TCP/IP. FTP allows the transportation of files from one host running TCP/IP to another host running TCP/IP. These files can be executable files or data files.

Group

A set of AFS users with some commonality among them. There are three special groups:

system:anyuser

anyone who accesses the cell

system:authuser

anyone with a valid token for the cell

system:administrators

users given special authority

Host

In an AIX environment the term host is used when addressing any AIX operating system whether the hardware platform is a System/390 mainframe or a PS/2. The reason for such a radical change in terminology from a mainframe perspective is the AIX platforms are capable of supporting multiple users and multiple terminals.

IBM IP Net

The IBM IP Net is an IBM network that uses an IP addressing scheme. Addresses are defined for each host using 4 sequences of numbers, called octets, ranging from 0-256. An example of an IP address is 9.66.16.207.

ID

Customer Identification See "USERID" on page 123

Local cell

The cell to which a given machine belongs.

LAN

Local Area Network A term used to describe several network hardware configurations designed to connect hosts together in a peer to peer relationship. Some common LAN configurations are TokenRing, A trademark of IBM, Ethernet, a trademark of XEROX Corp., and DECNET, a trademark of Digital Equipment Corp.. The predominate LAN in the Northeast Region is TokenRing.

LCS

LAN Channel Station

MPN

Multiple Protocol Network

Mount point

A directory which serves as the storage location for a volume.

Name Server

A software function offered by TCP/IP which allows any host running TCP/IP and connected to a LAN where a Name Server can be accessed, to query the Name Server with a symbolic name and have the Name Server return an Internet address. It can also do the reverse resolution of an address to a symbolic name. Some examples would be: Workstation asks? "host cpusrv1"

Nameserver responds "cpusrv1.btv.ibm.com is 9.66.4.18"

Workstation asks? "host 9.66.4.7"

Nameserver responds "btvname.btv.ibm.com is 9.66.4.7"

NFS

Network File System is a trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc. NFS offers the UNIX user the ability to mount file systems that are physically on a different host. Once the remote file system is mounted, file I/O such as reads and writes appear to be done one record at a time across a network such as a LAN or WAN.

NIS

Network Information Services A product used to administer system information, such as userid and password file, on multiple network connected systems. Previously NIS was known as Yellow Pages or YP. It's primarily used for the coordination of user account information from many workstations. It gives each user the ability to logon to any machine under NIS control.

NPN

National Physical Network

Partition

A primary division of data in AFS. Partitions hold volumes.

Quota

The amount of storage allowed for a given volume.

RISC

Reduced Instruction Set Computer

SAA

Systems Applications Architecture is a trademark of IBM. SAA is IBM's proprietary software family. In SAA each software platform conforms to standard program application interfaces. The purpose is to allow interoperability between different IBM platforms. If a program followed SAA standards then it could run on ES/9000 platforms running MVS or VM or a PS/2 platform running OS/2. The term SAA is most used in the AIX environment when discussing VM and MVS interconnections.

Server

A machine which stores and transfers data

SMC

System Management Controls IBM Corporate Instructions to which all IBM suppliers of Data Processing services must adhere.

TCP/IP

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol is set of standards or agreements which allow operating systems to understand network transmissions between each other. Internet Protocol is the first layer of protocol. IP defines the information required for two hosts to send and receive data. TCP defines the information required to guard against lost or changed data. There are other protocols that enhance IP and TCP but their function is to provide services beyond moving data and ensuring it arrived successfully.

Token

A packet of information used to authenticate a user to AFS. A password must be provided to obtain a valid token.

Token Ring

A network that uses a ring topology, in which tokens are passed in a circuit from node to node. A node that is ready to send can capture the token and insert data for transmission.

UNIX

UNIX is a trademark of AT&amp.T. It is an operating system that controls the resources of a host computer. UNIX was developed by Bell Labs and enhanced by the University of California at Berkley. UNIX is a non-proprietary operating system. The rights to reproduce the operating system can be purchased from AT&amp.T. UNIX is considered an open system environment rather than a proprietary system.

USERID

A string of characters that uniquely identifies a user to a system.

Volume

A unit of data which holds some subtree of related files and directories.

WAN

Wide Area Network A term used to describe connections bridging several LANs together.

workbench

A workbench is described as workstation hardware with all of the AIX operating system and licensed program products installed or accessible, all of the technical and office software installed or accessible, and each of these components capable of interacting. The concept is a complete tool designed to maximize productivity and reduce or eliminate manual tasks. Workbenches should be prepackaged and tested so that the customer only needs to power it on.

workstation

A workstation can be thought of as a computer resource that can exist in a room with few environmental alterations. Usually a workstation provides services for one person. IBM's AIX workstation platforms are: (low performance) PS/2, (mid performance) RISC/6000 model 320 and 530, (high performance) RISC/6000 model 540, 550, 930, and 950.