Dictionary

of
Networking
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Part 2

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mail-enabled application

mail-enabled application Any applica- manages all mailslot access and connec-
tion that includes an e-mail function but that tions. Mailslots are used for browse re-
also provides additional services, such as quests and logon authentication.
contact-management software, intelligent
See also named pipe; pipe; semaphore;
mail handling, and workflow automation.
Also known as message-enabled application. shared memory; socket.

See also groupware; Lotus Notes; mail- mailto An HTML attribute that creates a
aware application; workflow software. link to an e-mail address. If a user clicks on
the mailto link, the browser opens a win-
mailer A program used for sending and
dow for composing an e-mail message to
receiving e-mail.
this address.
mailing list On the Internet, a group of See also HyperText Markup Language.
people who share a common interest and
who automatically receive all the e-mail mail transport agent A program that
posted to the listserver or mailing-list man- manages the transportation and delivery of
ager program. e-mail. The mail transport agent accepts the
Contributions are sent as e-mail to the list- message from a mail user agent or client,
server and then distributed to all subscrib- performs any translations required, and
ers. Mailing lists are private or by invitation then routes the message.
only; Usenet newsgroups, by contrast, are
See also mail user agent; Simple Mail
open to everyone.
Transfer Protocol.
See also LISTSERV; listserver; newsgroup;
Usenet. mail user agent A client program that
provides a user interface for sending and re-
mail reflector On the Internet, a pro- ceiving e-mail, as well as all the other fea-
gram that manages a mailing list. tures required by any e-mail application,
See also LISTSERV; listserver; newsgroup; including creating, reading, forwarding,
Usenet. and deleting messages.

mailslots In Microsoft Windows NT, a mainframe computer A large, fast,

connectionless interprocess communica- multiuser computer system, often utilizing
tions mechanism that provides one-to- multiple processors, designed to manage
many and many-to-one communications, huge amounts of data and complex com-
suitable for broadcasting a message to puting tasks.
multiple processes.
Mainframes are normally found in large cor-
In Windows NT, mailslots are implement- porations, universities, or military installa-
ed via the Mailslot File System, which tions and can support thousands of users.

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Manchester encoding

The feature that distinguishes mainframe usually distinguished from a major release
computers from other types is that they per- by an increase in only the decimal portion
form all processing at one central location; of the version number; for example, from
the terminals accessed by users have no lo- 3.1 to 3.11 rather than from 3.1 to 4.0.
cal computing power of their own.
See also service pack.
See also dumb terminal; minicomputer;
network computer; thin client. male connector Any cable connector
with pins designed to engage the sockets on
maintenance release A software up-
the female connector.
grade that corrects minor bugs or adds a
few small features. This type of release is See also female connector.

MALE CONNECTOR

MAN See metropolitan-area network. Management Information System

Abbreviated MIS. A computer-based infor-
Management Information Base Ab-
mation system that integrates data from all
breviated MIB. A database of network con-
the departments that it serves, to provide
figuration information used by Simple
company management with the informa-
Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
tion it needs to make timely decisions, track
and Common Management Information
progress, and solve problems.
Protocol (CMIP) to monitor or change net-
work settings. MIB provides a logical nam- Manchester encoding In communica-
ing of all resources on the network related tions, a method used to encode data and
to the network’s management. timing signals in the same transmitted data
See also Common Management Informa- stream. The signal state during the first half
tion Protocol; MIB variables; Simple Net- of the bit period indicates its data value (1
work Management Protocol. is high; 0 is low). A transition to the oppo-
site state in the middle of the bit period acts
as the timing signal.
See also 4B/5B encoding.

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mandatory user profile

mandatory user profile In Microsoft 2. An expression of the structure of an ob-

Windows NT, a user profile created and ject. For example, a memory map describes
managed by the Administrator and stored the use and layout of physical memory.
on the server and downloaded to the work-
MAP See Manufacturing Automation
station when the user attempts to log on to
Protocol.
the network.
MAPI See Messaging API.
The profile is saved with a special extension
(.man) so that the user cannot change or al- mapped drive Any network hard disk
ter the profile in any way. Mandatory user that has been assigned to a drive letter on a
profiles can be assigned to a single user or to client computer.
a group of users.
Marimba, Inc. A company founded by
See also local user profile; roaming user four of the original Sun Microsystems Java
profile. team to develop products for the creation
and deployment of network-managed ap-
man pages Short for manual pages. In plications across the Internet and across
Unix, the online documentation. corporate intranets.
Each man page treats a single topic; some For more information on Marimba, Inc, see
are short, and others are quite long. They www.marimba.com.
are all organized in a standard format using See also Castanet.
these headings: Name, Synopsis, Descrip-
tion, Files, See Also, Diagnostics, and Bugs. mark parity See parity.
See also permuted index. marquee A scrolling banner on a Web
page, usually containing advertising
Manufacturing Automation Protocol material.
Abbreviated MAP. A protocol that was
mask A binary number that is used to re-
originally developed by General Motors
move bits from another binary number by
and was designed for use in a manufactur-
use of one of the logical operators (AND,
ing environment.
OR, NOT, XOR) to combine the binary
See also Technical and Office Protocol. number and the mask. Masks are used in IP
addresses and file permissions.
map 1. To direct a request for a file or a See also IP address; subnet mask.
service to an alternative resource. For ex-
ample, in a virtual memory system, an op- master browser In Microsoft Windows
erating system can translate or map a 2000 Server, a computer that maintains a list
virtual memory address into a physical ad- of computers and services available on the
dress; in a network, drive letters are as- network and makes this information avail-
signed to specific volumes and directories. able to other computers on the network.

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MCA

The master browser provides this list, and to teach Novell courses. An MCNI must
the backup browser distributes it to a work- have at least two years of teaching experi-
group or domain. ence and be certified as a Master CNE; in
addition, an MCNI must also complete an
See also backup browser; browser.
Annual Update Requirement to keep their
skills up-to-date.
Master Business Continuity
Professional Abbreviated MBCP. A cer- See also Certified Novell Instructor.
tification from Disaster Recovery Institute
International (DRII) that covers advanced Master CNE See Master Certified Nov-
information on business continuity plan- ell Engineer.
ning, disaster recovery, and associated
master file table Abbreviated MFT. In
work experience and board certification.
Microsoft Windows 2000, a system file that
See also Associate Business Continuity contains entries for every file and folder on
Professional; Certified Business Continuity an NTFS volume. The MFT is always the
Professional. first file on the volume, and for backup pur-
poses, two copies are maintained on each
Master Certified Novell Engineer Ab- volume.
breviated Master CNE. A Novell certifica-
master replica In Novell NetWare, the
tion program for CNEs who want to focus
main replica for a partition. The master
on the support of enterprise-wide networks.
replica must be available during major
Previously known as Enterprise CNE.
changes such as partition splitting or merg-
Many consider the Master CNE program ing. Another replica can be assigned as the
the advanced degree of NetWare certifica- master replica if the original is lost or
tion, because candidates must demonstrate damaged.
proficiency in specialized networking tech-
nologies, as well as an in-depth knowledge MAU See medium attachment unit;
of the NetWare operating system. Multi-station Access Unit.

Specializations are available in the general MB See megabyte.

categories of Management, Connectivity,
Mb See megabit.
Messaging, and Internet/Intranet Solutions
and in the client categories of AS/400 Inte- MBCP See Master Business Continuity
gration, Unix Integration, and Windows Professional.
NT Integration.
Mbone See multicast backbone.
See also Certified Novell Engineer.
MBps See megabytes per second.
Master Certified Novell Instructor
Mbps See megabits per second.
Abbreviated MCNI. An advanced Novell
certification program for trainers who want MCA See Microchannel Architecture.

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McAfee Associates, Inc.

McAfee Associates, Inc. A major pro- mean time to repair Abbreviated

vider of antivirus, help desk, security, and MTTR. The statistically derived average
encryption software. Merged with Network length of time, expressed in hours, that it
General Corporation to form Network As- takes to make a system-level repair.
sociates in 1997. See also mean time between failures.
See also Network Associates, Inc.
media access control Abbreviated
MCI See Media Control Interface. MAC. The lower component of the data-
link layer that governs access to the trans-
MCNE See Master Certified Novell
mission medium. The logical link control
Engineer.
layer is the upper component of the data-
MCNI See Master Certified Novell link layer. MAC is used in CSMA/CD and
Instructor. token-ring LANs as well as in other types of
networks.
MCP See Microsoft Certified
Professional. media access control protocol See
access control list.
MCR See Minimum Cell Rate.
Media Control Interface Abbreviated
MCSD See Microsoft Certified Solu-
MCI. A standard interface used for control-
tions Developer.
ling multimedia files and devices. Each de-
MCSE See Microsoft Certified Systems vice has its own device driver that
Engineer. implements a standard set of MCI func-
tions, such as stop, play, and record.
MCT See Microsoft Certified Trainer.
media filter A device used to convert the
MDHCP See Multicast DHCP. output signal from a token-ring adapter
MDI See multiple document interface. board to work with a specific type of wir-
ing. For example, a media filter can link
mean time between failures Abbrevi- 16Mbps token-ring network interface
ated MTBF. The statistically derived aver- cards with unshielded twisted-pair (UTP)
age length of time for which a system wiring, thus saving the expense of addition-
component operates before failing. MTBF al cable runs.
is expressed in thousands or tens of thou-
sands of hours, also called power-on hours,
or POH.
See also mean time to repair.

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megahertz

THE MAC SUBLAYER

medium attachment unit Abbreviated formation moving across a network or

MAU. A transceiver that attaches to the communications link in one second, mea-
AUI (Attachment Unit Interface) port on an sured in multiples of 1,048,576 bits.
Ethernet adapter and provides electrical
and mechanical attachments to fiber-optic megabyte Abbreviated MB. Usually
cable, twisted-pair cable (TP), or other me- 1,048,576 bytes. Megabytes are a common
dia types. unit of measurement for computer memory
or hard-disk capacity.
meg A common abbreviation for
megabyte. megabytes per second Abbreviated
MBps. A measurement of the amount of in-
mega- Abbreviated M. A prefix meaning
formation moving across a network or
one million in the metric system. Because
communications link in one second, mea-
computing is based on powers of 2, mega
sured in multiples of 1,048,576 bytes.
usually means 220, or 1,048,576; the power
of 2 closest to one million. megahertz Abbreviated MHz. One mil-
lion cycles per second. A processor’s clock
megabit Abbreviated Mbit. Usually
speed is often expressed in megahertz.
1,048,576 binary digits or bits of data. Of-
ten used as equivalent to 1 million bits. The original IBM PC operated an Intel
See also bit; megabits per second. 8088 processor running at 4.77 MHz; to-
day’s Pentium processor runs at 450 MHz;
megabits per second Abbreviated and IBM has announced an experimental
Mbps. A measurement of the amount of in- processor capable of speeds of 1000 MHz.

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member server

member server In Microsoft Windows The Intel 82385 cache controller chip was
NT, a server that participates in a security used with fast static RAM on some systems
domain, but that does not act as a domain to increase performance, but more up-to-
controller and does not store domain user date processors include cache-management
accounts. functions on the main processor.
A member server can be used to store The Intel Pentium contains two separate
shared data, but a user must be authenticat- 512KB caches, one each for data and in-
ed by a primary or a backup domain con- structions.
troller before gaining access to the member See also cache; level 2 cache.
server.
memory chip A chip that holds data or
memory The primary physical RAM in-
program instructions. A memory chip may
stalled in the computer. The operating sys-
hold its contents temporarily, as in the case
tem copies applications from disk into
of RAM, or permanently, as in the case of
memory, where all program execution and
ROM.
data processing take place, and then writes
the results back to disk. The amount of memory leak A programming error that
memory installed in the computer can de- causes a program to request new areas of
termine the size and number of programs computer memory rather than reusing the
that it can run, as well as the size of the larg- memory already assigned to it. This causes
est data file. the amount of memory in use by the pro-
See also dynamic RAM; static RAM; swap- gram to increase as time goes on. In a worst
ping; virtual memory. case, the application may consume all avail-
able memory and stop the computer.
memory address The exact location in
memory that stores a particular data item memory management The way in
or program instruction. which the operating system handles the use
of memory, usually as a combination of
memory board A printed circuit board physical memory and virtual memory.
containing memory chips. When all the
When applications are loaded, they are as-
sockets on a memory board are filled and
signed space in which to run and store data.
the board contains the maximum amount
As they are removed, the memory space
of memory that it can manage, it is said to
they occupied is released for use by the next
be “fully populated.”
program to run.
memory cache An area of high-speed See also memory leak.
memory on the processor that stores com-
monly used code or data obtained from memory management unit Abbrevi-
slower memory, eliminating the need to ated MMU. The part of the processor that
access the system’s main memory to fetch manages the mapping of virtual memory
instructions. addresses to actual physical addresses.

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message-enabled application

In some systems, such as those based on ear- Merge An MS-DOS emulator from Lo-
ly Intel or Motorola processors, the MMU cus Computing that runs MS-DOS and
was a separate chip; however, in most of to- Windows applications under Unix.
day’s systems, the MMU is integrated into
the processor itself. Merge provides a complete MS-DOS envi-
ronment and acts as though your system is
memory map The organization and al- running only MS-DOS. Merge is available
location of memory in a computer. A mem-
for UnixWare, SCO, and other systems.
ory map indicates the amount of memory
used by the operating system, as well as the mesh network A network topology in
amount remaining for use by applications. which every device is connected by a cable
memory-resident Always located in the to every other device on the network. Mul-
computer’s memory and available for use; tiple links to each device are used to provide
not swapped out. network link redundancy.

MESH NETWORK

message channel A form of interpro- See also pipe; queue; semaphore.

cess communication found in multitasking
operating systems. Interprocess communi- message-enabled application See
cations allow two programs running in the mail-aware application.
same computer to share information.

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Message Handling Service

Message Handling Service Abbreviat- MAPI Version 3.2 provides for cross-plat-
ed MHS. A protocol for e-mail storage, form messaging independent from the op-
management, and exchange, originally cre- erating system.
ated by Action Technologies and then li- See also mail-aware application; Vendor
censed by Novell. MHS can collect, route, Independent Messaging.
and deliver e-mail and other files by using
store-and-forward technology. Messenger service In Microsoft Win-
dows NT, a service that sends and receives
Message Handling System The messages sent by the system administrator
CCITT X.400 standard protocol for global or by the Alerter service.
store-and-forward messaging. The X.400
See also Alerter service; service.
standard specifies everything from the type
of data that a message can contain to rules metafile A file that contains both data
for converting between different message and output control information. For exam-
types, such as from fax to text or vice versa. ple, a graphics metafile contains not only a
See also Consultative Committee for Inter- graphical image of some kind, but also in-
national Telephony and Telegraphy; formation on how the image is to be dis-
X.500. played. Use of a metafile allows one single
version of the image to be output to a vari-
message switching A routing method ety of display devices.
that uses store-and-forward techniques. metering The process of tracking appli-
Each message contains a destination ad- cation software use and availability across a
dress and is passed from source to destina- network to ensure that the terms of the li-
tion through a series of intermediate nodes. cense are being met. Metering can also be
At each intermediate node, the message is used to predict when a license will expire
stored briefly, reviewed, and then forward- and require renewal.
ed to the next node. Message switching al- metropolitan-area network Abbrevi-
lows a network operating system to ated MAN. A public, high-speed network,
regulate traffic and to use the available capable of voice and data transmission over
communications links effectively. a distance of up to 80 kilometers (50 miles).
A MAN is smaller than a wide-area net-
Messaging API Abbreviated MAPI. An
work (WAN) but larger than a local-area
interface used to add messaging capabilities
network (LAN).
to any Microsoft Windows application.
MAPI handles the details of message stor- MFS See Macintosh File System.
age and forwarding and directory services.
MFT See master file table.
Originally developed by Microsoft, MAPI
MHS See Message Handling Service.
has become a widely supported industry
standard. MHz See megahertz.

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Microcom Networking Protocol

MIB See Management Information See also machine language.

Base.
Microcom Networking Protocol Ab-
MIB variables The information stored in breviated MNP. A set of communications
a Management Information Base (MIB) da- protocols from Microcom, Inc., that has be-
tabase, which can be accessed and managed come the standard for data compression and
by network management protocols such as error detection and correction, as follows:
Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP).
■
MNP 1 to 4define hardware error control.

See also Management Information Base;

■
MNP 5 describes a method of data com-
Simple Network Management Protocol. pression that achieves a 2-to-1 compres-
sion ratio.
Microchannel Architecture Abbreviat- ■
MNP 6 describes a communication pro-
ed MCA. A 32-bit, proprietary expansion tocol that begins with V.22 bis modula-
bus, first introduced by IBM in 1987 for the tion and then switches to V.29 when
IBM PS/2 range of computers and also used possible.
in the IBM RS/6000 series.
■
MNP 7describes a method of data com-
MCA was designed for multiprocessing. It pression that achieves a 3-to-1 compres-
allows expansion boards to identify them- sion ratio.
selves, thus eliminating many of the con-
flicts that arose through the use of manual
■
MNP 8 is based on MNP 7 and adds a
settings in the original bus. The MCA bus V.29 technique that lets half-duplex de-
can also be driven independently by multi- vices operate as full-duplex.
ple bus master processors. ■
MNP 9 contains a proprietary technique
MCA is physically and electronically in- that provides good performance over a
compatible with expansion boards that fol- wide variety of link types.
low the earlier 16-bit AT bus standard; the ■
MNP 10 describes an extremely rigorous
boards are about 50 percent smaller, and error control protocol that is well suited
the bus depends on proprietary integrated for use on extremely noisy links. MNP 10
circuits. has been adopted for use in cellular
See also Extended Industry Standard Ar- modems.
chitecture; Industry Standard Architecture; These days the CCITT V standards are im-
local bus; Peripheral Component Intercon- plemented in modems due to their world-
nect local bus. wide acceptance; however, some modem
manufacturers offer both.
microcode Low-level instructions that
define how a particular microprocessor For more information on Microcom, Inc.,
works by specifying what the processor see www.microcom.com
does when it executes a machine-language See also Consultative Committee for Inter-
instruction. national Telephony and Telegraphy.

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microcomputer

microcomputer Any computer based on consumer, government, business, and edu-

a single-chip processor. Many of today’s cation markets.
microcomputers are as powerful as main-
For more information on Micron Technol-
frame models designed just a few years ago;
ogy, see www.micronpc.com.
they are also smaller and cheaper.
See also workstation. microprocessor A central processor
unit on a single chip, often referred to as the
microkernel An alternative operating- processor.
system kernel design developed by re- The first microprocessor was developed by
searchers at Carnegie-Mellon University Intel in 1969. The microprocessors most
and implemented in the Mach operating often used in Apple Macintosh computers
system. are manufactured by Motorola, and Intel
Traditionally, the kernel has been a mono- microprocessors are commonly used in
lithic piece of the operating system, resident the PC.
in memory at all times. It takes care of op-
microsegmentation The division of a
erations as varied as virtual memory man-
network into smaller segments, usually
agement, network support, file input/
with the aim of increasing bandwidth.
output, and task scheduling.
The microkernel is a stripped-down kernel Microsoft Access A popular relational
that is only concerned with loading, run- database program from Microsoft.
ning, and scheduling tasks. All other oper- Microsoft BackOffice A network soft-
ating system functions (virtual memory ware suite from Microsoft that runs on
management, disk input/output, and so on) Windows NT Server and consists of Mi-
are implemented and managed as tasks run- crosoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL
ning on top of the microkernel. Server, Microsoft Site Server, Microsoft
micron A unit of measurement. One mil- SNA Server, Microsoft Proxy Server, and
lionth of a meter, corresponding to approx- Microsoft System Management Server.
imately 1/25,000 of an inch. The core See also Microsoft Office.
diameter of fiber-optic cable for networks is
often specified in terms of microns; 62.5 mi- Microsoft Certified Product
crons is a common size. Specialist See Microsoft Certified
Professional.
Micron Technology, Inc. A major man-
ufacturer of DRAM (dynamic RAM) com- Microsoft Certified Professional Ab-
ponents, flash memory, synchronous breviated MCP. A basic certification from
SRAM (static RAM), and graphics DRAM. Microsoft designed to establish expertise
Micron Technology also owns a majority with at least one Microsoft operating sys-
interest in Micron Electronics, a manufac- tem. Previously known as the Microsoft
turer of direct-sales PCs and servers for the Certified Product Specialist.

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Microsoft Corporation

An MCP+Internet certification is also avail- Microsoft Corporation The world’s

able and covers the use of Internet Explorer, largest and most successful software com-
designing and building a Web site, and con- pany, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and
figuring and troubleshooting Microsoft’s Paul Allen.
implementation of TCP/IP.
Microsoft’s great initial success was in sup-
Microsoft Certified Solutions plying IBM with the PC-DOS operating sys-
Developer Abbreviated MCSD. An ad- tem for the IBM PC and then providing
vanced certification from Microsoft for versions of MS-DOS to the clone manufac-
computer professionals who develop cus- turers. Microsoft released Windows 3 in
tom applications using Microsoft products May 1990 and continued to upgrade Win-
and computer programming language dows regularly. The release of Windows NT
packages. Three core exams focus on oper- during 1993 consolidated Microsoft’s posi-
ating system architecture, and two elective
tion as a leading developer of operating sys-
exams concentrate on programming and
tems, and Windows 2000 will continue this
database concepts and skills.
trend.
Microsoft Certified Systems In addition to operating systems and its ex-
Engineer Abbreviated MCSE. An ad- tensive computer language products, Mi-
vanced certification from Microsoft that crosoft markets a wide range of applications,
requires passing four core and two elective
including Microsoft Word, a word proces-
exams. The core exams cover the basic
sor; Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet; Mi-
concepts and skills involved in installing,
crosoft Access, a database program;
using, maintaining, and troubleshooting a
Microsoft Publisher, a desktop publishing
Windows NT Server network, and the
program; and Microsoft Office, an integrat-
elective exams cover other server topics
and advanced networking concepts. ed software suite. Microsoft also provides an
extensive set of Internet-related products, in-
An MCSE+Internet certification is also cluding Internet Explorer, FrontPage, and
available and covers the use of Internet Ex-
Internet Information Server.
plorer, designing and building a Web site
using Internet Information Server, and con- The Microsoft consumer division now has
figuring and troubleshooting Microsoft’s more than 50 products, including popular
implementation of TCP/IP. multimedia titles such as Encarta and Cin-
emania, an interactive movie guide. Mi-
Microsoft Certified Trainer Abbreviat- crosoft Press publishes and distributes
ed MCT. A certification from Microsoft for
computer-related books and CD-ROM
technical trainers. An MCT certification is
products to bookstores.
required before you can teach Microsoft
Official Curriculum courses at Microsoft For more information on Microsoft, see
Authorized Technical Education Centers. www.microsoft.com.

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Microsoft Disk Operating System

Microsoft Disk Operating System Additional components called snap-ins

Abbreviated MS-DOS. A single-user, sin- provide the management functions.
gle-tasking operating system, with either a See also Computer Management; snap-in.
command-line or shell interface, for use on
Intel processors, first introduced in 1981. Microsoft LAN Manager A network
operating system, developed by Microsoft
Microsoft Excel A popular spreadsheet and 3Com, based on a version of OS/2;
program from Microsoft. client PCs can run OS/2, MS-DOS, Unix, or
Microsoft Exchange Server A client/ Macintosh. Disk mirroring, disk duplexing,
server message-management system from and UPS (uninterruptible power supply)
Microsoft. Exchange Server provides enter- monitoring functions are available. The
prise-wide message exchange by integrating network operating system supports IPX/
e-mail, scheduling, document sharing, and SPX, TCP/IP, and NetBEUI. LAN Manager
electronic forms and also connects to the interoperates with, and has largely been
Internet and other networks outside the en- superseded by, Windows NT Server.
terprise allowing global messaging. Ex- Microsoft NetMeeting An Internet-
change uses Microsoft Outlook as the client. based audio- and video-conferencing appli-
Exchange Server is a component of Mi- cation from Microsoft.
crosoft BackOffice.
Microsoft NetShow A client/server
Microsoft FrontPage An HTML editor streaming audio and video application
from Microsoft that combines Web-page from Microsoft. The NetShow server runs
creation with graphical Web site publica- on Windows NT and streams audio, video,
tion and management. and animation to the client, a multimedia
player.
Microsoft Internet Explorer A popular
Web browser from Microsoft, which is also Microsoft Office A popular business
integrated into Windows 98. software suite from Microsoft that runs on
Microsoft Windows and the Macintosh
Microsoft Internet Information and includes Microsoft Word, Microsoft
Server A powerful and capable Web Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft
server package from Microsoft that runs on Outlook, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Pub-
Windows NT Server. lisher, Microsoft FrontPage, and Microsoft
See also Microsoft Site Server. PhotoDraw.
See also Microsoft BackOffice.
Microsoft Management Console
Abbreviated MMC. In Microsoft Windows Microsoft Office Expert Abbreviated
2000, a framework for Microsoft and MOE. An advanced certification from Mi-
third-party management applications that crosoft that demonstrates complete famil-
provides a consistent user interface. iarity with the Microsoft Office suite of

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Microsoft Transaction Server

applications, both individually and as a See also Microsoft Internet Information

group. Server.

Microsoft Office Expert Specialist Microsoft SNA Server A server compo-

Abbreviated MOES. A middle-level certifi- nent from Microsoft that provides Win-
cation from Microsoft that demonstrates dows, Macintosh, MS-DOS, and OS/2
familiarity with more complex tasks in the clients with access to IBM’s AS/400 and
Microsoft Office suite of applications. mainframe systems using System Network
Microsoft Office Proficient Specialist Architecture (SNA).
Abbreviated MOPS. A basic certification Microsoft SQL Server A Windows NT
from Microsoft that demonstrates familiar- Server–based relational database manage-
ity with basic tasks in Microsoft Word or ment system from Microsoft that also in-
Microsoft Excel. cludes development tools, system manage-
ment tools, data replication processes, and
Microsoft Outlook A popular e-mail ap-
an open development environment.
plication from Microsoft, which also in-
cludes scheduling and calendar functions, a Microsoft Systems Management
contact-management module, and a simple Server A set of network management
project-management tool. tools from Microsoft, designed to provide a
single point for managing network and client
Microsoft Outlook Express An easy-
hardware and software (SMS hardware and
to-use e-mail application, distributed with
software inventory functions track more
Internet Explorer; both are available from
than 200 properties for each desktop),
Microsoft.
software distribution, application metering
Microsoft Services for Macintosh and licensing, and troubleshooting.
Software that allows a Macintosh client to
Microsoft Terminal Server A software
share files on a Windows NT server.
package that provides clients with access to
Microsoft Services for NetWare Soft- Windows-based applications running on
ware for NetWare servers that allows Net- the server rather than on the local system.
Ware clients to access Windows NT The server receives and processes all key-
services. strokes and mouse clicks sent from the
Microsoft Site Server A Microsoft client and sends the output back to the
package of tools for creating and managing appropriate client. The server manages all
Internet or intranet Web sites. resources for each connected client and
provides each logged-in user with his or
Site Server includes Site Analyst, Usage An-
her own environment.
alyst, Personalization System, Commerce
Server, Publishing Solution, Knowledge Microsoft Transaction Server Often
Management Solution, and the Analysis abbreviated MTS. A package from
Solution. Microsoft for developing and deploying

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Microsoft Visual Basic

distributed transaction-processing system in the Virtual FAT, which allows

applications. filenames of up to 255 characters while also
See also online transaction processing. supporting the MS-DOS 8.3 filenaming
conventions.
Microsoft Visual Basic Often abbreviat- Applets include WordPad (a word proces-
ed VB. A version of the BASIC programming sor), Paint, and WinPad (a personal infor-
language that allows developers to create mation manager), as well as system tools
Windows applications quickly and easily. such as Backup, ScanDisk, Disk Defrag-
Microsoft Windows A general name for menter, and DriveSpace. The Start button
the family of operating systems available and desktop Taskbar make application
from Microsoft that includes Windows CE, management easy and straightforward.
Windows 95/98, and Windows 2000. Windows 95 supports TCP/IP, IPX/SPX,
NetBEUI, NDIS, FTP, SLIP, and PPP com-
Microsoft Windows 2000 A family of
munications and networking protocols.
powerful operating systems from Mi-
crosoft, based on Windows NT, including See also protocol.
Windows 2000 Professional for worksta-
Microsoft Windows 98 An evolution-
tion users, Windows 2000 Server, and Win-
ary upgrade to Windows 95; includes an in-
dows 2000 Advanced Server. Windows
tegrated Web browser, several other Web-
2000 Datacenter Server is a 64-bit version
based tools for conferencing, e-mail, Web
capable of addressing 64GB of physical
page creation, and Web publishing.
RAM and managing 16 processors.
Windows 98 also includes a complete set of
Microsoft Windows 3.1 A 16-bit graph- capable and easy-to-use tools for tasks such
ical operating environment that runs on as defragmenting hard disks, compressing
top of MS-DOS on Intel-based PCs, featur- files, testing disks, and monitoring the sys-
ing overlapping windowed areas, drop- tem and supports new multimedia hard-
down menus, and mouse support. The three ware and entertainment technologies.
main elements of Windows 3.1 are the File
You can choose between the classic Win-
Manager (used to manage files, directories,
dows interface familiar to Windows 95 us-
and disks), the Program Manager (which
ers and the Active Desktop.
manages applications), and the Print
Manager (which coordinates printers and Microsoft Windows CE A small, 32-bit
printing). operating system for hand-held portable
computers and other specialized devices
Microsoft Windows 95 A 32-bit, multi-
such as telephones, cable decoder boxes,
tasking, multithreaded desktop operating
and television sets.
system capable of running MS-DOS, Win-
dows 3.1, and Windows 95 applications. It Microsoft Windows NT Server Mi-
supports Plug and Play (on the appropriate crosoft’s flagship 32-bit network operating
hardware) and adds an enhanced FAT file system, which provides high levels of security,

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middleware

manageability, reliability, and performance. Microsoft Word A popular and fully

Runs on servers based on Intel, Alpha, and featured word processor from Microsoft.
MIPS processors, includes preemptive multi- Wizards help users with tasks such as mail
tasking and multiple threads of execution, merge and formatting, and you can custom-
and supports all major networking protocols. ize the various toolbars and menu bars to
NT Server supports fault tolerance with suit your individual needs. Word also sup-
disk mirroring, disk duplexing, RAID ports a powerful macro language
(redundant array of inexpensive disks), micro-to-mainframe Any form of con-
and UPS (uninterruptible power supply) nection that attaches a PC to a mainframe-
monitoring. based network. Often used to describe soft-
The user interface is similar to those avail- ware (called terminal-emulation software)
able in other members of the Windows fam- that allows the microcomputer to access
ily. The latest version of NT Server includes data and applications on the mainframe
Internet Information Server (a Web server), system.
DNS Server, and multiprotocol router sup-
See also terminal emulation.
port. All popular interprocess communica-
tions protocols for distributed computing microwave A method of radio transmis-
are available, including Windows Sockets sion that uses high-frequency waves (in the
and Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs). range of 1 to 30 gigahertz) for line-of-sight
See also Microsoft Windows 2000. broadband communications. It requires a
repeater station every 20 miles or so because
Microsoft Windows NT Services for of the curvature of the earth. Microwaves
Unix A package from Microsoft Corpo- are used for satellite communications, for
ration that provides Unix services on a Win- communications between two buildings in a
dows NT system, including several popular metropolitan area, and across large open ar-
command-line utilities, the Perl program- eas such as lakes and rivers where laying a
ming language, and a variety of Unix script- cable may be impractical.
ing tools.
See also broadband network; repeater.
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation
Microsoft’s high-end 32-bit operating sys- middleware A category of software that
tem, which provides high levels of security, shields an application from the underlying
manageability, reliability, networking, and mechanics of a network so that the devel-
performance. Runs on workstations based opers of an application do not have to know
on Intel, Alpha, and MIPS processors and in advance which network and communi-
supports preemptive multitasking and mul- cations protocols will be used.
tiple threads of execution. The user inter- Middleware is often implemented in a client/
face is similar to those available in other server environment in which it allows sys-
members of the Windows family. tems to exchange information or connect,
See also Microsoft Windows 2000. even though they use different interfaces.

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midsplit

midsplit A special type of broadband millisecond Abbreviated ms or msec.

cable system that divides the available fre- A unit of measurement equal to one-
quencies into two groups: one for trans- thousandth of a second. In computing,
mission and the other for reception. hard disk and CD-ROM drive access times
See also broadband network. are often described in milliseconds; the
higher the number, the slower the disk
migration In Novell NetWare, the pro- system.
cess of upgrading bindery and other infor-
millivolt Abbreviated mv. A unit of mea-
mation to a newer version of the network
surement equal to one-thousandth of a volt.
operating system.
See also bindery. MIME See Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extension.
Migration Tool for NetWare A Mi-
MIME Content Type Information con-
crosoft Windows NT utility loaded with the
tained in a Multipurpose Internet Mail Exten-
Gateway Service for NetWare that dupli-
sion (MIME) message header indicates the
cates user account and group and security
content type of the data contained in the next
information from a NetWare server onto a
part of the message. Table M.1 lists the seven
Windows NT server, allowing a migration
major content types as well as the subtypes.
from NetWare to NT.
See also Secure MIME.
milli- Abbreviated m. A prefix meaning
one-thousandth in the metric system, often
expressed as 10-3.

TABLE M.1 MIME CONTENT TYPES

Content Type Subtype Description

Text Plain Unformatted text.

Rich Text Formatted text.

Multipart Mixed Multiple parts of different types.

Alternative Multiple parts containing the same data in differ-

ent formats.

Digest Message digest with multiple parts all in the same

format.

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Minimum Cell Rate

TABLE M.1 MIME CONTENT TYPES (CONTINUED)

Content Type Subtype Description

Parallel Multiple parts to be viewed simultaneously, such

as audio and video data.

Message RFC822 E-mail message.

Partial Message was fragmented for transmission as the

original was larger than 64Kb.

External-body External data should be referenced, such as data at

an ftp site.

Application Octet-stream Binary data associated with no known application.

PostScript PostScript document ready for printing.

SGML SGML data.

Image JPEG JPEG image data.

GIF GIF image data.

Audio Basic Audio data.

Video MPEG MPEG video data.

minicomputer A medium-sized comput- See also PC Memory Card International

er running a multitasking operating system Association.
capable of managing more than 100 users
simultaneously, suitable for use in a small Minimum Cell Rate Abbreviated MCR.
company or a single corporate or govern- In Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM),
ment department. the minimum cell rate that must be provid-
ed for a connection to conform to a specific
See also mainframe computer;
quality of service (QoS) class.
workstation.
See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode;
mini-hard disk A hard disk mounted on Available Cell Rate; Peak Cell Rate; Sus-
a Type III PC Card. tainable Cell Rate.

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MIPS

MIPS Acronym for millions of instruc- MLID See multiple-link interface driver.
tions per second. A measure of the process-
MMC See Microsoft Management Con-
ing speed of a computer’s CPU.
sole.
See also benchmark program.
MMJ See modified modular jack.
mirroring The process of duplicating MMU See memory management unit.
stored information in real time to protect vi-
tal data from unexpected hardware failures. mnemonic Pronounced “nee-monic.” A
name or abbreviation used to help you re-
See also clustering; disk duplexing; disk
member a long or complex instruction. Pro-
mirroring; fault tolerance; redundant array
gramming languages use many mnemonics
of inexpensive disks.
to represent complex instructions.
mirror site 1. A duplicate Web site. A MNP See Microcom Networking
mirror site contains the same information Protocol.
as the original Web site and reduces traffic
MO See Magneto-optical storage.
on that site by providing a local or regional
alternative. mobile computing 1. The daily use of a
2. A duplicate data center. Large compa- portable or laptop computer as a normal
nies running mission-critical applications part of the workday.
often mirror their entire data center so that 2. Techniques used to establish links to a
the company can continue to function if the network by employees who move from one
main center is hit by a natural disaster. remote location to another, such as mem-
bers of a sales staff or telecommuters who
MIS See Management Information work from home. Once the connection is
System.
made, users log in and access network re-
mission-critical application A comput- sources as easily as if they were working
er application whose function is vital to the from a computer in the corporate office.
operation of the corporation using it; also See also docking station; laptop computer;
called line-of-business application. portable computer; port replicator; wire-
less communications.
mixed mode In Microsoft Windows
2000 Server, a domain that contains at least mobile IP A mechanism that allows mo-
one Windows NT domain controller. As a bility on the Internet by allowing a comput-
safety precaution, all Windows 2000 do- er to use the same IP address as it moves
mains start up in mixed mode and must be from one location to another. Mobile IP
converted to native mode manually. also allows a user to change from one me-
See also native mode. dium, such as Ethernet, to another, perhaps
a wireless connection.
MJ See modular jack. See also Ethernet; Internet Protocol.

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modulation

modem Contraction of modulator/ All posts to the newsgroup are reviewed by

demodulator; a device that allows a com- the moderator to make sure they meet the
puter to transmit information over a tele- standards the group has set for subject mat-
phone line. ter and commercial content before being
passed on to the whole group. Moderation
The modem translates between the digi-
is not censorship but an attempt to avoid
tal signals that the computer uses and
some of the more extreme antics of those
analog signals suitable for transmission
who enjoy flame wars.
over telephone lines. When transmitting,
the modem modulates the digital data onto See also flame war; listserver; mailing list;
a carrier signal on the telephone line. moderator.
When receiving, the modem performs the
reverse process to demodulate the data moderator A person or small group of
from the carrier signal. people who review the contents of all posts
to a Usenet newsgroup or Internet mailing
Modems usually operate at speeds up to
list to ensure that the postings meet the
56Kbps over standard telephone lines and
standards set by the group. Moderators are
at higher rates over leased lines.
almost always volunteers, so be nice to
See also baud rate; external modem; inter- them.
nal modem.
See also moderated newsgroup.
modem eliminator A device that allows
two computers to be linked without using modified modular jack Abbreviated
modems. In an asynchronous system, in MMJ. A six-pin connector developed by
which the serial ports of two PCs are connect- Digital Equipment Corporation used to
ed, the modem eliminator is a null-modem connect serial lines to terminal devices.
cable. In synchronous systems, a modem MMJ jacks have a side-locking tab and so
eliminator must also provide timing func- can be distinguished from RJ-11 jacks,
tions to synchronize communications. which have a center-mounted tab.
See also modular jack; RJ-11.
modem server A LAN server that al-
lows a network user to dial out of the net- modular jack Abbreviated MJ. The jack
work into the Public Switched Telephone used to connect telephone cables to a wall-
System or to access leased lines for asyn- mounted face plate.
chronous communications. Also called an
asynchronous communications server or a See also modified modular jack; RJ-11.
dial-in/dial-out server.
modulation In communications, the pro-
moderated newsgroup On the Inter- cess used by a modem to add the digital sig-
net, a Usenet newsgroup or mailing list that nal onto the carrier signal so that the signal
is managed by one or more people in an at- can be transmitted over a telephone line. The
tempt to maintain standards. frequency, amplitude, or phase of a signal

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module

may be modulated to represent a digital or for Intel’s Gordon Moore, who first made
an analog signal. this statement in 1965.
See also carrier signal; demodulation.
MOPS See Microsoft Office Proficient
Specialist.
module In programming, a self-contained
portion of a larger program written, tested, Mosaic A Web browser, released on the
and compiled separately. Normally, a mod- Internet in 1993 by the National Center for
ule performs only one specific operation. Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at
See also NetWare Loadable Module; the University of Illinois, and placed in the
Virtual Loadable Module. public domain.

Although Mosaic was one of the first

MOE See Microsoft Office Expert.
graphical Web browsers and was available
MOES See Microsoft Office Expert free for most computing platforms, it has
Specialist. been overtaken by Netscape Navigator and
Microsoft Internet Explorer.
MONITOR A Novell NetWare server
utility that displays information about the motherboard The main printed circuit
server, including the time elapsed since the board in a computer, containing the central
server was booted, percent utilization of the processing unit, appropriate coprocessor
server’s processor, number of disk blocks and support chips, device controllers, and
available, the number of blocks waiting to memory. It may also include expansion slots
be written to disk, the number of connec- to give access to the computer’s internal bus.
tions to the server, and the number of files
being accessed. It also provides information Motorola, Inc. A major manufacturer of
about server disks, LAN drivers, and other microprocessors, including those used in
attached mass-storage devices. Macintosh computers, founded in 1928 in
See also SERVMAN; SET.
Chicago. Motorola is also extensively in-
volved in radio and data communications
Monitrix for NetWare A package of and in automotive and industrial products.
network management utilities from Chey- For more information on Motorola, see
enne Software, Inc., that includes hardware www.motorola.com.
and software inventory, server monitoring,
traffic monitoring, and virus protection. mount 1. The method by which nodes
The package also includes automatic task- access network resources in the Network
scheduling and reporting functions. File System (NFS) and other networks.

Moore’s Law States that the number of 2. To load a disk volume or tape archive
transistors on a chip of a given size doubles so that users can access files and other
approximately every 18 months. Named resources.

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multicast

mounted drive In Microsoft Windows MPEG-2 covered HDTV. This standard is

2000, a drive or disk partition attached to a no longer used.
junction point on an NTFS volume. ■
MPEG-4 A standard designed for video
Mounted drives work just like other drives, phones and multimedia applications, with
but have a label or a name rather than a sin- a bandwidth of up to 64Kbps.
gle drive letter. See also lossy compression.
See also junction point.
MPEG See Moving Pictures Experts
mouse A small input device with one or Group.
more buttons used with graphical user inter-
MPOA See Multiprotocol over ATM.
faces. As the mouse moves, an on-screen
mouse cursor follows; all movements are rel- MPPP See PPP Multilink.
ative. Once the pointer is in the correct posi-
tion on the screen, you press one of the mouse ms See millisecond.
buttons to initiate an action or operation. MSAU See Multi-station Access Unit.
See also trackball.
MS-DOS See Microsoft Disk Operating
System.
Moving Pictures Experts Group Abbre-
viated MPEG. A set of image-compression MS-DOS prompt A visual confirmation
standards and file formats that defines a com- that MS-DOS is ready to receive input
pression method for desktop audio, anima- from the keyboard. The default prompt in-
tion, and video. cludes the current drive letter followed by
MPEG is a lossy compression method that a colon and a greater-than symbol, as in
results in some data loss when a video clip C:>. You can customize the MS-DOS
is compressed. The following standards are prompt by using the PROMPT command.
available: See also command line; command prompt.
■
MPEG-1 The original MPEG standard,
msec See millisecond.
designed for CD-ROM use, with a band-
width of 1.5Mbps, two audio channels, MTBF See mean time between failures.
and non-interlaced video.
MTTR See mean time to repair.
■
MPEG-2 An extension to MPEG-1, de-
signed for broadcast television, including multicast 1. A special form of broadcast
HDTV (High-Definition Television), with in which copies of a message are delivered
a bandwidth of up to 40Mbps, five audio to multiple stations but not to all possible
channels, interlaced video, and a wider stations.
range of frame sizes. 2. A data stream from a server from which
■
MPEG-3 A standard designed for multiple viewers can simultaneously watch
HDTV until it was discovered that a video.

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multicast backbone

See also broadcast; multicasting; unicast. multidrop line A circuit connecting sev-
eral stations or nodes on a single logical
multicast backbone Abbreviated link; also called a multipoint line.
Mbone. A method of transmitting digital
A multidrop line is often used in IBM’s SNA
video over the Internet in real time.
(Systems Network Architecture). It is con-
The TCP/IP protocols used for Internet trolled by a primary station, and the other
transmissions are unsuitable for real-time nodes are considered secondary.
audio or video; they were designed to deliv-
multihomed computer Any computer
er text and other files reliably, but with
system that contains multiple network inter-
some delay. MBONE requires the creation
face cards and is attached to several physically
of another backbone service with special
separate networks; also know as a multi-
hardware and software to accommodate
homed host. The term can also be applied to
video and audio transmissions; the existing
a computer configured with multiple IP ad-
Internet hardware cannot manage time-
dresses for a single network interface card.
critical transmissions.
See also IP Multicast; multicasting; Real- multihomed host See multihomed
time Transport Protocol; Resource Reser- computer.
vation Protocol; unicast. multilayer A printed circuit board that
contains several layers of circuitry. The lay-
Multicast DHCP Abbreviated MDHCP.
ers are laminated together to make a single
In Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, an ex-
board, onto which the other discrete com-
tension of Dynamic Host Control Protocol
ponents are added.
(DHCP) that distributes multicast address
configurations to network clients automat- multilink In Microsoft Windows NT
ically. Server Remote Access Server, the ability to
combine several slower data streams into
multicasting An Internet standard that one network connection. For example, you
allows a single host to distribute data to can use two 28.8Kbps modems to form a
multiple recipients. single 57.6Kbps connection.
Multicasting can deliver audio and video
Multilink Point-to-Point Protocol See
content in real time so that the person using
PPP Multilink.
the system can interact with the data stream.
A multicast group is created, and every mem- Multimaster Replication In Microsoft
ber of the group receives every datagram. Active Directory, the process by which Ac-
Membership is dynamic; when you join a tive Directory domains replicate and re-
group, you start to receive the datastream, solve conflicting updates as peers.
and when you leave the group, you no longer
All Active Directory domain controllers
receive the datastream.
maintain a writable copy of the domain data-
See also broadcast; IP Multicast; unicast. base, and updating any record on any domain

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multiplexing

controller will ensure that all other domain sending and receiving of packets to and
controllers are eventually updated. from the physical network medium.
See also Active Directory. See also link-support layer; Open Data-link
Interface/Network Driver Interface Specifi-
multimedia A computer technology that cation Support.
displays information using a combination
of full-motion video, animation, sound, multiple provider router In Microsoft
graphics, and text, with a high degree of Windows 2000, a function that allows two
user interaction. or more Win32 network application pro-
gram interface (API) providers to exist at
multimode fiber A fiber-optic cable the same time.
with a wide core that provides multiple
routes for light waves to travel. Multiple Universal Naming Conven-
tion Provider Abbreviated MUP. In Mi-
Its wider diameter of between 25 to 200 mi-
crosoft Windows 2000, a function that al-
crons prevents multimode fiber from carry-
lows two or more Universal Naming
ing signals as far as single-mode fiber due to
Convention (UNC) providers to exist at the
modal dispersion.
same time.
See also single-mode fiber.
MUP decides which UNC provider should
multipart virus A form of virus that in- handle the UNC request and forwards the
fects both the boot sector of a hard disk and request to that provider automatically.
executable files. Multipart viruses are diffi- Multiple Virtual Storage Abbreviated
cult to locate because they use stealth and MVS. IBM’s standard operating system for
polymorphic techniques to avoid detection. large mainframe computers.
See also boot sector virus; file-infecting vi- See also virtual machine.
rus; macro virus; polymorphic virus;
stealth virus; vaccine; virus. multiplexer Often abbreviated mux. A
device that merges several lower-speed trans-
multiple document interface Abbre- mission channels into one high-speed channel
viated MDI. In Microsoft Management at one end of the link. Another multiplexer
Console, an interface that allows more than reverses this process at the other end of the
one independently-running snap-in to be link to reproduce the low-speed channels.
loaded into the management window at the See also frequency-division multiplexing;
same time. inverse multiplexing; statistical multiplex-
See also Microsoft Management Console; ing; time-division multiplexing.
snap-in.
multiplexing A technique that transmits
multiple-link interface driver Abbrevi- several signals over a single communica-
ated MLID. A Novell Open Datalink Inter- tions channel. Frequency-division multi-
face (ODI) device driver that manages the plexing separates the signals by modulating

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multipoint line

the data into different carrier frequencies. Multiprotocol over ATM Abbreviated
Time-division multiplexing divides the MPOA. A proposal to allow layer three net-
available time among the various signals. work routing protocols over an Asynchro-
Statistical multiplexing uses statistical tech- nous Transfer Mode Switched network.
niques to dynamically allocate transmission Multiprotocol over ATM allows corpora-
space depending on the traffic pattern. tions to take advantage of ATM’s benefits
while still maintaining legacy LANs.
See also inverse multiplexing.
See also Integrated-Private Network-to-
Network Interface; IP over ATM; LAN
multipoint line See multidrop line.
Emulation.
multiprocessing The ability of an oper-
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension
ating system to use more than one processor
Abbreviated MIME. An Internet specifica-
in a single computer.
tion that allows users to send multiple-part
Symmetrical multiprocessing refers to the and multimedia messages, rather than sim-
operating system’s ability to assign tasks ple text messages. A MIME-enabled e-mail
dynamically to the next available proces- application can send PostScript images, bi-
sor. Asymmetrical multiprocessing requires nary files, audio messages, and digital video
that the original program designer choose over the Internet.
the processor to use for a given task when See also MIME Content Type; Secure
writing the program. MIME; uudecode; uuencode.

MULTIPLEXER

multiserver network A network that multiport wiring hub for token-ring net-
uses two or more file servers. works that can connect as many as eight
Multi-station Access Unit Abbreviat- lobes to a ring network. IBM refers to an
ed MAU; sometimes abbreviated MSAU. A MAU that can be managed remotely as a
Controlled Access Unit.

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MVS

multitasking The simultaneous execu- multiuser Windows See Terminal ser-

tion of two or more programs in one vices.
computer.
MUP See Multiple Universal Naming
multithreading The concurrent process- Convention Provider.
ing of several tasks or threads inside the
mutual authentication A feature of au-
same program. Because several threads can
thentication schemes such as Kerberos that
be processed in parallel, one thread does
requires both the client and the server to
not need to wait for another to finish before
prove their identity to each other before au-
starting.
thentication can proceed.
multiuser Describes an operating system See also Kerberos.
that supports more than one simultaneous
user. MS-DOS and Windows are single- mux See multiplexer.
user operating systems. Unix and its deriv-
mv See millivolt.
atives and networking operating systems
are multiuser systems. MVS See Multiple Virtual Storage.

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N
n See nano-. parent, for example, accounting.sybex
.com as a subdomain of sybex.com. In a
NAEC See Novell Authorized Education
disjointed namespace, a child domain does
Center.
not share its parent’s name, as in
NAK See negative acknowledgment. sybex.com and sybexnet.com.

named pipe A communications API name space In Novell NetWare, the

used by applications running on a network. ability of a NetWare volume to support files
Named pipes provide connection-oriented from non–MS-DOS clients.
messaging between a client and a server us-
Each client sees files on the server in its own
ing routines similar to those used in normal
format; a Macintosh client sees files as Mac-
operations for opening, reading, and writ-
intosh files, and a Unix client sees files as
ing to files.
Unix files. Name space support is enabled
See also mailslots; pipe; semaphore; per NetWare volume.
shared memory; socket.
See also name-space NLM.
name resolution The process of trans-
lating the appropriate numerical IP address, name-space NLM A specific type of
which is required by a computer, into a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) that
name that is more easily understood and re- allows non–MS-DOS filenaming conven-
membered by a person. tions, such as those used in OS/2, Unix, or
In the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Pro- the Macintosh system, to be stored in Net-
tocol/Internet Protocol) environment, Ware’s directory and filenaming systems.
names such as www.sybex.com are translat- NAMPS See Narrowband Advanced
ed into their IP equivalents by the Domain Mobile Phone Service.
Name Service (DNS). In a Microsoft Win-
dows environment, NetBIOS names are re- nano- Abbreviated n. A prefix meaning
solved into IP addresses by Windows one-billionth in the American numbering
Internet Naming Service (WINS). scheme, and one thousand millionth in the
British system.
namespace In Microsoft Active Directo-
ry, a collection of unique domain names. nanosecond Abbreviated ns. One-bil-
A namespace can be contiguous or dis- lionth of a second. The speed of computer
jointed. In a contiguous namespace, a child memory and logic chips is measured in
domain always contains the name of the nanoseconds.

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NCP

narrowband In communications, a several levels of increasingly complex se-

voice-grade transmission channel of 2400 curity measures.
bits per second or less. See also C2; Orange Book.
Narrowband Advanced Mobile Phone
National Information Infrastructure
Service Abbreviated NAMPS. A pro-
posed standard from Motorola that com- Abbreviated NII. A planned, high-speed,
bines the AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone public-access information service, designed
Service) cellular standard with digital sig- to reach millions of schools, homes, and
naling information. NAMPS is designed to businesses throughout the United States.
provide a higher level of performance, re- National Semiconductor Corp. A ma-
duce the number and incidence of dropped jor manufacturer of semiconductor prod-
calls, and greatly increase communications ucts based in Santa Clara, California. In
capabilities. 1997, National spun off its Fairchild Semi-
See also Advanced Mobile Phone Service; conductor division, and in 1998 acquired
Code Division Multiple Access; Time Divi- Mediamatics, a manufacturer of audio/vid-
sion Multiple Access. eo decoders, as well as chip maker Cyrix.
For more information on National Semi-
Narrow SCSI A Small Computer System
conductor, see www.national.com.
Interface (SCSI) or SCSI-2 interface capable
of transferring only 8 bits of data at a time native mode In Microsoft Windows
See also Fast SCSI; Fast/Wide SCSI; Wide 2000 Server, a domain that contains only
SCSI. Windows 2000 domain controllers.
See also mixed mode.
NAS See network attached storage.
nbtstat A utility program used to show
NAT See network address translation. active TCP/IP (Transmission Control Pro-
National Center for Supercomputing tocol/Internet Protocol) connections and
Applications Abbreviated NCSA. At the statistics for NetBIOS over TCP/IP.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham- See also ipconfig; netstat; Ping; subnet
paign, NCSA is credited with the creation mask; tracert.
of Mosaic, the first ever graphical Web
browser. NC See network computer.

National Computer Security Center NCB See Network Control Block.

Abbreviated NCSC. A branch of the U.S.
NCIP See Novell Certified Internet
National Security Agency that defines
Professional.
security for computer products. The De-
partment of Defense Standard 5200.28, NCP See NetWare Core Protocol;
also known as the Orange Book, specifies network control program.

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NCP

NCP See Network Control Protocol. NEAP See Novell Education Academic
Partner.
NCP packet signature In Novell Net-
Ware, a security feature that allows each near-end crosstalk Abbreviated NEXT.
workstation to add a special signature to Any interference that occurs close to a
each NetWare Core Protocol (NCP) packet connector at either end of a cable. NEXT is
going to the server. This signature changes usually measured near the source of the test
dynamically for each packet, protecting signal.
both the server and the workstation against See also crosstalk; far-end crosstalk.
unauthorized access or any attempt to
use unauthorized network privileges. NEC Corporation Major manufacturer
See also NetWare Core Protocol. of a wide range of electronic products, in-
cluding semiconductors, communications
NCSA See National Center for Super- equipment, the MultiSynch line of moni-
computing Applications. tors, LCD flat-panel monitors, plasma dis-
plays, and PCs.
NCSC See National Computer Security For more information on NEC Corpora-
Center. tion, see www.nec.com.
NDD See NetWare Directory Database. See also Packard Bell NEC.

NDIS See Network Driver Interface negative acknowledgment Abbreviat-

Specification. ed NAK. In communications, a control
code, ASCII 21, sent by the receiving com-
NDPS See Novell Distributed Print
puter to indicate that the data was not prop-
Services.
erly received and should be sent again.
NDS See Novell Directory Services. See also acknowledgment.

NDS for NT An add-on product from nested groups In Microsoft Windows

Novell that allows the management and in- 2000 Server, a group placed inside another
tegration of Windows NT domains from group.
within NetWare Administrator.
NETADMIN A Novell NetWare 4 utility
NDS tree In Novell Directory Services used to manage NetWare Directory Servic-
(NDS) , the container objects and all the leaf es (NDS) objects. This utility has many of
objects that make up the hierarchical struc- the same features and controls many of the
ture of the NDS database. Also known as same functions as the Windows-based pro-
the Directory Tree. gram NWADMIN.
See also container object; leaf object; NETADMIN replaces the functions found
Novell Directory Services. in several NetWare 3.x utilities, including

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netiquette

DSPACE, SECURITY, SYSCON, and designed to run on Intel processors. The dis-
USERDEF, and has itself been replaced in tribution is usually free, although there may
NetWare 5 by NetWare Administrator. be a small charge to cover the distribution
See also NetWare Administrator. media and packaging.
NetBSD emphasizes multiple platform sup-
NetBEUI See NetBIOS Extended User port and so has been ported to several non-
Interface. Intel systems.
NETBIOS A Novell NetWare 3.x work- See also FreeBSD; Linux.
station utility used to determine if the client
software NETBIOS.EXE is loaded and, if netcasting A method used to deliver Web
so, which interrupts it is using. content automatically to the desktop. Net-
casting is referred to as push technology be-
NetBIOS See network basic input/ cause content is pushed from a Web site to
output system. those users who requested receipt of the con-
NetBIOS Extended User Interface. tent. Content can include weather forecasts,
Abbreviated NetBEUI, pronounced “net- stock market quotes, or software updates.
boo-ee.” A network device driver for the See also Castanet; Marimba, Inc.; Point-
transport layer supplied with Microsoft’s Cast, Inc.; server push.
LAN Manager, Windows for Workgroups,
and Windows NT. NetBEUI communicates NET.CFG A Novell NetWare worksta-
with the network interface card via the NDIS tion configuration file that contains infor-
(Network Driver Interface Specification). mation used to configure the client software
on the workstation. The file is read once,
NetBEUI is a small protocol with no net-
during startup of the network files.
working layer and therefore no routing
capability. It is suitable only for small net- For normal network use, the default values
works; you cannot build internetworks us- established in this file usually work. In some
ing NetBEUI, and so it is often replaced cases, the NET.CFG values must be adjust-
with TCP/IP. ed to work with particular applications or
in certain configurations.
Microsoft has added extensions to Net-
BEUI in Windows NT to remove the limi- NetDDE See Network Dynamic Data
tation of 254 sessions per node and calls Exchange.
this extended NetBEUI the NetBIOS Frame
(NBF). netiquette A contraction of network et-
iquette. The set of unwritten rules govern-
See also network basic input/output
ing the use of e-mail and other computer
system; Transmission Control Protocol/
and network services.
Internet Protocol.
Like any culture, the online world has its
NetBSD An implementation of Unix own rules and conventions, and if you un-
derived from the BSD series of releases; derstand and observe these conventions, you

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NetPC

can take your place in the online community See also network computer; thin client; to-
without problems. Here are a few tips: tal cost of ownership; Zero Administration
for Windows.
■
Remember that the people reading your
post are human; if you wouldn’t say it to
their face, don’t post it in your e-mail. Netscape Catalog Server A server for
Microsoft Windows NT and Unix systems
■
Lurk before you leap. Spend a few days that allows the publication of complex, hi-
reading the posts in a newsgroup or mail-
erarchically organized documents stored on
ing list before you post anything of your
the Internet or on a corporate intranet;
own.
based on the popular freeware application
■
If you use a signature file to close your e- Harvest.
mail, remember to keep it short; people
don’t want to read lots of cute stuff every Netscape Certificate Management
time you post. System A server for Microsoft Windows
NT and Unix systems that manages digital
■
Don’t post messages in uppercase as it is
certificates and allows the server to become
the e-mail equivalent of YELLING; to add
emphasis, place an asterisk before and af- a certificate authority.
ter a word. See also certificate authority.
■
Don’t flame or mount personal attacks on
other users. Netscape Collabra Server A Network
News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) server for
■
Check your grammar and spelling before Microsoft Windows NT and Unix systems
you post.
that allows the creation and management of
■
Don’t be shy; if you are an expert, share private and secure newsgroups.
your knowledge with others.
Netscape Commerce Server A server
NetPC An initiative from Compaq, Dell, for Microsoft Windows NT and Unix sys-
Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Microsoft de- tems that manages electronic commerce on
scribing a networked PC designed to give the Internet.
system administrators greater control and
security than a traditional PC. Netscape Communications Corpora-
tion A major publisher of software de-
NetPC is based on a minimum configuration
of a 133MHz Pentium with at least 16MB of velopment tools, Web browsers, and Web-
memory, running a Windows operating sys- server software; based in Menlo Park, Cal-
tem, with a hard disk and the capability to ifornia, and founded in 1994 by Jim Clark
run applications locally. The computer case and Marc Andreessen. Its Web browser,
is sealed and lockable, and floppy disks and Netscape Navigator, was initially very
CD-ROM drives are optional. All software popular, but later lost market share to
distribution is centralized. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

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Netscape SuiteSpot

In 1998, America Online bought Netscape security, users, and groups, as well as Web
Communications and spun off the server- site content management.
based products to Sun Microsystems.
Netscape FastTrack Server A Web
For more information on Netscape Com- server for Microsoft Windows NT and
munications, see www.netscape.com. Unix systems. Designed for non-program-
mers, it lets users establish a Web presence
Netscape Communicator A package
or an intranet quickly and easily.
that includes the Netscape Navigator Web
browser, e-mail support, a newsreader, and Netscape Messaging Server An e-
Netscape Page composer, an HTML editor. mail server for Microsoft Windows NT and
Netscape Communicator is available for Unix systems that supports Lightweight Di-
Microsoft Windows, the Macintosh, and rectory Access Protocol (LADP), Simple
Unix. Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), as well as
Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) and Internet
Netscape Directory Server A general-
Mail Access Protocol (IMAP).
purpose Lightweight Directory Access Pro-
tocol (LADP) directory server that stores, Netscape Navigator A popular Web
publishes, and manages user, group, and browser that runs under Windows and
other information in one location on a net- Unix and on the Macintosh. Netscape is
work and makes this information available distributed free by Netscape Communica-
to the Netscape SuiteSpot servers. tions Corporation, and in an unusual move
See also Netscape SuiteSpot. for a commercial software developer,
Netscape has made the source code to Nav-
Netscape Enterprise Server A high- igator available on the Internet.
performance and very popular Web server
Netscape SuiteSpot A popular package
for Microsoft Windows NT, Novell Net-
of integrated server components designed to
Ware, and Unix systems that is specifically
provide groupware services, document pub-
designed to support large Web sites on the
lishing and management, messaging and e-
Internet or on a corporate intranet.
mail, directory services, and security for cor-
Enterprise Server supports standard CGI porate intranets. SuiteSpot is available in a
(Common Gateway Interface), and for ap- Standard Edition and a Professional Edition.
plication creation, also offers Netscape The Standard Edition includes Communi-
Server API (NSAPI) for in-process server cator, Enterprise Server, Messaging Server,
applications. The LiveWire runtime envi- Calendar Server, Collabra Server, and Di-
ronment supports server-side JavaScript rectory Server. The Professional Edition in-
applications, and for Java developers, the cludes all the components found in the
Sun Java Servlet API is also available. Standard Edition and adds Compass Serv-
Enterprise Server is administered using a er, Certificate Server, Proxy Server, and
Web-based application called Server Man- Netscape Mission Control Desktop for cen-
ager, giving access to server settings such as tralized network management.

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netstat

netstat A utility program used to show NetWare See Novell NetWare.

server connections running over TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet NetWare Administrator In Novell Net-
Protocol) and statistics, including current Ware, the main utility used for performing
connections, failed connection attempts, re- NetWare 4 and higher supervisory and ad-
set connections, segments received, seg- ministrative tasks. A graphical application,
ments sent, and segments retransmitted. NetWare Administrator can be run from
within Windows or OS/2.
See also ipconfig.
NetWare Client32 A set of 32-bit client
NETSYNC In Novell NetWare, two util- software packages released with Novell Net-
ity programs for NetWare 3 (NETSYNC3) ware 5. Client32 software is available for
and NetWare 4 (NETSYNC4) servers that Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98,
allow NetWare 3 servers to be managed by and Windows NT.
Novell Directory Services (NDS).
See also NetWare DOS Requester;
See also Novell Directory Services. NETx.COM.

NETUSER In Novell NetWare 4.x, a NetWare Client for DOS and MS

workstation utility that offers a menu system Windows Client software that allows
for performing simple user tasks, including MS-DOS and Windows workstations to
managing print jobs, sending messages to connect to a Novell NetWare server and ac-
other users, mapping network drives, cap- cess network resources.
turing ports to printers or print queues, and
See also NetWare Client32; NetWare DOS
changing the login script and password.
Requester; NETx.COM.
NETUSER replaces the NetWare 3.x utility
SESSION and can be invoked from either NetWare Client for OS/2 Client soft-
the workstation or the server. ware that allows OS/2 workstations to con-
nect to a Novell NetWare server and access
This utility has many of the same features
network resources.
and controls many of the same functions as
the Windows-based program NWUSER. NetWare command files Text files cre-
ated by the network administrator contain-
NetVIEW IBM SNA (Systems Network
ing a series of Novell NetWare commands
Architecture) management software that
and the appropriate modifying parameters.
provides monitoring and control functions
for SNA and non-SNA devices. This system NetWare command files execute just as
relies heavily on mainframe data-collection though you typed the commands at the
programs, but it also incorporates Token NetWare console, and they have the
Ring networks, Rolm CBXs, non-IBM mo- filename extension .NCF. For example,
dems, and PC-level products. AUTOEXEC.NCF contains server

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NetWare/IP

configuration information used by Bindery emulation provides compatibility

SERVER.EXE when starting the server. with previous versions of NetWare.

NetWare Connect See NetWare Inter- NDS is based on the 1988 CCITT X.500
net Access Server. standard.
See also Consultative Committee for Inter-
NetWare Core Protocol Abbreviated
national Telephony and Telegraphy.
NCP. In Novell NetWare, a presentation-
layer procedure used by a server when re-
NetWare DOS Requester A group of
sponding to workstation requests. It in-
Virtual Loadable Modules (VLMs) that
cludes routines for manipulating directories
provide NetWare 3.x and 4.x support for
and files, opening semaphores, printing, and
MS-DOS and Windows workstations. The
creating and destroying service connections.
Requester replaces the NetWare shell used
NetWare Directory Database Abbre- by earlier versions of NetWare.
viated NDD. In Novell NetWare, a system
database that holds the information on all NetWare Hub Services A software
the objects in a Novell Directory Services package from Novell that supports the
(NDS) tree. Often referred to as the Direc- management of any hub card that complies
tory or the Directory tree. with the NetWare Hub Management Inter-
face (HMI) standard.
NetWare Directory Services Abbrevi-
ated NDS. In Novell NetWare, a global NetWare Internet Access Server Ab-
naming service that maintains information breviated NIAS. In Novell NetWare, the
on, and provides access to, every resource server software that translates data requests
on the network, including users, groups, from a client using Internetwork Packet
printers, volumes, and servers. eXchange (IPX) into TCP/IP (Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) for con-
NDS manages all network resources as ob-
nection to the Internet or other TCP/IP host.
jects in the NetWare Directory Database
Previously known as NetWare Connect.
(NDD), independent of their actual physi-
cal location, and presents them in a hierar- NetWare/IP A set of NetWare Loadable
chical tree structure. NDS is global to the Modules (NLMs) that provide IP support
network, and information is replicated so for NetWare 3.x and 4.x servers by encap-
that a local failure cannot bring down the sulating the IPX information inside an IP
whole system. datagram. Native TCP/IP support is avail-
NDD replaces the bindery, the system da- able in Novell NetWare 5.x, so this capa-
tabase for earlier releases of NetWare. The bility is not needed in a pure NetWare 5
bindery managed the operation of a single environment. NetWare/IP allows a Novell
NetWare server; NDS supports the whole NetWare server to act as a gateway be-
network, including multiserver networks. tween NetWare and a TCP/IP network.

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NetWare Licensing Services

See also Internet Protocol; Internetwork ■

Disk drivers give access to hard disks; they
Packet eXchange; Transmission Control have the .DSK filename extension.
Protocol/Internet Protocol. ■
LAN drivers control communications be-
tween the network operating system and
NetWare Licensing Services Abbrevi-
the network interface cards; they have a
ated NLS. In Novell NetWare, a service that
.LAN filename extension.
allows system administrators to monitor
and manage the execution of licensed appli- See also NetWare Peripheral Architecture;
cation software. Virtual Loadable Module.

NetWare Link Services Protocol Ab- NetWare for Macintosh A set of Net-
breviated NLSP. The Novell NetWare IPX Ware Loadable Modules (NLMs) used to
(Internetwork Packet eXchange) link-state provide file handling, printing, and Apple-
protocol used by IPX routers to share in- Talk routing for Macintosh clients on a
formation about their routes with other NetWare network.
devices on the network.
See also AppleTalk.
Once the network map is built, information
is transferred between routers only when NetWare Management System A net-
the network changes. NLSP allows large or work management system for Novell Net-
small internetworks to be connected with- Ware servers that has been replaced by
out causing routing inefficiencies. ManageWise.
See also Routing Information Protocol.
See also Novell ManageWise.
NetWare Loadable Module Abbreviat-
NetWare Mobile Services In Novell
ed NLM. Server management programs
NetWare, a dial-in remote access client for
and LAN drivers that run on a server under
Windows 3.x and Windows 95.
Novell NetWare’s network operating sys-
tem. NLMs can be loaded and unloaded dy- NetWare Multiprotocol Router PC-
namically, without interrupting the server, based software from Novell that allows
and provide better service than applications network administrators to connect LANs
that run outside the core operating system. using IPX, TCP/IP, or AppleTalk Filing
Several kinds of NLMs are available: Protocol (AFP) over a wide range of LANs
■
Utilities and application modules allow and WANs. The NetWare Multiprotocol
you to look at or change various configu- Router supports Ethernet, Fast Ethernet,
ration options. These NLMs have the token ring, FDDI, and ARCnet network
.NLM filename extension. architectures.
■
Name-space modules allow non-DOS See also Fiber Distributed Data Interface;
filenaming conventions to be used when Internetwork Packet eXchange; PC-based
storing files. These NLMs have the .NAM router; Transmission Control Protocol/
filename extension. Internet Protocol.

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NetWare Runtime

NetWare Multiprotocol Router Plus be one HAM for each adapter on the
PC-based software from Novell that pro- server.
vides wide-area connectivity for dispersed ■
Host Adapter Interface (HAI) An API
heterogeneous networks over T1, fraction- within NPA for communication between
al T1, X.25, and low-speed synchronous the HAM and the NetWare database that
leased lines. NetWare Multiprotocol tracks the storage devices and media
Router Plus replaces three earlier prod- available on the server.
ucts: NetWare Link/64, NetWare Link/
T1, and NetWare Link/X.25.
■
Custom Device Module (CDM) The
software that controls the devices at-
See also PC-based router. tached to the adapter, usually provided by
the manufacturer, with the filename ex-
NetWare NFS A Novell NetWare Load- tension .CDM. There may be multiple
able Module (NLM) that adds NFS (Net- CDMs for a single adapter as each device
work File System) server capability to an connected to the adapter needs its own
existing NetWare file server. Once loaded, CDM.
Unix NFS clients see the NetWare server as
another NFS server. ■
Custom Device Interface (CDI) An API
within NPA for communication between
See also Network File System.
the CDM and the NetWare database that
tracks the storage devices and media
NetWare NFS Gateway A Novell Net-
available on the server.
Ware Loadable Module (NLM) that lets a
NetWare server mount a Unix file system as The NPA replaces many of the functions
a NetWare volume. Complete NetWare se- found in the NetWare Loadable Module
curity is maintained, and access to the Unix drivers used to control hard disks; the
system is based on the NetWare client’s .DSK drivers controlled the hard-disk con-
privileges. troller and all the devices attached to that
controller.
NetWare Peripheral Architecture Ab-
breviated NPA or NWPA. A feature of Net- See also NetWare Loadable Module; Virtu-
Ware that allows developers to add and al Loadable Module.
support new storage devices and their asso-
ciated controllers. NPA consists of the fol- NetWare Requester for OS/2 A group
lowing components: of Virtual Loadable Modules (VLMs) that
provide NetWare 4.x support for OS/2-
■
Host Adapter Module (HAM) The based workstations.
adapter-specific driver that controls the
interaction between the operating system NetWare Runtime A single-user version
and the hardware; provided by Novell or of Novell NetWare, often used as a commu-
by the manufacturer of the adapter, with nications server or applications server that
the filename extension .HAM. There will provide its own authentication.

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NetWare shell

NetWare shell The Novell NetWare NetWare Users International Abbre-

program loaded into each workstation’s viated NUI. An organization created to sup-
memory that allows the workstation to ac- port distributed NetWare user groups, first
cess the network. formed in the mid-1980s.
The shell captures the workstation’s net- NUI now has 150 regional chapters and
work requests and forwards them to a more than 140,000 members worldwide.
NetWare server. In earlier versions of Net- Users can present a united voice to Novell,
Ware, the shell program was specific to the giving feedback on new products and how
version of MS-DOS or Windows in use. to support and improve existing products.
The term shell is not used in recent versions Although supported by Novell, NUI is com-
of NetWare. pletely independent from the company.
See also NetWare Client32; NetWare DOS NetWire Novell’s online information
Requester; NetWare Requester for OS/2; service accessed through the commercial
NETx.COM. service CompuServe. It provides product
information, press releases, technical sup-
NetWare for SNA A set of NetWare port, downloadable patches, upgrades, and
Loadable Modules (NLMs) used to provide utilities. All the material available through
connectivity to an IBM Systems Network NetWire on CompuServe is also available
Architecture (SNA) network. With the right on the Novell ftp site at ftp.novell.com
access permissions, MS-DOS, Macintosh, and on the Web at www.novell.com.
Unix, and Windows clients can run appli-
cations on the IBM mainframe. network A group of computers and asso-
ciated peripheral devices connected by a
NetWare System Fault Tolerance communications channel capable of shar-
See System Fault Tolerance. ing files and other resources among several
users.
NetWare Tools Novell NetWare utili-
ties that allow users to perform a variety of A network can range from a peer-to-peer
network tasks, such as accessing network network connecting a small number of us-
resources, mapping drives, managing print- ers in an office or department, to a LAN
ing, and sending messages to other network connecting many users over permanently
users. installed cables and dial-up lines, to a MAN
or WAN connecting users on several net-
NetWare Tools programs are installed sep-
works spread over a wide geographic area.
arately from the server installation pro-
gram, and they are available for MS-DOS, network adapter See network inter-
Windows, and OS/2 workstations. face card.

NetWare for Unix A software package network address translation Abbrevi-

that allows Unix clients to access a Novell ated NAT. A term used to describe the pro-
NetWare server. cess of converting between IP addresses on

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network attached storage

an intranet or other private network and In- replaces the Windows NT 4 Dial-up Con-
ternet IP addresses. nections and the Network applet in Control
See also name resolution. Panel.
See also Control Panel.
network administrator The person re-
sponsible for the day-to-day operation and network architecture The design of a
management of a network; also known as a network, including the hardware, software,
system administrator. Duties of the network access methods, and the protocols in use.
administrator can include the following: Several well-accepted network architec-
■
Planning for future expansion tures have been defined by standards com-
■
Installing new workstations and network mittees and major vendors. For example,
peripheral devices the International Organization for Stan-
dardization (ISO) developed the seven-lay-
■
Adding and removing authorized users er OSI Reference Model for computer-to-
■
Backing up the system and archiving im- computer communications, and IBM de-
portant files signed SNA (Systems Network Architec-
■
Assigning and changing passwords ture). Both architectures organize network
functions into layers of hardware and soft-
■
Troubleshooting network problems
ware, with each layer building on the func-
■
Monitoring system performance tions provided by the previous layer.
■
Evaluating new products The ultimate goal is to allow different com-
■
Installing hardware and software updates puters to exchange information freely in as
transparent a fashion as possible.
■
Training users
See also configuration management. Network Associates, Inc. Formed in
1997 by the merger of Network General and
network analyzer Any device that de- McAfee Associates, Network Associates
codes and analyzes data transmitted over provides virus detection and protection soft-
the network. A network analyzer may be ware, encryption software, help desk sys-
hardware, software, or a combination of tems, and network management products.
the two. Some analyzers troubleshoot net- For more information on Network Associ-
work problems by decoding packets; others ates, see www.networkassociates.com.
create and transmit their own packets.
network attached storage Abbreviated
See also protocol analyzer; sniffer.
NAS. A collection of mass-storage devices
Network and Dial-up Connections In contained in a single chassis with a built-in
Microsoft Windows 2000, a special folder operating system.
containing icons used to configure and man- Ethernet connectors allow the NAS to con-
age local area network and other connec- nect directly to the network. A NAS might
tions. Network and Dial-Up Connections contain a large hard disk as well as a set of

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network backbone

SCSI connectors to attach additional disks, network computer Abbreviated NC.

CD-ROM drives, tape drives, or Iomega An initiative from Apple, IBM, Netscape,
Zip and Jaz drives. Because the NAS is man- Oracle, and Sun Microsystems describing a
aged by its own embedded operating sys- networked computer designed to give sys-
tem, adding one to a network adds little in tem administrators greater control and se-
the way of overhead. curity than a traditional PC provides.
See also storage area network. The network computer is based on a mini-
mum configuration of a 25MHz Intel i960
network backbone See backbone. with at least 32MB of memory, running a
Java Virtual Machine, and downloads appli-
network basic input/output system
cations from the server and runs them local-
Abbreviated NetBIOS, pronounced “net-
ly. Hard disk, floppy disk, and CD-ROM
bye-os.” A session-layer network protocol,
drives and expansion slots are not required.
originally developed in 1984 by IBM and
Sytek to manage data exchange and net- The initiative fizzled out, in part at least
work access. because conventional PCs can do the same
job, but also due to Compaq (and other
NetBIOS provides an API (application pro-
manufacturers) creating the sub-$1,000 PC.
gramming interface) with a consistent set of
commands for requesting lower-level net- See also NetPC; thin client; total cost of
work services to transmit information from ownership; Zero Administration for
node to node, thus separating applications Windows.
from the underlying network operating sys-
Network Control Block Abbreviated
tem. Many vendors provide either their
NCB. The packet structure used by the Net-
own version of NetBIOS or an emulation of
BIOS transport protocol.
its communications services in their own
products. network control program Abbreviat-
See also WinSock. ed NCP. In an IBM Systems Network Ar-
chitecture (SNA) environment, performs
network board See network interface the routing, error control, testing, and ad-
card. dressing of SNA devices.

network-centric An imprecise term of- Network Control Protocol Abbreviat-

ten used to describe an approach to software ed NCP. A protocol that mediates between
design and development that includes a network-layer protocols and the underlying
strong client/server component. data link protocols.

Network+ certification A certification network device driver Software that

program from the CompTIA (Computer controls the physical function of a network
Technology Industry Association) designed interface card, coordinating between the
to measure competence in basic networking card and the other workstation hardware
concepts; aimed at the computer technician. and software.

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network interface card

See also Network Driver Interface See also Component Object Model; Dis-
Specification. tributed Component Object Model; Dy-
namic Data Exchange; Object Linking and
network directory A directory located Embedding.
on a computer other than the one currently
being used. Depending on access privileges, Network File System Abbreviated
the rest of the disk may or may not be avail- NFS. A distributed file-sharing system de-
able to the user. On the Macintosh, a net- veloped well over a decade ago by Sun Mi-
work directory is often referred to as a crosystems, Inc.
shared folder.
NFS allows a computer on a network to use
See also network drive; shared folder.
the files and peripheral devices of another
network drive A drive located on a com- networked computer as if they were local,
puter other than the one currently being used subject to certain security restrictions. Us-
and that is available to users on the network. ing NFS, you can share files on your system
with other computers running MS-DOS,
See also local disk; network directory.
MacOS, Unix, Novell NetWare, VMS, and
Network Driver Interface Specifica- many other operating systems, in both local
tion Abbreviated NDIS. A device driver and global environments.
specification, originally developed by Mi- NFS is platform-independent and runs on
crosoft and 3Com in 1990, that is indepen- mainframes, minicomputers, RISC-based
dent of both the underlying network workstations, diskless workstations, and
interface card hardware and the protocol personal computers. NFS has been licensed
being used. NDIS also allows multiple pro- and implemented by more than 300 vendors.
tocol stacks to be used at the same time in
the same computer. See also Andrews File System; Common
Internet File System; WebNFS.
Windows NT includes the latest version,
NDIS 3, which is backward-compatible
Network Information Service Abbre-
with the original NDIS and NDIS 2.
viated NIS. A recent name for the security
See also Open Data-link Interface; Open and file-access databases on Unix systems,
Data-link Interface/Network Driver Inter- previously known as the Yellow Pages.
face Specification Support. The NIS for most Unix systems comprises
the Unix host files /etc/hosts, /etc/passwd,
Network Dynamic Data Exchange
and /etc/group.
Abbreviated NetDDE. A version of Micro-
soft’s DDE that uses NetBIOS to extend network interface card Abbreviated
DDE features over a network. NIC. In networking, the PC expansion
Using NetDDE, two or more applications board that plugs into a personal computer
running on networked workstations can or server and works with the network op-
dynamically share data. erating system and the appropriate device

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network layer

drivers to control the flow of information Network Monitor In Microsoft Win-

over the network. dows NT Server, a graphical utility program
used to monitor and troubleshoot network-
The network interface card is connected to
related problems.
the network media (twisted pair, coaxial, or
fiber-optic cable) and is designed for a spe- Network Monitor tracks information up to
cific type of network such as Ethernet, to- the network layer, filters packets according
ken ring, FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data to the protocol or the source or the destina-
Interface), or ARCnet. tion machine, and performs packet analysis.
Novell NetWare documentation uses the A more capable version of Network Moni-
term network board rather than the more tor is available as part of Microsoft’s Sys-
common term network interface card. tems Management Server package.
Network support is built in to Macintosh
Network News Transfer Protocol Ab-
computers and does not require an addi-
breviated NNTP. An Internet protocol used
tional expansion board.
for posting, retrieving, and managing posts
network layer The third of seven layers to newsgroups.
of the OSI Reference Model for computer-
network operating system Abbreviat-
to-computer communications. The net-
ed NOS. In typical client/server architecture
work layer defines protocols for data rout-
LANs, the NOS consists of two parts. The
ing to ensure that the information arrives at
largest and most complex part is the system
the correct destination node and manages
software running on the file server. This
communications errors.
system software coordinates many func-
See also OSI Reference Model. tions, including user accounts and network
access information, security, resource shar-
Network Management Protocol Ab- ing, administration, UPS and power moni-
breviated NMP. A set of protocols devel- toring, data protection, and error detection
oped by AT&T, designed to control certain and control. A much smaller component of
network devices, such as modems and T1 the NOS runs on each of the networked PCs
multiplexers. or workstations attached to the network.

Network Management Vector Network operating systems are available

Transport Abbreviated NMVT. A net- from Banyan (VINES), IBM (OS/2 Warp
work management protocol from IBM Server), Microsoft (Windows NT Server and
that provides problem-determination sta- Windows 2000), Novell (IntraNetWare and
tistics and other network management NetWare), and Sun Microsystems (Solaris),
data within Systems Network Architecture and, of course, many versions of Unix are
(SNA) services. available.

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newsgroup

In peer-to-peer networks, a part of the NOS newsgroup A Usenet e-mail discussion

is installed on each PC or workstation at- group devoted to a single topic. Subscribers
tached to the network and runs on top of to a newsgroup post articles that can be
the PC operating system. In some cases, the read by all the other subscribers.
NOS may be installed on one PC designated
Newsgroup names fit into a formal struc-
as a file server, but this PC is not dedicated
ture in which each component of the name
to the file-server function; it is also available
is separated from the next by a period. The
to run applications.
leftmost portion of the name represents the
network printer A printer attached to category of the newsgroup, and the name
and accessible from the network. A net- gets more specific from left to right.
work printer may be attached to a file server The major top-level newsgroup categories
or a printer server, or it may have its own di- are:
rect connection to the network. ■
alt Newsgroups outside the main struc-
See also local printer. ture outlined below
■
comp Computer science and related
Network Service Access Point Abbre-
topics, including information about oper-
viated NSAP. A 20-octet addressing scheme
ating systems and hardware, as well as
used in Asynchronous Transfer Mode
more advanced topics such as graphics
(ATM) networks for private network
and robotics
addresses.
■
misc Anything that does not fit into any
network topology See topology. of the other categories

NETx.COM The workstation shell soft-

■
news Information on Usenet and
ware used in Novell NetWare 2.x and 3.x newsgroups
networks. This program is loaded into ■
rec Recreational activities, such as hob-
memory on the workstation and begins bies, the arts, movies, and books
transmission when the workstation re-
quests network resources.
■
sci Discussion groups on scientific top-
ics, including math, physics, and biology
In earlier versions of NetWare, NETx.COM
■
soc Groups that address social and cul-
was specific to the version of MS-DOS run-
tural issues
ning on the workstation. The only way to
unload NETx.COM from memory is to re- ■
talk Groups that concentrate on contro-
boot the workstation. versial subjects
See also NetWare Client32; NetWare DOS Private newsgroups are often available on
Requester. corporate intranets, where organization,

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newsreader

structure, and subject matter are decided by NHRP See Next Hop Resolution
the system administrator. Protocol.

See also newsreader; Usenet. NIAS See NetWare Internet Access

Server.
newsreader An application used to read
articles posted to Usenet newsgroups. NIC See network interface card.
Newsreaders are of two kinds:
NII See National Information
■
Threaded newsreaders group the posts Infrastructure.
into threads of related articles.
NIS See Network Information Service.
■
Unthreaded newsreaders present articles
in their original order of posting without NLM See NetWare Loadable Module.
regard for the subject.
NLS See NetWare Licensing Services.
Of the two, threaded newsreaders are
much easier to use. NLSP See NetWare Link Services
Protocol.
See also newsgroup; thread; Usenet.
NMP See Network Management
New Technology File System Abbre- Protocol.
viated NTFS; sometimes NT File System.
NMVT See Network Management Vec-
The native file system used by Microsoft
tor Transport.
Windows NT, which supports long file-
names, reduced file fragmentation, im- NNTP See Network News Transfer
proved fault tolerance, increased system Protocol.
security, and much better recovery after a
system crash. node Any device attached to the network
capable of communicating with other net-
NEXT See near-end crosstalk. work devices. In Novell NetWare docu-
mentation, a workstation is often called a
Next Hop Resolution Protocol Abbre-
node.
viated NHRP. An Internet name resolution
protocol designed to route IP datagrams node number The number that uniquely
across nonbroadcast multiple access net- identifies a network interface card and dis-
works such as Asynchronous Transfer tinguishes it from all others.
Mode (ATM), frame relay, Switched Mul-
Node numbers can be assigned in different
timegabit Data Service (SMDS), and X.25.
ways. Ethernet node numbers are factory-
See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode ; IP set, so no two Ethernet boards have the
over ATM; IP switching. same number. On other network interface
cards, node numbers are set by jumpers or
NFS See Network File System. switches.

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Novell Application Launcher

noise In communications, extraneous nonvolatile memory Any form of mem-

signals on a transmission channel that de- ory that holds its contents when the power
grade the quality or performance of the is removed. ROM (read-only memory),
channel. Noise is often caused by interfer- EPROM (erasable programmable read-
ence from nearby power lines, electrical only memory), and EEPROM (electrically
equipment, or spikes in the AC line voltage. erasable programmable read-only memory)
are all forms of nonvolatile memory.
See also crosstalk; far-end crosstalk; near-
end crosstalk. no parity See parity.

nominal velocity of propagation The NOS See network operating system.

speed at which a signal moves through a
notebook computer A small, portable
cable, expressed as a percentage or fraction
computer, about the size of a computer
of the speed of light in a vacuum. Some
book, with a flat screen and a keyboard that
cable testers use this speed, along with the
fold together.
time it takes for a signal to return to the test-
ing device, to calculate cable lengths. A notebook computer is lighter and smaller
than a laptop computer. Recent advances in
nondedicated server A server upon battery technology allow them to run for
which applications are available, while net- many hours between charges. Some models
work management software runs in the use flash memory rather than conventional
background. Nondedicated servers are hard disks for program and data storage;
common in peer-to-peer networks. other models offer a range of business ap-
plications in ROM . Many offer PCMCIA
non-preemptive multitasking Any expansion connections for additional
form of multitasking in which the operating peripheral devices, such as modems, fax
system cannot preempt a running task and modems, and network connections.
move to the next task in the queue.
See also laptop computer; PC Memory
Programs are easy to write for this environ- Card International Association.
ment; however, a single badly written pro-
gram can take over the whole system. By Novell Application Launcher In Nov-
refusing to relinquish the processor, such a ell NetWare, a utility used with applica-
program can cause serious problems for tions for NetWare clients.
other programs running at the same time.
The NetWare administrator decides which
Poorly written non-preemptive multitask-
applications are appropriate and creates an
ing can produce a kind of stuttering effect
icon group for the users; additional startup
on running applications, depending on how
and shutdown scripts can be used to add
the programs behave.
more application control. Novell Applica-
See also preemptive multitasking; time- tion Launcher uses the Universal Naming
slice multitasking. Convention (UNC) for ease and clarity.

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Novell Authorized Education Center

See also Universal Naming Convention. other platforms, including Microsoft Win-
dows NT.
Novell Authorized Education Center
Abbreviated NAEC. A private organization NDS uses a distributed database known as
that provides Novell-approved training the NetWare Directory Database (NDD) to
courses. keep track of all network objects, including
servers, users, groups, printers, and other
See also NEAP.
networked resources. This information is
Novell BorderManager A network pro- presented to the user as a collection of con-
tection package from Novell that provides a tainers, arranged in a hierarchical structure
firewall, circuit-level gateways, proxy ser- according to the organization or corpora-
vices, and Internet access. tion structure, and is known as the Direc-
tory Tree or simply as the Directory.
Novell Certified Internet Professional
Users no longer log in to a single server; they
Abbreviated NCIP. A certification system
from Novell structured for professionals are authenticated by the network through
who design, build, and maintain Web sites. NDS.
The following specializations are available: See also container object; leaf object; Root
Internet Business Strategist, Web Designer, object.
Intranet Manager, Internet Architect, and
Web Developer. Novell Distributed Print Services Ab-
Novell Connect An add-on product breviated NDPS. A set of printer services
from Novell that allows remote users to dial available for Novell NetWare that stan-
in and access network resources. dardizes and centralizes use and manage-
ment of printers and printing on a network.
See also Novell Connect Services,
NDPS was developed jointly by Novell, Xe-
Novell Connect Services A collection rox, and Hewlett-Packard and allows bidi-
of network products from Novell that are rectional communications with newer
designed to simplify WAN administration; printers, supports drag-and-drop printing
includes Novell NetWare, Novell Directory for text and PostScript files without open-
Services, ManageWise, Novell Connect, ing the creating application, and supports
and NetWare Multiprotocol Router. ISO 10175 Document Printing Architec-
Novell Directory Services Abbreviated ture, Simple Network Management Proto-
NDS. A distributed directory system from col (SNMP), Management Information
Novell, similar in scope and concept to the Base (MIB), and automatically download-
X.500 directory services specification. able printer drivers.

Originally designed for use with Novell Networked printers are administered using
NetWare, NDS is now available for several the NetWare Administrator program.

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Novell NetWare 3.x

Novell Education Academic Partner IPX/IP Gateway—also known as Novell

Abbreviated NEAP. A college or university Internet Access Server (NAIS).
that provides Novell-approved training Novell LANalizer A network monitor-
courses as a part of its standard curriculum. ing and analysis package from Novell used
See also Novell Authorized Education for troubleshooting Ethernet and token-
Center. ring networks.

Novell ManageWise A software pack-

Novell GroupWise A groupware soft- age from Novell for managing NetWare
ware package from Novell that includes e- and Microsoft Windows NT servers.
mail, group scheduling, task management,
ManageWise includes server and desk-
personal calendaring, document manage-
top management, network analysis, soft-
ment, workflow routing, and support for
ware management, virus protection, and
threaded discussions.
automatic network inventory. Manage-
GroupWise also includes Internet Mail Wise replaces NetWare Management Sys-
Access Protocol (IMAP), Post Office Proto- tem on Novell servers.
col 3 (POP3), and Lightweight Directory See also Novell Z.E.N.works.
Access Protocol (LDAP) support.
Novell NDS for NT An add-on product
Novell, Inc. A leading developer of net-
for Microsoft Windows NT Server from
work operating system software, group-
Novell that allows the integration of Win-
ware, network management tools, Internet
dows NT domains with Novell Directory
and intranet tools, and security products,
Services (NDS) and their joint management
based in Orem, Utah.
from within NetWare Administrator.
Best known for its Novell NetWare net-
Novell NetWare A general term for the
work operating systems, Novell is moving
family of network operating systems avail-
toward more open systems, the Internet,
able from Novell.
and corporate intranets and sees Novell
Directory Services (NDS) as a significant Novell NetWare 3.x A 32-bit network
advance in this direction. operating system that is designed to take
advantage of the features of the Intel 80386
For more information on Novell, see
(and later) processors and is suitable for
www.novell.com.
larger, multisegment networks, with up to
Novell IntraNetWare An intranet soft- 250 nodes per server.
ware package from Novell that includes the NetWare 3.x provides enhanced security,
NetWare operating system, the Netscape performance, and flexibility and can ac-
Navigator Web browser, the NetWare Web cess up to 4GB of RAM and up to 32TB of
server, the Multiprotocol Router (MPR), storage. A maximum of 100,000 files can
Novell Directory Services (NDS), and the be open concurrently on the file server, and

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Novell NetWare 4.x

the maximum file size is 4GB. Disk mirror- Novell NetWare 5 A 32-bit network op-
ing, disk duplexing, support for optical erating system from Novell. NetWare 5
disks, and UPS-monitoring functions are continues Novell’s transition into open sys-
all available. tems, with native TCP/IP support, a Java
Virtual Machine that runs on the server,
Novell NetWare 4.x A 32-bit network and an enhanced file system.
operating system from Novell announced
Improvements have been made to Novell
in 1993 that builds on the successes of No-
Directory Services (NDS), including the ad-
vell NetWare 3.x.
dition of Lightweight Directory Access Pro-
Its most significant feature was the inclusion tocol (LADP), as well as to the Remote
of Novell Directory Services (NDS), which Access Services for dial-in users. NetWare 5
allowed system administrators to organize also includes WAN Traffic Manager, Se-
users and network resources such as printers cure Sockets Layer (SSL), Novell’s Public
and servers the way people naturally access Key Infrastructure Services, Storage Man-
them. NDS is based on the CCITT X.500 di- agement Services, Netscape’s FastTrack
rectory standard and replaces the bindery Web server, DNS/DHCP services, and a
database in earlier versions of NetWare. Z.E.N.works starter pack.

NetWare 4.x also adds support for optical Novell NetWare Connect See Net-
disks, CD-ROMs, data compression, and Ware Internet Access Server.
improved login security mechanisms. Net-
Novell NetWare Navigator An auto-
Ware 4.1 is the first version of NetWare to
mated software distribution package from
integrate Message Handling Service with
Novell.
the directory, and it also adds System Fault
Tolerance. NetWare 4.x is suitable for larg- Novell Support Connection A techni-
er, multisegment internetworks, supporting cal information service available by sub-
up to 1000 nodes per server. It includes a set scription from Novell.
of user and administrator utilities featuring Two update CDs in a searchable format
a graphical user interface, and it is available are issued periodically, containing all the
in several languages. latest files, patches, device drivers, and
technical information, including product
Novell NetWare 4.x SFT III A network
documentation, Novell Appnotes, Novell
software package from Novell that pro-
Developer Notes, and Novell Labs Certi-
vides fault tolerance and protects against
fication Bulletins.
downtime by integrating two physically
separate servers; if one of the servers fails Novell Z.E.N.works A software man-
for whatever reason, the other takes over agement package from Novell that provides
and continues to support users. desktop management, including hardware

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NWLink NetBIOS

inventory, and adds flexibility to the desk- a null character indicates the end of a char-
top policy capabilities built into Microsoft acter string.
Windows. Z.E.N.works can also control
the applications a client can run and can op- null modem A short serial cable that
erate the client remotely. connects two personal computers so that
they can communicate without the use of
Z.E.N.works maintains a hardware inven- modems.
tory for each client, which is updated each
The cable connects the two computers’ se-
time the client logs on to the network, and
rial ports, and certain lines in the cable are
includes the desktop operating system, the
crossed over so that the wires used for send-
amount of RAM in the workstation, the ca-
ing by one computer are used for receiving
pacity of the local hard disk, and any con-
data by the other computer.
nected peripherals.
See also modem eliminator.
Z.E.N.works also removes the need to log
on twice—once to the operating system and
NWADMIN A Novell NetWare worksta-
once to the network—under Windows.
tion utility that provides most of the func-
See also Novell ManageWise. tions needed to administer a Novell
NetWare network.
NPA See NetWare Peripheral
Referred to as the Network Administrator
Architecture.
in the Novell documentation, NWADMIN
ns See nanosecond. allows you to create users and groups, cre-
ate, move, delete, and rename Novell Direc-
NSAP See Network Service Access tory Services (NDS) objects, and manage
Point. NDS partitions and volumes.

NTFS See New Technology File System. NWLink IPX/SPX In Microsoft Win-
dows NT, a protocol that implements
NT File System See New Technology Novell’s IPX/SPX protocol.
File System.
See also Internetwork Packet eXchange;
NUI See NetWare Users International. Sequenced Packet Exchange.

null A character that has all the binary NWLink NetBIOS In Microsoft Win-
digits set to zero (ASCII 0) and therefore has dows NT, a protocol that enables Novell
no value. NetBIOS packets to be sent between a No-
vell server running NetBIOS and a Win-
In programming, a null character is used for
dows NT computer.
several special purposes, including padding
fields or serving as a delimiter character. In See also network basic input/output
the C programming language, for example, system.

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NWPA

NULL MODEM

NWPA See NetWare Peripheral their workstation’s drive mappings, server

Architecture. attachments, and print queues using a sim-
ple graphical user interface.
NWUSER A Novell NetWare worksta-
tion utility that lets users display or modify

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Object Linking and Embedding

O
Object 1. In Novell Directory Services 3. In object-oriented programming, a
(NDS), a representation of a logical or program consists of a set of related but
physical network resource, including users, self-contained objects that can contain
computers, and printers. An Object has both code and data.
both properties and values and may be a See also container object; leaf object; Net-
Root, leaf, or container object. Ware Directory Services.
2. In Microsoft’s Active Directory, a rep-
object counters In Microsoft Windows
resentation of a network resource, includ-
2000, a container built into each service ob-
ing users, computers, and printers. Objects
ject that counts the number of times an
contain properties for definition and object performs its designated task.
configuration.
Object Linking and Embedding Ab-
See also Active Directory; container object;
breviated OLE, pronounced “oh-lay.” A
leaf object; Organizational Unit; Root ob-
Microsoft protocol for application-to-appli-
ject; Schema. cation exchange and communications using
data objects. From a user standpoint, the
object 1. Any distinct entity. Program main benefit to OLE is that it allows any
objects can represent applications such as OLE-compliant application to display infor-
word processors, spreadsheets, and so on. mation created in a different application.
Folder objects can represent a directory and
Data objects can be either embedded or
contain a group of files, a group of pro-
linked. If the source data in its original form
grams, or a group of other folders. Data-file
is actually stored inside the other applica-
objects can include information such as text,
tion program’s data file, the data is embed-
memos, letters, spreadsheets, video, and
ded. In this case, there are two separate
sound. Device objects can be printers, fax
copies of the data: the original data and the
modems, plotters, servers, and CD-ROMS. embedded copy. Any changes made to the
2. In Object Linking and Embedding original document will not be made in the
(OLE), an object can be any user-selected compound document unless the embedded
group of data, such as a block of text, a set object is updated.
of spreadsheet cells, a chart, a sound, or a If the data still exists in a separate file and
graphical image. This data can be embed- a set of pointers to this data is stored in the
ded in or linked to another document cre- other application program’s data file, the
ated by a different OLE application. data is linked. In this case, only one copy of

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object-oriented

the data exists; any changes made in the These objects interact with other objects
original document will be made automati- by passing messages. Object-oriented
cally in the compound document. programming also lets you create proce-
dures that work with objects whose exact
To determine whether an application sup-
type may not be known until the program
ports OLE, check the Edit menu for com-
actually runs.
mands such as Paste Link, Paste Special,
and Insert Object. If these commands are In object-oriented programming, each object
present, the application supports OLE. contains both data and code and is complete-
See also OpenDoc.
ly self-contained. The program incorporates
an object by making it part of a layered hi-
object-oriented An over-used term that erarchy. Object-oriented programming is
can be applied to any computer system, op- the result of many years of theoretical devel-
erating system, programming language, ap- opment, and many consider it the current ex-
plication, or graphical user interface that tension of the theory behind modular
supports the use of objects. programming, in which code is combined
into reusable modules.
See also object-oriented programming.
Object Request Broker Abbreviated
object-oriented graphics Graphics ORB. A communications mechanism used
that are constructed from individual com- in an object-oriented distributed comput-
ponents, such as lines, arcs, circles, and ing environment in which program mod-
squares. ules can be written in any programming
language and still provide services to other
The image is defined mathematically rather
applications.
than as a set of dots, as in a bitmapped graph-
ic. Object-oriented graphics are used in illus- An object makes a request and sends it to
tration, drawing, and CAD (computer-aided the ORB. The ORB locates the requested
design) programs and are also known as vec- object and establishes communications be-
tor graphics or structured graphics. tween client and server. The receiving ob-
Object-oriented graphics allow the user to ject then responds to the request and sends
manipulate a part of an image without re- a response to the ORB, which, in turn,
drawing. Unlike bitmapped graphics, all or sends the response to the original requester.
parts of object-oriented graphics can be re- The physical location of the object that pro-
sized or rotated without introducing any vides the response is unimportant, and to the
distortion. user, the application appears seamless, even
though the various services may be coming
object-oriented programming Abbre-
from several different parts of the network.
viated OOP. A programming model that
views a program as a set of self-contained The ORB standard is defined by the Object
objects. Management Group, an industry consortium

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offline reader

developing middleware standards based on ODINSUP See Open Data-link Interface/

distributed-object architecture. Network Driver Interface Specification
Support.
See also Common Object Request Broker
Architecture; Distributed Component Ob- ODSI See Open Directory Services
ject Model; middleware. Interface.

object rights In Novell Directory Servic- OE See Outlook Express.

es (NDS), rights granted to a trustee over an
OEM See original equipment
object. For example, the Create object right
manufacturer.
for a container object allows a trustee to
create new objects in that container. offline Describes any device that is not in
ready mode and is therefore unavailable for
See also Object.
use.
OC See Optical Carrier. See also online.

occupant In Novell Directory Services offline files In Microsoft Windows

(NDS), a user who has been assigned to an 2000, a mechanism that caches frequently
Organizational Role object. Each Organi- used network files on the client; also known
zational Role object can have multiple as client-side caching.
occupants.
Offline files makes the network seem to re-
OCR See optical character recognition. spond more quickly to file requests, allows
users to ignore minor network outages, and
octet The Internet’s own term for a unit provides a way for mobile users to synchro-
of data containing exactly eight bits. Some nize laptop and server versions of the same
of the computer systems attached to the In- file.
ternet use bytes with more than eight bits;
offline reader An application that lets
hence, the need for this term.
you read postings to Usenet newsgroups
See also byte. without having to stay connected to the
Internet.
ODBC See Open Database Connectivity. The program downloads all the newsgroup
postings you have not read and disconnects
odd parity See parity.
from your Internet Service Provider. You
ODI See Open Data-link Interface. can then read the postings at your conve-
nience without incurring online charges or
ODI/NDIS Support See Open Data-link tying up your telephone line. If you reply to
Interface/Network Driver Interface Speci- any of these postings, the program will au-
fication Support. tomatically upload them to the correct

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OLAP

newsgroup the next time you connect to various services. Online services fall into
your service provider. these main groups:
See also newsgroup; newsreader; Usenet. ■
Commercial services Services such as
America Online charge a monthly mem-
OLAP See online analytical processing. bership fee for access to online forums,
OLE See Object Linking and e-mail services, software libraries, and on-
Embedding. line conferences.
■
Internet The Internet is a worldwide
OLTP See online transaction
network of computer systems and is not
processing.
always easy to use, but the wealth of in-
online 1. Most broadly, any work done formation available is staggering. The
on a computer instead of by more tradition- main problem for casual users is that there
al manual means. is no central listing of everything that is
available.
2. Any function available directly on a com-
puter, such as an application’s help system. ■
Specialist databases Specific databases
3. Describes a peripheral device, such as a
aimed at researchers can be accessed
printer or a modem, when it is directly con- through online services such as Dow Jones
nected to a computer and ready to operate. News/Retrieval for business news and
Lexis and Nexis for legal information and
4. In communications, describes a comput- news archives.
er connected to a remote computer over a
network or a modem link. online transaction processing Abbre-
See also offline. viated OLTP. A business system that oper-
ates in real time, collecting and posting
online analytical processing Abbrevi- transaction-related data and making
ated OLAP. A category of software used to changes to shared databases.
analyze historical business data to find A transaction is a single, discrete unit of
previously hidden patterns. work, which is normally part of a business
Analysts use OLAP software to view data in process. Examples of OLTP systems include
a multidimensional form, rather than in the airline and hotel reservation systems, inven-
more usual two-dimensional row and col- tory control systems, and banking systems.
umn format. In a multidimensional format, See also transaction processing.
the intersection of important data is much
more obvious, and data is easier to group OOP See object-oriented programming.
and categorize.
open architecture A vendor-indepen-
See also data mining; data warehousing.
dent design that is publicly available and
online service A service that provides an well understood within the industry.
online connection via modem for access to See also closed architecture.

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Open Data-link Interface/Network Driver Interface Specification

Open Database Connectivity Abbrevi- ■

The media-support module (MSM),
ated ODBC. An application program inter- which manages the details of interfacing
face (API) from Microsoft that allows a ODI MLIDs to the LSL and to the oper-
single application to access many types of ating system.
database and file formats. ■
The hardware-specific module (HSM),
ODBC uses Structured Query Language which is specific to a particular network
(SQL) for operations that access a database, interface card. It handles adapter initial-
and the client does not need to know the lo- ization, reset, shutdown, packet recep-
tion, timeout detection, and multicast
cation of the database or its type or the
addressing.
method used to access the data; all these de-
tails are managed by ODBC. Data sources ■
The topology-specific module (TSM),
can range from a simple spreadsheet all the which manages operations that are spe-
way up to very large relational databases. cific to a particular media type, such as
Ethernet or token ring.
Open Data-link Interface Abbreviated See also Network Driver Interface Specifi-
ODI. A Novell specification, released in cation; Open Data-link Interface/Network
1989, that allows multiple network inter- Driver Interface Specification Support.
face card device drivers and protocols to
share a single network interface card with- Open Data-link Interface/Network
out conflict. Driver Interface Specification Support
Abbreviated ODINSUP; also written as
ODI defines an interface that separates de-
ODI/NDIS Support. A Novell interface that
vice drivers from protocol stacks and lets
allows the coexistence of two network driv-
multiple protocol stacks share the same
er interfaces:
network hardware. Here are the main
components:
■
Microsoft’s NDIS (Network Driver Inter-
face Specification)
■
The multiple-link interface driver (MLID)
■
Novell’s ODI (Open Data-link Interface)
manages the sending and receiving of
packets to and from the network. ODINSUP allows an MS- DOS or Mi-
crosoft Windows workstation to connect to
■
The link-support layer (LSL) is the inter-
dissimilar networks through a single net-
face layer between the device driver and work interface card and to use them as if
the protocol stacks. Any ODI LAN driver they were a single network.
can communicate with any ODI protocol
ODINSUP also allows NDIS protocol
stack via the LSL.
stacks to communicate through the ODI’s
■
The MLI (Multiple-Link Interface) com- link-support layer (LSL) and multiple-link
municates with the network interface interface driver (MLID) so that ODI and
cards through an MLID and consists of NDIS protocol stacks can coexist in the
three main components: same system, using a single ODI MLID.

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Open Desktop

OPEN DATA-LINK INTERFACE

Open Desktop A graphical user interface includes a certification process to ensure

from SCO that provides access to files and that applications work together.
system utility functions on the desktop. Files,
OpenGL See Open Graphics Library.
directories, and applications are represented
by icons and displayed in windows. Open Graphics Library Abbreviated
See also OpenServer; Santa Cruz Opera- OpenGL. A set of graphics libraries origi-
tion, Inc.; UnixWare. nally developed by Silicon Graphics and
now supported by IBM, Intel, Microsoft,
Open Directory Services Interface and many other companies.
Abbreviated ODSI. A standard from Mi-
OpenGL lets developers create 3-D graphi-
crosoft that enables client software to query
cal applications for workstations running
Internet directories by providing a common
the Programmers Hierarchical Interactive
API for naming.
Graphics System (PHiGS) extensions to the
OpenDoc A specification for creating X Window system.
compound documents, from Apple, IBM,
See also X Window.
Borland, and Novell. OpenDoc manages
text, spreadsheets, graphics, sound, and Open Group An international consor-
video as objects that can be created in one tium of vendors, educational institutions,
application and then inserted into another. and government agencies that develops
OpenDoc is similar in many respects to standards for open systems. Formed in
Microsoft’s Object Linking and Embedding 1996 as an umbrella organization to bring
(OLE) specification, but OpenDoc provides together the Open Software Foundation
for greater network support and also (OSF) and X/Open Company Limited.

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Optical Carrier

For more information on Open Group, see while this mainstream software is certainly
www.opengroup.com. configurable, it is basically a take-it-or-
leave-it package.
OpenServer A scalable set of Unix-
based products from SCO, including the See also Free Software Foundation; Linux.
Desktop System, Host System, and Enter-
Open Systems Interconnect See OSI
prise System, based on SVR2 but contain-
Reference Model.
ing many significant SVR4 enhancements.
The Desktop System is a single-user, multi- OpenView A popular network manage-
tasking system with MS-DOS and Win- ment package from Hewlett-Packard that
dows emulations, TCP/IP, and Internet includes Network Node Manager, Event
connectivity. Correlation Services, a Java-based Web
user interface, Open Database Connectiv-
The Host and Enterprise systems provide
ity (ODBC) integration, and other support
high-performance scalable servers for Intel-
services. OpenView is available on HP-
based platforms, supporting more than
UX, a Unix variant, and on Microsoft
8,000 applications, and with extensive net-
Windows NT.
working support, UPS (uninterruptible
power supply), and advanced power man- operating system Abbreviated OS. The
agement support. software responsible for allocating system
See also Open Desktop. resources, including memory, processor
time, disk space, and peripheral devices
Open Shortest Path First Abbreviated such as printers, modems, and monitors.
OSPF. A routing protocol used on TCP/IP All applications use the operating system to
networks that takes into account network gain access to these resources as necessary.
loading and bandwidth when routing infor- The operating system is the first program
mation over the network. Routers maintain loaded into the computer as it boots, and it
a map of the network and swap informa- remains in memory throughout the session.
tion on the current status of each network See also kernel; microkernel; network
link. OSPF incorporates least-cost routing, operating system.
equal-cost routing, and load balancing.
See also Routing Information Protocol.
Optical Carrier Abbreviated OC. A set
of Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)
open source software Any software hierarchies that define how digital signals
package that includes the original source are multiplexed over fiber-optic cable.
code from which the product was originally SONET is the physical-layer standard used
created. by telephone carriers to connect long-
Open source software allows knowledge- distance services. Table O.1 lists the OC
able users to make changes to the way the levels and related data rates.
software actually works, unlike products See also digital signal; Synchronous
from mainstream software developers Optical Network; Synchronous Digital
which never include the source code. And Hierarchy.
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optical character recognition

TABLE O.1 OC LEVELS

OC Level Data Rate (Mbps)

OC-1 51.84

OC-3 155.52

OC-6 311.04

OC-9 466.56

OC-12 622.08

OC-18 933.12

OC-24 1244.16

OC-36 1866.24

OC-48 2488.32

OC-96 4976.00

OC-192 9952.00

optical character recognition Abbre- optical drive A high-capacity disk-stor-

viated OCR. The computer recognition of age device that uses a laser to read and
printed or typed characters. OCR is usually write information.
performed using a standard optical scanner
and special software, although some sys- Because optical drives are relatively slow,
tems use special readers. The text is repro- they are used for archiving information and
duced just as though it had been typed. for other applications for which high access
Certain advanced systems can even resolve speed is not critical.
neatly handwritten characters. See also high-capacity storage system;
See also document management. jukebox; Magneto-optical storage.

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Organizational Unit

Oracle Corporation A major developer owners, and that files and other system re-
of powerful relational database software, sources be protected from other processes
client/server development tools, and other that might corrupt them.
related products for multiuser enterprise
According to the standard, a C2 compliant
computing.
workstation cannot be connected to a net-
For more information on Oracle, see work. Secure networking is defined in
www.oracle.com. “Trusted Network Interpretation,” which
is known as the Red Book.
Oracle NCA See Oracle Network Com-
puting Architecture. See also security.

Oracle Network Computing ORB See Object Request Broker.

Architecture Abbreviated Oracle NCA.
Organization object In Novell Directo-
A set of technologies from Oracle Corpora-
ry Services (NDS), a container object below
tion designed to allow clients to access in-
the Country object and above the Organi-
formation from Web servers, database
zational Unit object that helps to organize
servers, and other systems. NCA includes
other objects in the tree. You must have at
open Internet standards and special compo-
least one Organization object, usually the
nents called cartridges that provide a con-
name of your company or department, and
nection between proprietary applications.
you can use multiple Organization objects
Orange Book Lay term for the National if you wish.
Security Agency document called “Trusted See also leaf object; Novell Directory
Computer System Evaluation Criteria,” or Services.
TCSEC, which specifies security levels that
vendors must comply with to achieve Organizational Role object In Novell
Department of Defense security standards; Directory Services (NDS), a container object
so called because of the color of its cover. used to specify a role within an organization
This publication details standards for secu- such as Workgroup Leader or Department
rity levels used to control access to computer Manager who has access to certain NDS ob-
systems from Class A1, the highest verifiable jects or files. The Organizational Role object
security level, to Class D, the lowest, which is often used for container administrators.
has no security. See also occupant.
Class C2 is the security level most appropri-
ate to the business world; higher levels of se- Organizational Unit In Microsoft’s Ac-
curity tend to intrude too much into normal tive Directory, an object that can contain
commercial working patterns. C2 security other objects, such as other Organizational
requires that the operating system provide Units, users, groups, or Distributed File Sys-
individual logins with separate accounts and tem (DFS) shares.
a verifiable audit trail, that resources have See also Active Directory.

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Organizational Unit object

Organizational Unit object In Novell OS/2 client Any computer running OS/2
Directory Services (NDS), a container ob- that connects to a network server. OS/2 cli-
ject below the Organization object. The Or- ent workstations support TCP/IP, IPX/SPX,
ganizational Unit object can contain other NetBIOS, and named pipes.
Organizational Unit objects or leaf objects.
This container is not a required container, OS/2 Warp Server A network operat-
but its use allows better management of ing system, based on LAN Server 4, from
workgroups or project teams. IBM. It provides network services, system
management services, remote access, stan-
original equipment manufacturer dard file-sharing and network print servic-
Abbreviated OEM. The original manufac- es, support for up to 1,000 users, and secure
turer of a hardware subsystem or compo- Internet access.
nent. For example, Canon makes the print
As an application server, OS/2 Warp Server
engine used in many laser printers, includ-
supports Microsoft Windows and Windows
ing those from Hewlett-Packard (HP); in
NT applications and can support OS/2,
this case, Canon is the OEM, and HP is a
MS-DOS, Windows, Windows NT, AIX,
value-added reseller (VAR).
and Macintosh clients. All the important
OS See operating system. network protocols are available, including
TCP/IP, NetBIOS, and IPX.
OS/2 A 32-bit multitasking operating sys-
tem from IBM that runs on Intel processors. OSF Abbreviation for Open Software
Foundation. See Open Group.
OS/2 was developed jointly by Microsoft
and IBM as the successor to MS-DOS, OSI Reference Model A networking ref-
with Windows as a stop-gap measure until erence model defined by the ISO (Interna-
OS/2 was ready. When Microsoft chose to tional Organization for Standardization)
back Windows, placing considerable re- that divides computer-to-computer commu-
sources behind the breakthrough release nications into seven connected layers. Such
of Windows 3, IBM took control of OS/2 layers are known as a protocol stack.
development.
Each successively higher layer builds on the
The current version of OS/2 Warp includes
functions of the layers below, as follows:
voice-recognition software, Internet access,
and peer-to-peer networking. It supports ■
Application layer 7 The highest level of
Novell Directory Services (NDS) and in- the model. It defines the manner in which
cludes IBM Personal Communications/ applications interact with the network, in-
3270, a package used to communicate with cluding database management, e-mail,
Systems Network Architecture (SNA) sys- and terminal-emulation programs.
tems over TCP/IP networks. ■
Presentation layer 6 Defines the way in
IBM’s server for network environments is which data is formatted, presented, con-
OS/2 Warp Server. verted, and encoded.

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OSx

■
Session layer 5 Coordinates communi- ■
Data-link layer 2 Validates the integrity
cations and maintains the session for as of the flow of data from one node to an-
long as it is needed, performing security, other by synchronizing blocks of data and
logging, and administrative functions. controlling the flow of data.
■
Transport layer 4 Defines protocols for
■
Physical layer 1 Defines the mechanism
for communicating with the transmission
structuring messages and supervises the
medium and interface hardware.
validity of the transmission by performing
some error checking. OSPF See Open Shortest Path First.
■
Network layer 3 Defines protocols for OSx A version of Unix from Pyramid
data routing to ensure that the information Technology that includes elements of both
arrives at the correct destination node. AT&T and BSD systems.

THE OSI REFERENCE MODEL

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out-of-band signaling

out-of-band signaling The transmis- See also input/output.

sion of control information on frequencies
outside the bandwidth available for a voice outsourcing To subcontract a compa-
ny’s data processing operations to outside
or data transfer. The separation is usually
contractors rather than maintain corporate
accomplished by means of a filter.
hardware, software, and staff. Outsourcing
Outlook Express Abbreviated OE. In is often used as a cost-cutting mechanism,
Microsoft Windows, an application used to although the cost savings can be difficult to
create, manage, send, and receive e-mail. quantify.
Outlook Express can also access Internet See also downsizing.
newsgroups.
oversampling A time-division multi-
output Computer-generated informa- plexing (TDM) technique in which each bit
tion that is displayed on the screen, printed, from each channel is sampled more than
written to disk or tape, or sent over a com- once.
munications link to another computer. See also time-division multiplexing.

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packet filtering

P
P See peta-. packet assembler/disassembler Ab-
breviated PAD. A device that is connected
PABX See private automatic branch to a packet-switched network and that con-
exchange.
verts a serial data stream from a character-
PACE See Priority Access Control oriented device, such as a bridge or a router,
Enabled. into packets suitable for transmission. It
also disassembles packets back into charac-
Packard Bell NEC Major manufacturer ters for transmission to the character de-
of PCs and servers; manages all NEC Cor- vice. PADs are often used to connect a
poration’s computer manufacturing outside terminal or computer to an X.25 packet-
Japan. Packard Bell has recently established switched network.
a configure-it-yourself direct sales promo-
tion known as NEC Now. Packet Burst Protocol Abbreviated
PBP. A Novell NetWare protocol built on
For more information on Packard-Bell, see
www.packardbell.com. top of IPX that speeds up the transfer of
multipacket NetWare Core Protocol (NCP)
See also NEC Corporation. data transfers between a workstation and a
server by removing the need to sequence
packet Any block of data sent over a net-
and acknowledge every packet. Using PBP,
work or communications link.
a workstation or server can transmit a burst
Each packet may contain sender, receiver, of packets before requiring an acknowledg-
and error-control information, in addition ment, thus reducing network traffic.
to the actual message, which may be data,
See also Internetwork Packet eXchange.
connection management controls, or a re-
quest for a service. Packets may be fixed- or
packet filtering A process used by bridges
variable-length, and they will be reassem-
bled if necessary when they reach their des- to limit protocol-specific traffic to one seg-
tination. The actual format of a packet ment of the network, to isolate e-mail do-
depends on the protocol that creates the mains, and to perform other traffic-control
packet; some protocols use special packets functions. The network administrator sets the
to control communications functions in ad- packet-filtering specifications for each bridge.
dition to data packets. If a packet matches the specifications, the
bridge can either accept it or reject it.
See also datagram; frame; packet
switching. See also application-level filter; firewall.

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packet-level filter

packet-level filter A category of firewall many different possible connections and

that provides a high degree of convenience, routes that a packet might take to reach its
but a relatively low level of security. destination.
A packet-level filter blocks or forwards a The term often refers to networks using the
packet solely on its merits, without taking international standard X.25.
into account past history; the filter may also See also packet switching.
look at the source and destination address
information contained in the packet. packet switching A data-transmission
This kind of filter is easy to implement, has method that simultaneously routes and
little effect on network operations, but can transmits data packets from many custom-
be bypassed by encapsulating a blocked ers over a communications channel or tele-
protocol within an allowed protocol. phone line, thus optimizing use of the line.

See also application-level filter; firewall. An addressed packet is routed from node to
node until it reaches its destination, al-
Packet-level Procedure Abbreviated though related packets may not all follow
PAP. An X.25 full-duplex protocol for the the same route to that destination. Because
transfer of packets between a computer and long messages may be divided into several
a modem. packets, packet sequence numbers are used
to reassemble the original message at the
packet signature See NCP packet destination node.
signature.
The standard for packet-switching net-
packet sniffer A program used by an in- works is defined in CCITT recommenda-
truder to monitor a data stream for a pat- tion X.25. The Internet is an example of a
tern such as a password or credit card packet-switching network.
number. See also Consultative Committee for Inter-
Packet sniffers also have a more salutary pur- national Telephony and Telegraphy; pack-
pose when used for network analysis and et-switched network.
troubleshooting by the system administrator.
PAD See packet assembler/disassembler.
See also network analyzer; protocol
analyzer. page A single document available on the
World Wide Web or on a corporate intra-
packet-switched network A network net. A page can contain any combination of
that consists of a series of interconnected text, graphics, animated graphics, audio,
circuits that route individual packets of and video and can be static or dynamic.
data over one of several routes, offering
See also HyperText Markup Language.
flexibility and high reliability.
A packet-switched network may also be page fault In Microsoft Windows, the
called connectionless because it contains fault that occurs when Windows attempts

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parallel processing

to read to or write from a virtual memory PAP See Packet-level Procedure; Pass-
location that is designated not present. word Authentication Protocol; Printer Ac-
cess Protocol.
In Microsoft Windows Task Manager, the
number of times information is read from parallel communications The trans-
disk because it was not present in memory. mission of information from computer to
computer or from computer to peripheral
page-mode RAM A memory-manage- device, in which all the bits that make up the
ment technique used to speed up the perfor- character are transmitted at the same time
mance of dynamic RAM (DRAM). over a multiline cable.
In a page-mode memory system, the mem- See also serial communications.
ory is divided into pages by specialized
DRAM chips. Consecutive accesses to parallel port An input/output (I/O) port
that manages information eight bits at a
memory addresses in the same page result in
time; often used to connect a parallel printer.
a page-mode cycle that takes about half the
time of a regular DRAM cycle. See also parallel communications; RS-232-
C; serial communications; serial port.
paged memory management unit
parallel processing A computing meth-
Abbreviated PMMU. A specialized chip de-
od that can be performed by systems con-
signed to manage virtual memory. High-end
taining two or more processors operating
processors, such as the Motorola 68040 and
simultaneously. In parallel processing, all
the Intel Pentium, have all the functions of a
processors work on different aspects of the
PMMU built into the chip itself.
same program at the same time, in order to
See also virtual memory. share the computational load.
Parallel-processing computers can achieve
paging file In Microsoft Windows 2000, incredible speeds. The Cray X-MP48 peaks
a hidden file used to hold programs and at 1000 million floating-point operations
data files that will not currently fit into per second (1000 MFLOP) using four ex-
memory. The paging file, along with an tremely powerful processors, and parallel-
area of physical memory, make up the vir- hypercube systems, first marketed by Intel,
tual memory system. In most other operat- can exceed 65,536 processors with speeds
ing systems, the paging file is known as the of up to 262 billion floating-point opera-
swap file. tions per second (262 GFLOP).
In all but the most trivial parallel-processing
PalmPilot The hand-held computer from
applications, the programmer or the operat-
3Com Corporation, which has proved to be
ing system must assign approximate proces-
extremely popular, with more than 1 mil-
sor loads; otherwise, it is possible for non-
lion units sold to date.
optimized systems to fail to take advantage
See also 3Com Corporation. of the power available and, in the worst case,

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parent directory

run more slowly than on single-processor bit is set to zero; if it is even, the parity bit
systems. is set to one.
All this speed is used for applications such ■
Even If the sum of all the 1 bits is even,
as weather forecasting, in which the predic- the parity bit must be set to zero; if it is
tive programs can take as long to run as the odd, the parity bit must be set to one.
weather actually takes to arrive, 3-D seis- ■
Mark The parity bit is always set to one
mic modeling, groundwater and toxic flow and is used as the eighth bit.
studies, and the modeling of full-motion
dinosaur images used in movies.
■
Space The parity bit is set to zero and is
used as the eighth bit.
See also asymmetrical multiprocessing;
symmetrical multiprocessing.
■
None If parity is set to none, there is
no parity bit, and no parity checking is
parent directory In a hierarchical direc- performed.
tory system, such as that used by MS-DOS, The parity settings used by both communi-
OS/2, Windows, and Unix, the directory cating computers must match. Most online
immediately above the current directory. services, such as CompuServe or America
The special symbol .. is shorthand for the Online, use no parity and an 8-bit data word.
name of the parent directory.
See also asynchronous transmission;
See also period and double-period parity checking; parity error.
directories.
parity bit An extra or redundant bit used
parent domain In Microsoft Windows to detect data transmission errors.
2000 Server, any domain that has another
See also parity.
domain subordinate to it.
See also domain; first-layer domain. parity checking A check mechanism ap-
plied to a character or a series of characters
parent object In Novell Directory Ser- that uses the addition of extra or redundant
vices (NDS), an object that contains anoth- parity bits.
er object. This term is relative, because any
Parity checking is useful for a variety of pur-
particular parent object also has parent ob-
poses, including asynchronous communica-
jects of its own and can be considered a
tions and computer memory coordination.
child object from a certain perspective.
See also parity.
parity In communications, a simple form
of error checking that uses an extra or redun- parity error A mismatch in parity bits
dant bit after the data bits but before the stop that indicates an error in transmitted data.
bit or bits. Parity may be set as follows:
See also parity.
■
Odd Indicates that the sum of all the 1
bits in the byte plus the parity bit must be partition 1. A portion of a hard disk that
odd. If the total is already odd, the parity the operating system treats as if it were a

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password

separate drive. In Windows, a hard disk can the network, sometimes at the expense of
be divided into several partitions. A prima- distance.
ry partition, generally assigned the drive let- See also active hub.
ter C, might contain files that start the
computer. You could also create a non- passive termination A method used to
Windows partition and use it for a different terminate a Small Computer System Inter-
operating system. In Novell NetWare, a face (SCSI) chain of devices. Passive termi-
server must have a NetWare partition de- nation is a simple termination method that
fined in order to function as a part of the works best with four or fewer devices on a
NetWare file system. Other partitions can SCSI daisy chain.
manage file systems used by other operating
See also active termination; forced perfect
systems.
termination; Small Computer System
2. In Novell NetWare, a grouping or col- Interface.
lection of objects in the Novell Directory
Services (NDS) database. Each partition pass-through authentication In Mi-
consists of a container object, all the ob- crosoft Windows NT, an authentication
jects in it, and data about all those objects. method used when the user account must be
Partitions do not include any information authenticated, but the computer used for the
about the file system or the directories or logon is neither the domain controller for
files contained there. The data in a parti- the account nor the computer on which the
tion is also known as a replica. user account is defined. In such a case, the
computer used for the logon passes the
See also disk mirroring; leaf object; replica;
logon information through to the domain
replication; Root object; volume.
controller where the user account is defined.

partition table 1. An area of storage on See also domain; domain controller; user
a hard disk that contains information account.
about the partitions the disk contains. This
password A security method that identi-
information is usually recorded during the
fies a specific, authorized user of a comput-
initial preparation of the hard disk before
er system, a network, or a resource by a
it is formatted.
unique string of characters.
2. In Novell Directory Services (NDS), a
In general, passwords should be a mixture
list on each server containing the NDS rep-
of upper- and lowercase letters and num-
licas. For each replica on the server, the par-
bers and should be more than six charac-
tition table contains the partition name,
ters. Here are some general guidelines:
type, time stamp, and partition state.
■
Passwords should be kept secret and
passive hub A device used in some changed frequently. The worst passwords
networks to split a transmission signal, are the obvious ones: people’s names or
allowing additional hubs to be added to initials, place names, phone numbers,

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Password Authentication Protocol

birth dates, and anything to do with com- password encryption In certain operat-
puters or Star Trek. There are a limited ing systems, the password you enter to gain
number of words in the English language, access to the system is not stored as ordinary
and it is easy for a computer to try them all text, but is encrypted, and this encrypted
relatively quickly. form is compared against the encrypted
■
Change all passwords every 90 days, and password stored on the server. If the two
change those associated with high-securi- match, the logon continues; if not, the logon
ty privileges every month. Some network attempt is rejected.
operating systems require that passwords See also Challenge-Handshake Authenti-
expire even more frequently. For exam- cation Protocol; Password Authentication
ple, in NetWare 5, passwords expire after Protocol.
40 days by default.
password protection The use of one or
■
Some systems provide default pass-
more passwords to prevent unauthorized
words, such as MANAGER, SERVICE,
access to computer systems.
or GUEST, as part of the installation pro-
cess. These default passwords should be patch panel A panel, usually located in a
changed immediately. wiring closet, that contains rows of tele-
■
Limit concurrent sessions to one per phone-type modular jacks. A patch panel
system. allows the network administrator to con-
■
Do not allow more than two or three nect, disconnect, move, and test network
invalid password attempts before devices by changing these connections.
disconnecting. path The complete location of a directory
■
Do not allow generic accounts. or a file in the file system. Also called path-
■
Promptly remove the accounts of trans- name or directory path.
ferred or terminated people, as well as all See also Universal Naming Convention.
unused accounts.
pathname See path.
■
Review the security log files periodically.
See also authentication; Challenge- Payload Type Identifier Abbreviated
Handshake Authentication Protocol; PTI. In an Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Password Authentication Protocol. (ATM) cell, a field contained in the 5-byte
cell header that defines the type of informa-
Password Authentication Protocol tion in the payload area, including user, net-
Abbreviated PAP. A security protocol that work, and management information.
requires a user to enter a user name and
See also Cell Loss Priority; Header Error
password before gaining access to a secure
Control; Virtual Channel Identifier; Virtual
server.
Path Identifier.
See also Challenge-Handshake Authenti-
cation Protocol. PB See petabyte.

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PC-DOS

PBP See Packet Burst Protocol. ■

Type II A card used for modems or net-
work interface cards, 5 millimeters (0.2
PBX See private branch exchange.
inch) thick; may also hold a Type I card.
PC98 A personal computer design guide ■
Type III A 10.5 millimeter (0.4 inch)
for 1998–99 from Intel, Microsoft, and card, used for mini-hard disks and other
others, covering the PC system, bus, and de- devices that need more space, including
vices, including guidelines for various types wireless network interface cards; may also
of mobile PCs. hold two Type I or Type II cards.
PC98 also describes requirements for man- In theory, each PC Card adapter can support
ageability, remote boot support, and speci- 16 PC Card sockets (if there is enough space),
fications for 1394. The basic PC98 should and as many as 255 adapters can be installed
have no ISA (Industry Standard Architec- in a PC that follows the PCMCIA standard;
ture) devices; PC99 is expected to do away in other words, PCMCIA allows a maximum
with ISA slots as well. of 4080 PC Cards on one computer.
See also Advanced Configuration and Most PC Card devices are modems, Ethernet
Power Interface; Web-Based Enterprise and token-ring network adapters, dynamic
Management; Wired for Management; RAM, and flash memory cards, although
Zero Administration for Windows. mini-hard disks, wireless LAN adapters, and
SCSI adapters are also available.
PC-based router A router, such as the
NetWare Multiprotocol Router or Multi- See also PC Memory Card International
protocol Router Plus, that operates on a Association.
standard Intel-based personal computer.
PC Card slot An opening in the case of a
PC Card A term that describes plug-in portable computer, intended to receive a PC
cards that conform to the PCMCIA (Per- Card; also known as a PCMCIA slot.
sonal Computer Memory Card Interna-
tional Association) standard. A PC Card is PC Connection, Inc. A direct marketer
about the size of a credit card and uses a 68- of PCs, peripherals, accessories, and net-
pin connector with longer power and working products to the home, govern-
ground pins that will always engage before ment, business, and educational markets.
the signal pins engage. PC Connection was one of the first compa-
nies to provide overnight delivery of prod-
Several versions of the standard have been ucts and toll-free technical support.
approved by PCMCIA:
For more information on PC Connection,
■
Type I The thinnest PC Card, only 3.3
see www.pcconnection.com.
millimeters (0.13 inch) thick, used for
memory enhancements, including dynam- PC-DOS See Personal Computer Disk
ic RAM, static RAM, and flash memory. Operating System.

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PCI local bus

PCI local bus See Peripheral Compo- PC Service and Support Certified Pro-
nent Interconnect local bus. fessional A certification from Learning
Tree designed for the technician. Courses
PCI-X A revision to the PCI standard pro- and exams cover basic PC assembly and
posed by IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Com- troubleshooting, installation and configu-
paq that increases the bus width to 64 bits, ration of operating systems and peripher-
the bus speed to 133MHz, and the maxi- als, and optimization of networks.
mum throughput to 1GB per second. This
PDA See personal digital assistant.
revision is aimed at future workstation and
server design. PDF See Portable Document Format.
Several vendors also offer hot-plug PCI PDN See private data network; public
slots that allow you to replace a failed com- data network.
ponent without a system reboot.
Peak Cell Rate Abbreviated PCR. In
See also 1394; local bus; Peripheral Com- Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), the
ponent Interconnect local bus; Plug and maximum cell rate that a specific data
Play; Universal Serial Bus. source on the network can sustain.
See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode;
PCMCIA See PC Memory Card Interna-
Available Cell Rate; Minimum Cell Rate;
tional Association.
Sustainable Cell Rate.
PCMCIA slot See PC Card slot.
peer-to-peer architecture A network
PC Memory Card International architecture in which two or more nodes
Association Abbreviated PCMCIA. A can communicate with each other directly,
nonprofit association, formed in 1989, with without the need for any intermediary de-
more than 320 members in the computer vices. In a peer-to-peer system, a node can
and electronics industries, that developed a be both a client and a server.
standard for credit-card-sized, plug-in See also peer-to-peer network.
adapters designed for portable computers.
peer-to-peer network A LAN in which
PCONSOLE A Novell NetWare worksta- drives, files, and printers on each PC can be
tion utility used to set up and manage print available to every other PC on the network,
queues and print servers on the network. eliminating the need for a dedicated file serv-
er. Each PC can still run local applications.
See also NetWare Administrator.
Peer-to-peer networks introduce their own
PCR See Peak Cell Rate. system management problems, including
administration and responsibility for sys-
PCS See Personal Communications tem backup, reliability, and security. Peer-
Services. to-peer systems are often used in relatively

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Pentium Pro

small networks, with two to ten users, and to execute more than one instruction per
can be based on MS-DOS, Windows, or clock cycle.
Unix. Performance is not usually as good on Available in a range of clock speeds, from
a peer-to-peer network as under the client/ 233MHz all the way up to 450MHz, the
server model, especially under heavy traffic Pentium II can use a 100MHz system bus
loads. and is equivalent to 7.5 million transistors,
See also client/server architecture. more than twice that of the Pentium.
See also Intel Corporation; Pentium;
PEM See Privacy Enhanced Mail. Pentium Pro.

Pentium A family of microprocessors in- Pentium III A family of microprocessors

troduced by Intel in 1993. The Pentium rep- from Intel. The Pentium III represents the
resents the continuing evolution of the continuing evolution of the Pentium family
80486 family of microprocessors and adds of microprocessors and adds several nota-
several notable features, including instruc- ble features, including 50 new floating-
tion code and data caches and a built-in point instructions and 8 new registers to
floating-point processor and memory man- speed up floating-point calculations in sci-
agement unit. It also has a superscalar de- entific and engineering calculations, along
sign and dual pipelining, which allow the with 12 new multimedia instructions to in-
Pentium to execute more than one instruc- crease MPEG-2 performance and speech
tion per clock cycle, a 32-bit address bus, recognition. The most controversial new
and a 64-bit data bus. feature is the processor serial number, de-
Available in a range of clock speeds, from signed to increase network and online shop-
60MHz all the way up to 233MHz, the Pen- ping security, but feared by many as a threat
tium is equivalent to 3.1 million transistors, to privacy.
more than twice that of the 80486. Available in a whole range of clock speeds,
See also Intel Corporation; Pentium II; initially from 450MHz to 500MHz ver-
Pentium III; Pentium Pro. sions, the Pentium III can use the Pentium II
100MHz system bus and is equivalent to
Pentium II A family of microprocessors 9.5 million transistors.
from Intel. The Pentium II represents the See also Intel Corporation; Pentium; Pen-
continuing evolution of the Pentium family tium II; Streaming SIMD Extensions.
of microprocessors and adds several nota-
ble features, including integrated L1/L2 Pentium Pro A family of microprocessors
caches of up to 2MB that can be accessed at introduced by Intel in 1995. The Pentium Pro
the full clock speed and a built-in floating- is optimized for the execution of 32-bit soft-
point processor and memory management ware and is available with clock speeds from
unit. It also has a superscalar design and 150 to 200MHz. With a 32-bit data bus run-
dual pipelining, which allow the Pentium II ning at 60 or 66MHz, it supports superscalar

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PeopleSoft, Inc.

architecture and pipelines and contains the rectory immediately above the current
equivalent of 5.5 million transistors. directory.
Dynamic execution (a combination of See also parent directory; root directory.
branch prediction and speculative execu-
tion) allows the processor to anticipate Peripheral Component Interconnect
and schedule the next instructions for ex- local bus Abbreviated PCI local bus. A
ecution. Pentium Pro offers up to 1MB of specification introduced by Intel in 1992
Level 2 cache that runs at the same speed for a local bus that allows up to 10 PCI-
as the processor. compliant expansion cards to be plugged
See also Intel Corporation; Pentium; into the computer. One of these expansion
Pentium II. cards must be the PCI controller card, but
the others can include a video card, net-
PeopleSoft, Inc. A major developer of work interface card, SCSI interface, or any
large enterprise resource planning (ERP) other basic function.
applications for finance, materials and in- The PCI controller exchanges information
ventory management, distribution, human with the computer’s processor, either 32 or
resources, and manufacturing, all within a 64 bits at a time, and allows intelligent PCI
single computing environment. adapters to perform certain tasks concur-
For more information on PeopleSoft, see rently with the main processor by using
www.peoplesoft.com. bus-mastering techniques.

Performance Monitor In Microsoft PCI is compatible with ISA (Industry Stan-

Windows NT, a network and server moni- dard Architecture), EISA (Extended Indus-
toring tool that displays resource use for se- try Standard Architecture), and MCA
lected system-level components; you can (Microchannel Architecture) expansion
also use Performance Monitor to trouble- buses for backward compatibility with old-
shoot performance problems and assess er technologies. PCI can operate at a bus
hardware upgrade requirements. Informa- speed of 32MHz and can manage a maxi-
tion can be logged to a file for later analysis. mum throughput of 132MBps with a 32-bit
data path or a rate of 264MBps with a
period The . character; pronounced 64-bit data path.
“dot.” Used to indicate the name of the cur-
rent directory in a pathname and to sepa- See also 1394; local bus; PCI-X; Plug and
rate the elements in a domain name, as in Play; Universal Serial Bus.
www.sybex.com.
Perl Acronym formed from Practical Ex-
period and double-period directories traction and Report Language. Perl is an in-
In a hierarchical directory system, a short- terpreted programming language devel-
hand way of referring to directories. The oped by Larry Wall, used to manipulate
period (.) represents the current directory, text, files, and processes and to print re-
and the double period (..) represents the di- ports on the extracted information.

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Personal Computer Disk Operating System

Perl is rapidly becoming the system admin- are not numbered continuously; they are
istrator’s answer to all those problems that numbered only within each command. This
a C program does not seem to fit. It does not makes it easy to add or remove pages as re-
have the arbitrary limitations of other lan- quirements change, but it can make it diffi-
guages, so lines can be of any length, arrays cult to find specific information. The
can be of any size, variable names can be as permuted index is the solution.
long as you care to make them, and binary The permuted index has three columns. The
data does not cause problems. central column, where you start your
permanent swap file A swap file that, search, is in alphabetic order. The column
once created, is used over and over again. to the right lists the command that performs
This file is used in virtual memory opera- the function and the section number in the
tions, in which hard-disk space is used in man pages where you will find a detailed
place of RAM. description, and the column on the left con-
tains additional keywords to help confirm
See also temporary swap file.
that you have found the correct entry.
permanent virtual circuit Abbreviated See also man pages.
PVC. A permanent communications cir-
cuit, created and maintained even when no Personal Communications Services
data is being transmitted. Abbreviated PCS. A digital wireless com-
A PVC has no setup overhead and gives im- munications technology that includes
proved performance for periodic transmis- voice, data, and video.
sions that require an immediate connection. PCS competes with the traditional analog
Packets are transferred in order over a spe- cellular phone system, but PCS’s digital tech-
cific path and arrive at their destination in nology can provide clearer voice quality, bet-
the same order. ter security through encryption, and lower
See also switched virtual circuit. costs, as well as additional services such as
messaging, voice mail, and caller ID.
permissions In a network or multiuser
Personal Computer Disk Operating
environment, the ability of a user to access
System Abbreviated PC-DOS. The ver-
certain system resources, including files and
sion of the DOS operating system supplied
directories. Permissions are based on the
with PCs made by IBM.
rights given to user accounts by the system
administrator. PC-DOS and MS-DOS began as virtually
identical operating systems, with only a few
See also rights.
minor differences in device driver names
permuted index A special kind of index and file sizes, but after the release of DOS 6
used in several of the Unix system manuals. (MS-DOS 6.2 and PC-DOS 6.1), the two
Many of the Unix manuals treat each com- grew much further apart.
mand on a separate page, and these pages See also Microsoft Disk Operating System.

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personal digital assistant

personal digital assistant Abbreviat- personalized menus In Microsoft Win-

ed PDA. A tiny, pen-based, battery-pow- dows 2000, a feature that hides infrequent-
ered computer that combines personal ly used menu selections.
organization software with fax and e-mail See also cascading menus.
facilities into a unit that fits into your pock-
et. PDAs are available from several manu- peta- Abbreviated P. A metric system
facturers, including Apple’s Newton, and prefix for one quadrillion, or 1015. In com-
others from 3Com, Casio, Tandy, Toshiba, puting, based on the binary system, peta has
Motorola, Sharp, Sony, GRiD, and AT&T. the value of 1,125,899,906,842,624, or the
power of 2 (250) closest to 1 quadrillion.
Personal Information Manager Ab-
petabyte Abbreviated PB. Usually
breviated PIM. A multipurpose software
1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes (250), but
package that combines a word processor,
may also refer to 1 quadrillion bytes (1015).
database, and other accessory modules to
allow the user to manipulate data in a less PGP See Pretty Good Privacy.
structured way than required by conven-
physical address See hardware
tional programs. A PIM can store notes,
address.
memos, names and addresses, appoint-
ments, and to-do lists, and it may be part of physical device An item of hardware,
the software used in a PDA (personal digital such as a disk drive or a tape drive, that is
assistant). physically separate from other devices.

Personal NetWare Novell’s peer-to- physical drive A real drive in the com-
puter that you can see or touch, as opposed
peer network replacement for NetWare Lite,
to a conceptual or logical drive. One phys-
released in 1994, that provides MS-DOS
ical drive may be divided into several logical
and Microsoft Windows users with the abil-
drives, which are parts of the hard disk that
ity to share files, printers, CD-ROMs, and
function as if they were separate disk drives.
other resources, as well as run standard net-
work applications. Other features include See also partition; volume.
simplified network administration, in-
physical layer The first and lowest of
creased security, and a single login so that
the seven layers in the OSI Reference Mod-
users can view or access all network resourc-
el for computer-to-computer communica-
es at once. tions. The physical layer defines the
Personal NetWare can manage a maximum physical, electrical, mechanical, and func-
of 50 workstations per server and a maxi- tional procedures used to connect the
mum of 50 servers on each network, giving equipment.
a maximum of 2500 nodes per network. See also OSI Reference Model.

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pipeline

physical unit Abbreviated PU. The rules for packet size and content, designed
name used in IBM’s Systems Network Ar- to crash the receiving computer.
chitecture (SNA) to indicate a physical de- See also brute-force attack; denial of ser-
vice and its associated resources within the vice attack; dictionary attack.
network.
See also logical unit. pinouts The configuration and purpose
of each pin in a multipin connector.
PIM See Personal Information Manager.
pipe A section of memory that can be
pin-compatible A description of a chip used by a program or a command to pass in-
or other electronic component with con- formation to a second command for pro-
necting pins exactly equivalent to the con- cessing. The information is stored in a first-
necting pins used by a different device. With in first-out basis and is not altered during
a pin-compatible chip, you can easily up- transmission. A pipe is opened like a file
grade a system by replacing the older chip and is read from or written to in the same
with the newer version. way; pipes are also unidirectional in that
one pipe is used to read data and another is
See also plug-compatible.
used to write data.
Ping Acronym formed from packet inter- A special form of pipe, known as a named
net groper. A TCP/IP command used to test pipe, originated in the Unix operating sys-
for network connectivity by transmitting a tem. A named pipe allows two processes to
special ICMP (Internet Control Message exchange information. This concept has
Protocol) diagnostic packet to a specific been extended in several network operating
node on the network, forcing the node to systems as a method of interprocess commu-
acknowledge that the packet reached the nication, allowing data to be exchanged be-
correct destination. If the node responds, tween applications running on networked
the link is operational; if not, something is computers.
wrong. The word ping is often used as a
See also mailslots; named pipe; sema-
verb, as in “ping that workstation to see if
phore; shared memory; socket.
it’s alive.”
Ping is designed for network testing, trou- pipeline A mechanism used in micro-
bleshooting, and measurement, and be- processors that speeds up the processing of
cause of the large load it can impose on a instructions.
busy, working network, it should not be The Intel Pentium processor features two
used during normal operations, unless the pipelines, one for data and one for instruc-
system administrator is tracing a specific tions, and can process two instructions per
problem on the network. clock cycle. A processor with two or more
ping of death A very large, specially pipelines is said to be superscalar.
constructed ICMP packet that violates the See also superscalar.

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pipeline burst cache

pipeline burst cache A secondary or L2 and read easily while in transit; usually ap-
cache associated with a microprocessor plied to an unencrypted password.
that allows fast data-transfer rates. Pipeline See also cleartext.
burst cache requires RAM chips that can
synchronize with the microprocessor’s platform 1. An operating system envi-
clock. ronment, such as a NetWare platform or a
Unix platform.
pipeline stall A microprocessor design
error that leads to delays in the processing 2. A computer system based on a specific
of an instruction. microprocessor, such as an Intel-based plat-
form or a PowerPC-based platform.
pipelining 1. In processor architecture,
a method of fetching and decoding instruc- platform-specific routers Routers
tions that ensures that the processor never based on a specific and proprietary hard-
needs to wait; as soon as one instruction is ware architecture, which is usually vendor-
executed, the next one is ready. specific.

2. In parallel processing, the method used player A small program launched or used
to pass instructions from one processing by a Web browser to process a specific type
unit to another. of file that the browser cannot handle. A
player is a program that deals with sound
See also parallel processing.
files.
PKI See Public Key Infrastructure. See also helper; plug-in; viewer.

PKUNZIP A very popular file decompres- plenum cable Cable with a special Teflon
sion utility available as shareware. PKUN- coating designed for use in suspended ceil-
ZIP uncompresses files or archives created ings, in inside walls, or between floors.
by PKZIP; both programs are usually avail-
The Teflon coating provides low flame-
able together.
spread and low, nontoxic smoke in the case
See also PKZIP; WinZip. of an accident. Plenum cables should meet
the CMR (Communications Riser Cable) or
PKZIP A very popular file compression CMP (Communications Plenum Cable)
utility available as shareware. PKZIP not specifications of the National Electric Code
only compresses files to save disk space or and are often used for cable runs in air-
cut modem transmission times, but also return areas.
combines compressed files to create com-
See also riser cable.
pressed archives.
See also PKUNZIP; WinZip. Plug and Play Abbreviated PnP. A stan-
dard from Compaq, Microsoft, Intel, and
plaintext Text that has not been encrypt- Phoenix that defines techniques designed
ed in any way and that can be intercepted to make PC configuration simple and

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Point-to-Point Protocol

automatic. A user can plug in a new device, new file types or content. Plug-ins are avail-
and the operating system will recognize it able from a huge number of companies and
and configure it automatically when the are usually free.
system is next started. See also helper.
PnP adapters contain configuration infor-
mation stored in nonvolatile memory, PMMU See paged memory manage-
which includes vendor information, serial ment unit.
number, and checksum information. The
PNNI See Private Network-to-Network
PnP chipset allows each adapter to be iso-
Interface.
lated, one at a time, until all cards have been
properly identified by the operating system. PnP See Plug and Play.
The PnP-compatible BIOS isolates and POH See power-on hours.
identifies PnP cards at boot time, and when
you insert a new card, the BIOS performs an PointCast, Inc. The largest privately
auto-configuration sequence enabling the held media company on the Internet, pro-
new card with appropriate settings. viding online news to corporations. The
PointCast broadcast receives more than
New PCs with flash BIOS will be easy to up-
120 million hits a day and offers access to a
grade so that they can take advantage of
collection of more than 600 leading busi-
PnP; older systems with ROM-based BIOS
ness sources.
will need a hardware change before they
can take full advantage of PnP. Unlike the World Wide Web and other In-
See also Peripheral Component Intercon-
ternet applications, PointCast uses server
nect local bus; Plug and Pray.
push technology, in which the server auto-
matically sends new data to a client without
Plug and Pray What most of us do when a specific request from that client.
our Plug-and-Play systems do not work For more information on PointCast, see
automatically. www.pointcast.com.
plug-compatible Any hardware device point-to-point link A direct connection
designed to work in exactly the same way between two, and only two, locations or
as a device manufactured by a different nodes.
company. For example, all external serial
devices are plug-compatible, because you Point-to-Point Protocol Abbreviated
can replace one with another without PPP. A TCP/IP protocol used to transmit IP
changing the cabling or connector. datagrams over serial lines and dial-up tele-
phone point-to-point connections.
See also pin-compatible.
PPP allows a PC to establish a temporary di-
plug-in A small program you can link in rect connection to the Internet via modem
to your Web browser to add a special capa- and appear to the host system as if it were
bility not originally present or to recognize an Ethernet port on the host’s network.

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Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol

PPP provides router-to-router, host-to- transmit or pass the token to the next
router, and host-to-host connections and device.
also provides an automatic method of as-
polymorphic virus A form of virus that
signing an IP address so that mobile users
can change its appearance to avoid detec-
can connect to the network at any point.
tion. The virus encrypts itself using a special
See also PPP Multilink; Point-to-Point formula each time an infection occurs.
Tunneling Protocol; Serial Line Internet Virus-detecting software uses special scan-
Protocol. ning techniques to find and remove poly-
morphic viruses.
Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
See also boot sector virus; file-infecting vi-
Abbreviated PPTP. A proprietary network-
rus; macro virus; multipart virus; stealth
ing protocol proposed by Microsoft that
virus, vaccine; virus.
supports virtual private networks, allowing
remote users to access Windows NT Server POP See point of presence; Post Office
systems across the Internet without compro- Protocol.
mising security. PPTP allows corporations to
use public networks rather than leasing its port 1. To move a program or an oper-
own lines for wide area communications. ating system from one hardware platform
to another. For example, Windows NT
See also encapsulation; Layer 2 Tunneling
portability refers to the fact that the same
Protocol; PPP Multilink; tunneling.
operating system can run on both Intel and
reduced instruction set computing (RISC)
point of presence Abbreviated POP. A
architectures.
connection to the telephone company or to
long-distance carrier services. 2. The point at which a communications
circuit terminates at a network, serial, or
polling A method of controlling the parallel interface card, usually identified by
transmission sequence of devices on a a specific port number or name.
shared circuit or multi-drop line by sending
3. A number used to identify a connection
an inquiry to each device asking if it wants
point to a specific Internet protocol.
to transmit. If a device has data to send, it
sends back an acknowledgment, and the See also portable; port number.
transmission begins. Three methods are in
portability The ability to transfer an ap-
common use:
plication or operating system from one ven-
■
Roll-call A master station uses a polling dor’s hardware to another, quickly and
list to locate the next node to poll. easily, without rewriting the software and
■
Hub A node polls the next node in without affecting its performance.
sequence. This can be achieved in several ways:
■
Token-passing A token is passed to the ■
Write the program in a portable language,
next node in sequence. This node can such as C, C++, or Java.

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port number

■
Use only standard programming language Portable Document Format Abbrevi-
features. ated PDF. A file format standard developed
■
Use only standard libraries. by Adobe Systems and others for use in elec-
tronic documents. A file in this format usu-
■
Don’t make assumptions about word size ally has the filename extension of .PDF.
or byte ordering.
Portable Operating System Interface
■
Use layers of software to distance the ap-
plication from operating system or hard- Abbreviated POSIX. A collection of IEEE
ware dependencies. standards that defines a complete set of por-
table operating system services. POSIX is
portable Describes the degree to which a based on Unix services, but it can be imple-
program can be moved easily to different mented by many other operating systems.
computing environments with a minimum
number of changes. Applications written Each of the standards defines a specific as-
for the Unix operating system are often de- pect of an operating system, including such
scribed as portable applications, as are Java areas as system administration, system se-
applets. curity, networking, and the user interface.

See also Java. When program or operating system service

meets the appropriate POSIX standard, it is
portable computer Any computer light said to be POSIX-compliant.
and small enough to be carried easily. There See also IEEE standards.
are two types:
■
Laptop computers, which are small port multiplier A concentrator that pro-
enough to be used in an airplane seat and vides multiple connections to the network.
powerful enough to run major operating
port number The default identifier for a
systems and popular business applica-
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/
tions. Extended battery life is making the
Internet Protocol) or Internet process.
laptop a serious alternative to the desktop
system. For example, ftp (File Transport Protocol),
■
Notebook computers, which are smaller HTML (HyperText Markup Language),
than laptops and about the size of a and Telnet are all available at preassigned
textbook or student notebook, but still unique port numbers so that the computer
capable of running major applications. A knows how to respond when it is contacted
notebook computer will easily fit into a on a specific port; Web servers use port 80,
briefcase. and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
e-mail is always delivered to port 25. You
Major advances in battery life and the use can override these defaults by specifying
of flash memory are part of the continuing different values in a URL, but whether they
development of portable computers. will work depends on the configuration on
See also docking station; port replicator. the target system.

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port replicator

A total of 65,535 port numbers are avail- mailing list, rather than a message sent to
able for use with TCP, and the same num- an individual.
ber are available for UDP (User Datagram See also posting; Usenet.
Protocol).
See also port. Postal Telephone and Telegraph Ab-
breviated PTT. The official government
port replicator A device containing body that administers and manages the tele-
standard computer ports used to avoid con- communications systems in many European
stantly connecting and disconnecting pe- countries.
ripherals from a portable computer.
posting Sending an article or an e-mail
A port replicator duplicates all your com- message to a Usenet newsgroup.
puter’s ports and may even add a Small See also post; Usenet.
Computer System Interface (SCSI) port or a
second Universal Serial Bus port. The exter- Post Office Protocol Abbreviated POP.
nal monitor, full-sized keyboard, and An Internet mail server protocol that
mouse you use in the office are connected to also provides an incoming mail storage
the port replicator; when it is time to take mechanism.
the portable computer on the road, you
POP works with Simple Mail Transfer Pro-
simply unplug the port replicator, leaving
tocol (SMTP), which actually moves the
everything attached to the replicator for
e-mail from one system to another, and the
your return.
latest version of the standard is POP3.
See also docking station.
When a client connects to a POP3 server, all
the messages addressed to that client are
portal A large Web site that acts as a gate-
downloaded; there is no ability to download
way to the Internet and may also offer
messages selectively. Once the messages are
search facilities, free e-mail, online chat, in-
downloaded, the user can delete or modify
stant messaging, as well as other services,
messages without further interaction with
including hard news, sports, and personal
the server.
finance. Portals make money by selling ad-
vertising space. In some locations, POP3 is being replaced
by another standard, Internet Mail Access
POSIX See Portable Operating System Protocol (IMAP) version 4.
Interface.
See also Internet Mail Access Protocol;
POST See power-on self test. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.

post An individual article or e-mail power conditioning The use of protec-

message sent to a Usenet newsgroup or tive and conditioning devices to filter out

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power supply

power surges and spikes and ensure clean operating system; designed to ensure that the
power. There are three main types of major system components are present and
power-conditioning devices: operating. If a problem is found, the POST
■
Suppression, which protects against sud- firmware displays an error message on the
den destructive transient voltages. screen, sometimes with a diagnostic code
number indicating the type of fault.
■
Regulation, which modifies the power
waveform back to a clean sine wave. A PowerPC A family of RISC-based, super-
UPS (uninterruptible power supply) is a scalar microprocessors jointly developed by
common form of voltage regulator. It may Apple, Motorola, and IBM, with a 32-bit
be online, actively modifying the power, address bus and a 64-bit data bus.
or offline and available only after the line ■
The 601 houses 2.8 million transistors,
voltage drops below a certain level.
runs at 110MHz, and is designed for use
■
Isolation, which protects against noise. in high-performance, low-cost PCs.
These types of devices are often expensive.
■
The 66MHz 602 is targeted at the con-
Because power conditioning is expensive, sumer electronics and entry-level comput-
usually only the servers or hosts in a network er markets.
are protected. Surge suppressors may be
used with workstations or other important
■
The low-wattage 603e is aimed at battery-
network nodes, such as bridges or routers. powered computers.

See also blackout; brownout; power surge; ■

The 604 is for high-end PCs and
spike; surge. workstations.
■
The 64-bit 620 is available in a 133MHz
Power Mac A series of computers from
version capable of executing four instruc-
Apple Computer, Inc., based on the Power-
tion per clock cycle and is designed for serv-
PC chip. Although Power Macs run on the
ers and high-performance applications.
PowerPC chip rather than on the tradition-
al Motorola chips, they run a version of the ■
The 750 (also known as the G3) is avail-
Macintosh operating system and look and able in a range of processors running from
feel just like 680x0-based computers. They 333 to 400MHz with an integrated L2
can also run MS-DOS and Windows soft- cache of 1MB and is equivalent to 6.35
ware under emulation. million transistors.

power-on hours Abbreviated POH. A power supply A part of the computer

cumulative count of the hours since the last that converts the power from a wall outlet
time the system was started. into the lower voltages, typically 5 to 12
See also mean time between failures. volts DC (direct current), required internally
in the computer. PC power supplies are usu-
power-on self test Abbreviated POST. ally rated in watts, ranging from 90 to 300
A set of diagnostic programs loaded from watts. If the power supply in a computer
ROM before any attempt is made to load the fails, nothing works—not even the fan.
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power surge

power surge A sudden, brief, and often computer-to-computer communications.

destructive increase in line voltage. A power The presentation layer defines the way in
surge may be caused by an electrical appli- which data is formatted, presented, con-
ance, such as a photocopier or elevator, or verted, and encoded.
by power being reapplied after an outage. See also OSI Reference Model.
See also power conditioning; surge; surge
suppressor. Pretty Good Privacy Abbreviated PGP.
A popular public-key encryption and digi-
PPP See Point-to-Point Protocol. tal certificate program, originally written
by Phil Zimmermann, available at no
PPP Multilink An extension to the Point-
charge from certain Internet sites.
to-Point Protocol that can provide band-
width on demand by combining multiple PGP uses Diffie-Hellman public-key algo-
links between two systems; a process also rithms, is available for Microsoft Windows
known as bonding. PPP Multilink provides and Macintosh platforms, and works with
the negotiation features and protocols that most popular messaging applications such
allow systems to indicate that they can as Microsoft Exchange, Eudora, and Claris
bond. The links can be of different types Emailer for the Macintosh.
and different speeds. See also Privacy Enhanced Mail; RSA Data
See also inverse multiplexing; Point-to- Security.
Point Protocol.
PRI See Primary Rate ISDN.
PPTP See Point-to-Point Tunneling
Protocol. primary domain controller In a Mi-
crosoft Windows NT domain, a computer
preemptive multitasking A form of running Windows NT Server that authenti-
multitasking in which the operating system cates domain logons and manages the direc-
executes an application for a specific period tory database for the domain. All changes
of time, according to its assigned priority. to all accounts in the domain are automat-
At that time, it is preempted, and another ically tracked and sent to the primary do-
task is given access to the CPU for its allo- main controller. There can be only one
cated time. Although an application can primary domain controller in any domain.
give up control before its time is up, such as
See also backup domain controller; do-
during input/output waits, no task is ever
main; domain controller.
allowed to execute for longer than its allot-
ted time period.
primary key See key.
See also cooperative multitasking; time-
slice multitasking. primary member One of two members
of a mirror set. The primary member con-
presentation layer The sixth of seven tains the original data; the shadow member
layers of the OSI Reference Model for contains the copy.

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Priority Access Control Enabled

See also disk mirroring; shadow member. Printer Agent In Novell Distributed
Print Services, a printer object that replac-
Primary Rate ISDN Abbreviated PRI. es the Print Queue, Printer, and Printer
An ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Net- Server objects used in other Novell print-
work) service that provides 23 B (bearer) ing environments.
channels, capable of speeds of 64Kbps,
printer emulation The ability of a print-
and one D (data) channel, also capable
er to change modes so that it behaves like a
of 64Kbps. The combined capacity of
printer from another manufacturer. For ex-
1.544Mbps is equivalent to one T1 channel.
ample, many dot-matrix printers offer an
See also Basic Rate ISDN. Epson printer emulation in addition to their
own native mode. Most laser printers offer
primary time server In Novell Net- a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet emulation.
Ware, a server that provides time informa- See also emulator; terminal emulation.
tion to secondary time servers and to
workstations. print queue A collection of documents
A primary time server must synchronize waiting to be printed on a particular net-
time information with at least one other pri- work printer.
mary or reference time server. See also Novell Distributed Print Services.

See also reference time server; secondary print server A server that handles print-
time server; single reference time server. ing for all users on the network. A print
server collects print jobs sent by applica-
PRINTCON A Novell NetWare worksta- tions running on other networked PCs,
tion utility used to create, view, or modify places them in a print queue on the hard
print-job configurations on the network. disk, and routes them to one or more print-
Configuration options include the printer ers attached to the print server.
to be used, the print queue to process the
See also local printer; Novell Distributed
job through, the print-device mode, the
Print Services.
printer form number, and the number of
copies. print spooler In an operating system or
PRINTDEF A Novell NetWare worksta- network operating system, the software
tion utility used to create, view, and modify that coordinates print jobs sent to a shared
printer definitions on the network. printer when that printer is busy. Each print
job is stored in a separate file and is printed
Printer Access Protocol Abbreviated in turn when the printer becomes free.
PAP. The protocol used in AppleTalk net-
Priority Access Control Enabled Ab-
works to manage communications between
breviated PACE. A technology from 3Com
computers and printers.
Corporation designed to deliver on-time
See also AppleTalk. multimedia over switched Ethernet networks

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Privacy Enhanced Mail

with insufficient bandwidth and without the PDNs are used to transmit highly sensitive
ability to prioritize traffic. This is accom- data such as banking and other financial in-
plished by the use of the PACE-enabled formation. The service provider guarantees
switches that allow the switch port and end a certain bandwidth will always be avail-
stations to take turns when transmitting. able, although some of that bandwidth may
go unused during periods of light traffic.
Privacy Enhanced Mail Abbreviated
PEM. An e-mail standard that uses a pat- See also Virtual Private Network.
ented RSA encryption scheme to provide a
confidential method of authentication. private key One of two keys used in
PEM is little used due to the proprietary na- public key encryption. The user keeps the
ture of the encryption scheme. private key secret and uses it to encrypt
digital signatures on outgoing messages and
See also Secure MIME; RSA. to decrypt incoming messages.

private automatic branch exchange See also public key encryption.

Abbreviated PABX. An automatic telephone
system that serves a particular location, such private leased circuit A leased commu-
as an office, providing connections from one nications circuit, available 24 hours a day,
extension to another, as well as a set of con- 7 days a week, that connects a company’s
nections to the external telephone network. premises with a remote site.
Many PABXs handle computer data and
Private Network-to-Network Inter-
may include X.25 connections to a packet-
face Abbreviated PNNI. A dynamic link-
switched network.
state routing protocol for Asynchronous
See also private branch exchange. Transfer Mode (ATM)-based networks. Any
given ATM network may include ATM
private branch exchange Abbreviated switches from several vendors; PNNI pro-
PBX. A telephone system, usually owned by vides a routing protocol to communicate
the customer, that serves a particular loca- configuration information about the net-
tion, such as an office, providing connec- work to these groups of switches.
tions from one extension to another, as well
See also Integrated-Private Network-to-
as a set of connections to the external tele-
Network Interface.
phone network.
See also private automatic branch privileged mode An operating mode
exchange. supported in protected mode in Intel proces-
sors that allows the operating system and
private data network Abbreviated certain classes of device drivers to manipu-
PDN. A highly secure and very expensive late parts of the system, including memory
network of leased lines built for a single user, and input/output ports. Applications cannot
usually a corporation. be executed in privileged mode.

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programming language

See also protected mode; privilege level; and one process can run one or more other
real mode. processes.
See also session; thread.
privilege level 1. Those rights granted
to a user or a group of users by the network Professional Server Expert Abbreviat-
administrator that determine the functions ed PSE. A certification from IBM that offers
the user can execute. Rights form an impor- specialization in a specific network operat-
tant component of network security and ing system, including Novell NetWare,
can include supervisor rights and read, OS/2 Warp Server, or Windows NT Server.
write, erase, and modify rights, along with
See also Professional Server Specialist.
several others.
2. A form of protection built into Intel mi- Professional Server Specialist Abbre-
croprocessors. The Intel microprocessor ar- viated PSS. An introductory hardware cer-
chitecture provides two broad classes of tification from IBM designed to assess
protection. One is the ability to separate knowledge of IBM Netfinity and PC server
tasks by giving each task a separate address architecture, installation, configuration,
space. The other mechanism operates with- and management.
in a task to protect the operating system and See also Professional Server Expert.
special processor registers from access by
applications. Within a task, four privilege Profile object In Novell NetWare, a spe-
levels are defined. The innermost ring is as- cial Novell Directory Services (NDS) object
signed privilege level 0 (the highest, or most used to assign the same login script to a
trusted, level), and the outermost ring is group of users. A Profile login script is ex-
privilege level 3 (the lowest, or least privi- ecuted after the container login script has
leged, level). Rings 1 and 2 are reserved for executed, but before the user login script.
the operating system and operating system
extensions; level 3 is available to applica- programming language A language
tions. This protection is maintained by used to write a program that the computer
complex circuitry in the processor’s memo- can execute. Almost 200 programming lan-
ry management unit. guages exist. An example is the popular C
language, which is well suited to a variety of
PRN In MS-DOS, Windows, and OS/2, computing tasks. With C, programmers can
the logical device name for a printer, usual- write anything from a device driver, to an
ly the first parallel port, which is also application, to an operating system.
known as LPT1. Certain kinds of tasks, particularly those
See also parallel port. involving artificial intelligence (LISP or
Prolog), process control (Forth), or highly
process In a multitasking operating sys- mathematical applications (Fortran and
tem, a program or a part of a program. All APL), can benefit from a more specific
EXE and COM files execute as processes, language.

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Project Athena

Programming languages are also divided Services (NDS); also known as an attribute.
into low-level languages, such as assembly User object properties include name, login
language, and high-level languages, such as name, password restrictions, e-mail address,
C, C++, and Java. and other related information.
See also assembly language; compiler; in- 2. In Microsoft Windows, a characteristic
terpreter; machine language. of an object or device, accessed via that ob-
ject’s Properties dialog box.
Project Athena A Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology project that ran from property rights In Novell NetWare,
1983 to 1991, sponsored by MIT, DEC, characteristics of an object in Novell Direc-
and IBM, and developed the X Window tory Services (NDS). Property rights are
system and Kerberos authentication, as Add or Delete Self, Compare, Read, Super-
well as several other important relational visor, and Write.
database and network-related systems.
See also Kerberos; X Window. proprietary software Software devel-
oped in-house by a particular business or
promiscuous mode A mode in which a government agency and never made avail-
network device or interface card captures able commercially to the outside world.
all the packets on the network, not just
The operating systems used in certain
those addressed to it specifically.
portable computers and PDAs (personal
Network analyzers work in promiscuous digital assistants) may also be considered
mode to monitor network traffic and to proprietary, because they are specific to
perform statistical analyses of the traffic.
one system and are not generally available
See also network analyzer; sniffer. anywhere else.

propagation delay In communications, protected mode In Intel processors, an

any delay between the time a signal enters operating state that supports advanced
the transmission channel and the time it is features. Protected mode in these proces-
received. sors provides hardware support for multi-
This delay is relatively small across a LAN, tasking and virtual memory management,
but can become considerable in satellite and it prevents programs from accessing
communications, in which the signal must blocks of memory that belong to other ex-
travel from one earth station to the satellite ecuting programs.
and back to earth again. Unusually long de-
In 16-bit protected mode, supported on
lays may require the use of specialized
80286 and higher processors, the CPU can
hardware to ensure that the link is not bro-
address a total of 16MB of memory
ken prematurely.
directly; in 32-bit protected mode,
property 1. In Novell NetWare, a char- supported on 80386 and higher processors,
acteristic of an object in Novell Directory the CPU can address up to 4GB of memory.

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PU

Microsoft Windows NT, OS/2, and most Novell NetWare’s IPX/SPX, but the trend
versions on Unix running on Intel proces- these days is moving toward more open sys-
sors run in protected mode. tems such as TCP/IP (Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol).
See also real mode.
See also OSI Reference Model.
protocol In networking and communica-
tions, the formal specification that defines protocol suite See protocol stack.
the procedures to follow when transmitting
protocol tunneling See tunneling.
and receiving data. Protocols define the for-
mat, timing, sequence, and error checking proxy server A software package run-
used on the network. ning on a server positioned between an in-
See also communications protocol; OSI
ternal network and the Internet.
Reference Model; protocol stack. The proxy server filters all outgoing con-
nections so that they appear to be coming
protocol analyzer A hardware or com- from the same machine, in an attempt to
bined hardware and software product used conceal the underlying internal network
to analyze the performance data of the net- structure from any intruders. By disguising
work and to find and troubleshoot network the real structure of the network, the proxy
problems. server makes it much more difficult for an
intruder to mount a successful attack.
Protocol analyzers vary greatly in complex-
ity. Some use dedicated hardware and can A proxy server will also forward your re-
decode as many as 150 protocols; others quests to the Internet, intercept the re-
convert an existing networked PC into a sponse, and then forward the response to
network-specific analyzer. you at your network node. A system admin-
istrator can also regulate the external sites
See also network analyzer; sniffer.
to which users can connect.
protocol converter A combined hard- See also dual-homed host; firewall.
ware and software product that converts
from one network protocol to another; PSE See Professional Server Expert.
used when two dissimilar networks are PSS See Professional Server Specialist.
connected.
PSTN See Public Switched Telephone
See also gateway.
Network.
protocol stack The several layers of soft- PTI See Payload Type Identifier.
ware that define the computer-to-computer
or computer-to-network protocol. PTT See Postal Telephone and
Telegraph.
Several companies have developed impor-
tant proprietary protocol stacks, including PU See physical unit.

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public data network

public data network Abbreviated PDN. or certificate. Other CAs would then vouch
Any government-owned or government- for those CAs, and they in turn would be
controlled commercial packet-switched net- vouched for by other CAs.
work, offering wide-area services to data- See also certificate authority; digital
processing users. signature.

public key encryption An encryption public network Normal voice telephone

scheme that uses two keys. In an e-mail systems; also called the direct distance dial
transaction, the public key encrypts the (DDD) network.
data, and a corresponding private key de-
crypts the data. Because the private key is Public Switched Telephone Network
never transmitted or publicized, the encryp- A designation used by the ITU to describe
tion scheme is extremely secure. the local telephone company.

For digital signatures, the process is re- Public trustee In Novell NetWare, a
versed; the sender uses the private key to special trustee, used only for trustee
create the digital signature, which can then assignments.
be read by anyone who has access to the The Public trustee allows objects in Novell
corresponding public key. This confirms Directory Services (NDS) that do not have
that the message really is from the apparent any other rights to have the rights granted
sender. to the Public trustee. This is similar to the
See also digital signature; private key. way the user GUEST or the group EVERY-
ONE worked in earlier versions of Novell
Public Key Infrastructure A proposal NetWare.
to provide a structure for verifying and au- punch-down block A connecting device
thenticating users involved in transactions used for telephone lines; also known as a
on the Internet or on corporate intranets quick-connect block. The wires are pushed
and extranets. into metal teeth that strip the insulation
The proposal involves a set of trusted certif- away and make a good connection.
icate authorities (CAs) who would publish a
push See server push.
person’s public key and vouch for the au-
thenticity of the data using a digital signature PVC See permanent virtual circuit.

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quarter-inch cartridge

Q
QIC See quarter-inch cartridge. QoS is often associated with the delivery of
data such as live video, while at the same
QoS See quality of service.
time maintaining sufficient bandwidth for
quadrature amplitude modulation In the delivery of normal network traffic, per-
communications, a data-encoding tech- haps at a lower data rate.
nique used by modems. Quadrature ampli- See also bandwidth on demand; Fast IP;
tude modulation is a combination of phase IP Multicast; IP over ATM; IP switching;
and amplitude change that can encode mul- multicast.
tiple bits on a single carrier signal. For ex-
ample, the CCITT V.42bis standard uses 4 Quantum Corporation A major manu-
phase changes and 2 amplitudes to create facturer of disk storage systems. Quantum
16 different signal changes. now makes a wide variety of disk types, in-
See also trellis-coded modulation. cluding IDE, SCSI, solid-state, and Fibre
Channel.
quality of service Abbreviated QoS. The
For more information on Quantum Corpo-
network requirements to support a specific
ration, see www.quantum.com.
application. Different types of networks and
network traffic have a different QoS. quarter-inch cartridge Abbreviated
QoS includes the ability to guarantee the QIC. A set of tape standards defined by the
delivery of time-sensitive data, control the Quarter-Inch Cartridge Drive Standards
bandwidth, set priorities for specific net- Association, a trade association established
work traffic, and provide an appropriate in 1987. Several standards are in use today
level of security. as Table Q.1 shows.

TABLE Q.1 QIC CAPACITIES

QIC Standard Capacity Tape Type

QIC-24 60MB full-sized cartridge

QIC-40 40MB mini cartridge

QIC-80 80MB mini cartridge

QIC-100 40MB mini cartridge

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query language

TABLE Q.1 QIC CAPACITIES (CONTINUED)

QIC Standard Capacity Tape Type

QIC-120 125MB full-sized cartridge

QIC-128 128MB mini cartridge

QIC-150 250MB full-sized cartridge

QIC-380 380MB mini cartridge

QIC-525 525MB full-sized cartridge

QIC-1000 1GB full-sized cartridge

QIC-1350 1.35GB full-sized cartridge

QIC-3010 340MB mini cartridge

QIC-3020 680MB full-sized cartridge

QIC-4GB 4GB full-sized cartridge

QIC-5GB 5GB full-sized cartridge

query language In a database manage- question mark A wildcard character

ment system, a programming language that used in many operating systems to repre-
allows a user to extract and display specific sent a single character in a filename or file-
information from a database. name extension.
See also asterisk.
Structured Query Language (SQL) is an
international database query language
queue A temporary list of items waiting
that allows the user to issue high-level for a particular service, stored on disk in a
commands or statements, such as SELECT special directory. For example, a print
or INSERT, to create or modify data or the queue is a list of documents waiting to be
database structure. printed on a network printer.
See also Structured Query Language. See also print queue.

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QuickTime

quick-connect block See punch-down digital data such as sound, video, MIDI, or
block. other control information. A QuickTime
movie created on one platform can be
QuickTime A cross-platform data for-
played back on another without modifica-
mat from Apple Computer, Inc., used to
tion; versions are available for Macintosh
display movies. QuickTime synchronizes as
and Microsoft Windows.
many as 32 tracks containing time-based

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RAD

R
RAD See Rapid Application will be erased when the computer is turned
Development. off, so contents must be copied onto a real
disk to be saved.
radio frequency interference Abbrevi-
ated RFI. Many electronic devices, includ- See also disk cache.
ing radios, televisions, computers, and
peripherals, can interfere with other signals random access Describes the ability of
in the radio-frequency range by producing a storage device to go directly to the re-
electromagnetic radiation. The use of radio quired memory address without needing
frequencies is generally regulated by gov- to read from the beginning every time data
ernment agencies. is requested.

See also Class A certification; Class B cer- In a random-access device, the information
tification; extremely low-frequency can be read directly by accessing the appro-
emission; Federal Communications priate memory address. There is nothing
Commission. random or haphazard about random ac-
cess; a more precise term is direct access.
RADIUS See Remote Authentication
See also sequential access.
Dial In User Service.

RADSL See Rate-Adaptive Digital random-access memory Abbreviated

Subscriber Line. RAM. The main system memory in a com-
puter, used for the operating system, appli-
RAID See redundant array of inexpen- cations, and data.
sive disks.
See also dynamic RAM; static RAM.
RAM See random-access memory.
Rapid Application Development Ab-
RAM chip A semiconductor storage de- breviated RAD. A set of client/server appli-
vice, either dynamic RAM or static RAM. cation-development tools designed to speed
up the development of robust applications
RAM disk An area of memory managed
for SQL databases.
by a special device driver and used as a sim-
ulated disk; also called virtual drive. Be- See also Structured Query Language.
cause the RAM disk operates in memory, it
works much faster than a regular hard disk. RARP See Reverse Address Resolution
However, anything stored on a RAM disk Protocol.

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read-only memory

RAS See Remote Access Server. memory is released. If the data does not
match, that block on the disk is marked as
Rate-Adaptive Digital Subscriber bad, and another attempt is made to write
Line Abbreviated RADSL. An Asymmet- the data elsewhere on the disk.
ric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) service
with a provision for testing the line length README file A plain text file that con-
and quality before starting the service and tains information about the software,
adjusting the line speed accordingly. placed on the distribution disks by the
See also Asymmetric Digital Subscriber manufacturer.
Line; High-Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Line; The filename may vary slightly; it might be
Single-Line Digital Subscriber Line; Very- READ.ME, README.1ST, README
High-Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Line. .TXT, or README.DOC, for example.
README files may contain last-minute,
RBOC See Regional Bell Operating important information that is not in the
Companies. program manuals or online help system.
RCDD See Registered Communications You should always look for a README file
Distribution Designer. when installing a new program on your sys-
tem; it may contain information pertinent
RCONSOLE A Novell NetWare work-
to your specific configuration. You can
station utility that allows network admin-
open a README file in any word processor
istrators to manage routers and servers
or text editor because the file does not con-
from a remote PC using a modem or from
tain embedded formatting commands or
a workstation on the network. RCON-
program-specific characters.
SOLE establishes the connection to the
server and converts the PC into a virtual read-only Describes a file or other collec-
server console. This function is also avail- tion of information that can only be read; it
able in NetWare Administrator from the cannot be updated in any way or deleted.
Tools menu.
Certain important operating system files
In NetWare 3, use ACONSOLE to perform are designated as read-only to prevent their
this function. accidental deletion. Also, certain types of
See also NetWare Administrator; REMOTE. ROM and some devices such as archive
backup tapes and CD-ROMs can be read
RDP See Remote Desktop Protocol. from but not changed.

read-after-write verification A method read-only memory Abbreviated ROM.

of checking that data is written to a hard A semiconductor-based memory system that
disk correctly. Data is written to the disk stores information permanently, retaining
and then read back and compared with the its contents when power is switched off.
original data still held in memory. If the ROMs are used for firmware, such as the
data read from the disk matches, the data in BIOS in the PC. In some portable computers,

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RealAudio

applications and even the operating system Realtime Streaming Protocol Abbre-
are stored in ROM. viated RTSP. A proposed protocol from
Netscape and RealNetworks for streaming
See also flash memory.
live and prerecorded audio and video across
the Internet and corporate intranets. RTSP
RealAudio Technology developed by Re-
also includes features for bidirectional con-
alNetworks (previously known as Progres-
trol, support for IP Multicast, and system
sive Networks, Inc.) that lets you play audio
security.
files as they are in the process of being
downloaded, rather than waiting until the See also IP Multicast; RealAudio; Real-time
complete file has arrived, which gives a Transport Protocol; Resource Reservation
much faster response time. RealAudio uses Protocol.
UDP (User Datagram Protocol) as the de-
Real-time Transport Protocol Abbre-
livery mechanism.
viated RTP. A protocol designed for use in
See also IP Multicast; multicasting; stream- online videoconferencing applications in-
ing; User Datagram Protocol. volving multiple participants.
RTP can be used with any continuous data
real mode 1. An operating state support- stream and so is suitable for use in interactive
ed by all processors in the Intel 80x86 fam- simulators and with control and measure-
ily, and the only operating mode supported ment applications. RTP uses UDP (User Da-
by MS-DOS. In real mode, the processor can tagram Protocol) as the delivery mechanism.
directly address 1MB of memory. Unlike
See also Realtime Streaming Protocol; Re-
protected mode, real mode does not offer
source Reservation Protocol; User Data-
any advanced hardware features for memo-
gram Protocol.
ry management or multitasking.
2. In Microsoft Windows, an operating reboot To restart the computer and re-
mode that runs Windows using less than load the operating system, usually after a
1MB of extended memory. Real mode is crash.
not used in Windows 3.1 or later. In some cases, you may be able to restart the
See also protected mode.
computer from the keyboard; in more se-
vere crashes, you may have to turn the com-
puter off and then back on again.
RealNetworks, Inc. Developer of
streaming audio and video technology for See also boot.
use over the Internet; previously known as
Progressive Networks. Receive Data Abbreviated RXD. A
hardware signal defined by the RS-232-C
For more information on RealNetworks, standard and used to carry serial data from
Inc., see www.real.com. one device to another.
See also RealAudio; streaming. See also Transmit Data.

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redirector

record locking A method used to control utilities, source code, Apache HTTP Server,
access to individual records in a database. sendmail, and Perl, as well as trial versions
In a multiuser environment, there is always of commercial software.
the possibility that two users will attempt to SAP, IBM, Compaq, Oracle, Intel, and No-
update the same record at the same time but vell have all made equity investments in Red
with different information. The initial at- Hat Software.
tempt to solve this problem was to use file
For more information on Red Hat Software,
locking in which the first user to access the
see www.redhat.com.
file locks out all other users and prevents
them from opening the file. After the file is See also Apache HTTP Server; Linux; Perl.
updated and closed again, the next user can
gain access. Red Horde A nickname for Novell, Inc.,
the leading network operating system soft-
File locking can seriously degrade overall
ware company, as well as the NetWare re-
system performance as many users attempt
sellers worldwide. Red is Novell’s
to access the same files time after time. To
corporate color.
avoid this slowdown, many database man-
agement systems use record locking, which redirection 1. In Unix and many other
limits access to individual records within operating systems, a shell mechanism that
the database files. causes the standard input from a program
See also file and record locking. to come from a file rather than from the ter-
minal; it also causes standard output and
Recovery Console In Microsoft Win- standard error to go to a file rather than to
dows 2000, a command-line interface that the terminal. Because Unix is a file-based
gives access to a set of commands used to re- operating system, and terminals and other
cover a system that will not restart. devices are treated as though they are files,
See also Emergency Repair Disk; safe a program doesn’t care or even know if its
mode. output is going to a terminal or to a file.
2. A mechanism used by most of the pop-
recursion In programming, the ability of
ular Web server software packages that re-
a subroutine to call itself.
routes clients attempting to access a specific
Recursion is often used when solving prob- URL to a different URL, either on the same
lems that repeat the same processing steps. or on a different server. Redirection is a
However, some limiting factor must be convenient way to avoid dead links.
present; otherwise, the program will never
See also link rot; pipe; Uniform Resource
stop.
Locator.
Red Hat Software A major distributor
of Linux. Red Hat Linux is a three-CD redirector A software module loaded
package, containing a stable version of the onto all the workstations on a network that
Linux kernel, a large set of operating system intercepts application requests for file- and

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reduced instruction set computing

printer-sharing services and diverts them to disk duplexing, depending on whether one
the file server for action. or two independent hard-disk controllers
See also NetWare shell; NETx.COM; are used.
requester. ■
RAID 2 Bit-interleaved data is written
across several drives, and then parity and
reduced instruction set computing
error-correction information is written to
Abbreviated RISC, pronounced “risk.” A
additional separate drives. The specific
processor that recognizes only a limited
number of error-correction drives de-
number of assembly-language instructions.
pends on the allocation algorithm in use.
RISC chips are relatively cheap to produce
and debug because they usually contain
■
RAID 3 Bit-interleaved data is written
fewer than 128 instructions. RISC proces- across several drives, but only one parity
sors are commonly used in workstations, drive is used. If an error is detected, the
and they can be designed to run up to 70 data is reread to resolve the problem. The
percent faster than processors that use com- fact that data is reread in the event of an er-
plex instruction set computing (CISC). ror may add a small performance penalty.

See also complex instruction set comput- ■

RAID 4 Data is written across drives by
ing; IBM RS/6000; instruction set. sectors rather than at the bit level, and a
separate drive is used as a parity drive for
redundant array of inexpensive error detection. Reads and writes occur
disks Abbreviated RAID. In networking independently.
and mission-critical applications, a method
of using several hard disk drives (often SCSI
■
RAID 5 Data is written across drives in
or Integrated Drive Electronics [IDE] drives) sectors, and parity information is added
in an array to provide fault tolerance in the as another sector, just as if it were ordi-
event that one or more than one drive fails. nary data. This level of RAID can provide
faster performance as the parity informa-
Each level of RAID is designed for a specific
tion is written across all the drives, rather
use:
than to a single parity drive.
■
RAID 0 Data is striped over one or more
drives, but there is no redundant drive. There is not much difference in speed or
RAID 0 provides no fault tolerance be- quality among these levels. The appropriate
cause the loss of a hard disk means a com- level of RAID for any particular installation
plete loss of data. Some classification depends on network usage. RAID levels 1, 3,
schemes omit RAID 0 for this reason. and 5 are available commercially, and levels
3 and 5 are proving popular for networks.
■
RAID 1 Two hard disks of equal capac-
ity duplicate or mirror each other’s con- Several vendors have created their own
tents. One disk continuously and RAID levels, including 6, 7,10, 11, and 35.
automatically backs up the other disk. This Some of these are actually combinations of
method is also known as disk mirroring or existing RAID levels, such as Compaq’s

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Registry

Level 0+1, which combines RAID levels 0 Regional Bell Operating Companies
and 1. Abbreviated RBOC. The telephone compa-
nies formed as a result of the breakup of
See also backup; disk striping; disk striping
AT&T, finalized in 1984.
with parity; parity; single large expensive
disk. Each of the RBOCs was assigned a specific
geographical area, and each of these areas
reentrant Describes a programming was divided into service areas known as lo-
technique that allows one copy of a pro- cal access and transport areas (LATA).
gram to be loaded into memory and shared. See also Local Exchange Carrier.
When one program is executing reentrant
Registered Communications Distribu-
code, a different program can interrupt and
tion Designer Abbreviated RCDD. A
then start or continue execution of that
certification from BICSI (a telecommunica-
same code.
tions association) for those involved in the
Many operating system service routines use design and installation of low-voltage wir-
reentrant code so that only one copy of the ing infrastructures in new construction or
code is needed. The technique is also used in in existing buildings. An additional special-
multithreaded applications, in which differ- ization, RCDD: Local Area Network, is
ent events are taking place concurrently in available for those involved with designing
the computer. and installing LAN cabling.

reference time server In Novell Net- Registry In the Microsoft Windows fam-
Ware, a server that provides externally de- ily of operating systems, a system database
rived time data to secondary time servers containing configuration information.
and to workstations. Reference time servers The operating system continually referenc-
take part in time synchronization, but they es the Registry database for information on
do not change their time except in response users and groups, the applications installed
to the external time source. on the system and the type of document
each can create, what hardware is available
See also primary time server; secondary and which ports are in use, and property
time server; single reference time server. sheets for folders and application icons.
Changes to the Registry are usually made
regedit In Microsoft Windows, an appli-
automatically as configuration information
cation that knowledgeable users can access
is changed using Control Panel applications
to edit the contents of the Registry data-
or the Administrative Tools; however,
base. In Windows NT, this application is
knowledgeable users can make changes di-
called regedit32.
rectly using the application regedit or
See also Registry. regedit32.

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Registry Editor

The Registry database replaces the text-based See also Common name; Context; Distin-
.INI configuration files used in earlier ver- guished Name; NDS tree.
sions of Windows and replaces the MS-DOS
configuration files AUTOEXEC.BAT and REMOTE A Novell NetWare server utili-
CONFIG.SYS. ty used to access the server console from a
PC or a workstation or by using a modem.
See also regedit.
See also RCONSOLE.
Registry Editor See regedit.
remote access A workstation-to-net-
regular expression In Unix, a sequence work connection, made using a modem and
of characters that can match a set of fixed- a telephone line, that allows data to be sent
text strings used in searching for and replac- and received over large distances. Remote
ing text. access and authentication and security for
Many Unix programs, including vi, ed, such access is managed differently in differ-
emacs, grep, and awk, use regular ent network operating systems.
expressions. See also private data network; public data
relational database A database model network; Virtual Private Network.
in which the data always appears from the
Remote Access Server Abbreviated
point of view of the user to be a set of two-
RAS. In Microsoft Windows NT Server, a
dimensional tables, with the data presented
software package that allows remote users
in rows and columns.
to connect to the server via modem and ac-
The rows in a table represent records, which cess network resources. Users can connect
are collections of information about a spe- to the server using a telephone line and an
cific topic, such as the entries in a doctor’s analog modem, an ISDN connection, or an
patient list. The columns represent fields, X.25 network.
which are the items that make up a record,
such as the name, address, city, state, and zip Remote Authentication Dial In User
code in an address list database. Service Abbreviated RADIUS. A third-
party authentication server attached to a
See also database model.
network.
Relative Distinguished Name In Nov- Remote users dial in to the server, and the ac-
ell Directory Services (NDS), a shortened cess server requests authentication services
Distinguished Name that identifies an ob- from the RADIUS server. The RADIUS serv-
ject by its relationship within the current er authenticates users and gives them access
context. to network resources. The access server is
acting as a client to the RADIUS server.
Relative Distinguished Names do not begin
with a period, but you can use a period at the See also access server; authentication;
end of the name to move up the NDS tree. challenge-response authentication.

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Remote Storage

remote boot A technique used to boot a remote digital loopback test A capa-
workstation from an image file on the file bility of certain modems that allows the
server rather than from a local drive at- whole circuit to be tested.
tached directly to the workstation. See also loopback.

remote connection See remote access. Remote File System Abbreviated RFS.
A distributed file system network protocol
remote-control program A program
that allows programs running on a comput-
that allows the user to link two PCs togeth-
er to use network resources as though they
er so that one of the computers controls the
were local. Originally developed by AT&T,
operation of the other. The connection may
RFS has been incorporated as a part of Unix
be over a dedicated serial line, a local-area
System V Interface Definition.
network, or a modem-to-modem commu-
nications link. Each computer runs a copy Remote Installation Services Abbre-
of the remote-control program. viated RIS. In Microsoft Windows 2000
Remote-control programs are particularly Server, a service that allows the installation
useful for troubleshooting problems at of a single workstation image of Windows
computers located far from the technical 2000 Professional to any number of com-
support center, for installing or removing puters while at the same time ensuring that
demonstration software without needing to each system has unique security identifiers.
visit the customer site, for training remote Remote Procedure Call Abbreviated
users, and for telecommuting. RPC. A set of procedures used to implement
Popular remote control programs include client/server architecture in distributed
Symantec’s pcAnywhere, Microcom’s programming.
Carbon Copy, and Traveling Software’s RPC describes how an application initiates
LapLink for Windows. a process on another network node and
how it retrieves the appropriate result.
See also mobile computing; wireless
communications. RPCs were first implemented by Sun Mi-
crosystems and Hewlett-Packard systems
Remote Desktop Protocol Abbreviat- running the Unix operating system.
ed RDP. An extension to the International See also Common Object Request Broker
Telecommunications Union (ITU) T.120 Architecture; Distributed Component Ob-
protocol that provides the connection be- ject Model; Object Request Broker.
tween a thin client and the terminal server.
RDP works with Microsoft Windows remote resource Any device not at-
workstations using TCP/IP (Transmission tached to the local node, but available
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). through the network.

See also Independent Computing Archi- Remote Storage In Microsoft Win-

tecture; thin client. dows 2000 Server, a service that moves in-

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remote user

frequently used files from local hard disk NetWare contains three major types of
storage to tape when disk resources drop replicas:
below a certain level. If a user requests the ■
Master The original replica, created
file after it has been transferred to tape, the during system installation. A Master rep-
file is read back, and a dialog box explains lica of the Root partition is stored in a hid-
that the file is being retrieved from remote den directory on the first file server
storage. installed.

remote user A user who logs in to the

■
Read-Write Used to read or update No-
network using a modem and telephone line vell Directory Database (NDD) informa-
from a site located some distance from the tion. There will be at least two Read-
main network. Write replicas for each partition to ensure
that the NDD will continue to function
A remote user may always dial in from the even if some of the servers with replicas
same location, as in the case of a telecom- are unavailable.
muter working from home, or may dial in ■
Read-Only Used to display but not
from a different location every time, as in
modify NDD information.
the case of mobile sales people.
A fourth replica type, Subordinate Refer-
See also mobile computing; remote ac- ence, is important to NDS communica-
cess; wireless communications. tions. This is a link between a parent
partition and a child partition, containing
repeater A simple hardware device that a list of the servers in which replicas of the
moves all packets from one local-area child partition are stored, their addresses,
network segment to another by regenerat- and replica types, as well as other NDS
ing, retiming, and amplifying the electrical partition information. Subordinate Refer-
signals. ence replicas are maintained by the oper-
The main purpose of a repeater is to extend ating system and cannot be changed by
the length of the network transmission me- users or the system administrator.
dium beyond the normal maximum cable See also Novell Directory Services; Net-
lengths. Ware Directory Database; partition; replica
synchronization.
See also active hub; bridge; brouter;
router. replica synchronization In Novell Di-
rectory Services (NDS), the process used to
replica In Novell Directory Services exchange information between a partition’s
(NDS), a copy of a directory partition. replicas to ensure that all information is up-
Replicas are designed to eliminate a single to-date.
point of failure and to provide faster access When a change is made to a replica, syn-
to users across a wide-area network. chronization ensures that the change is

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Resource Reservation Protocol

made available to all other replicas as soon Request to Send Abbreviated RTS. A
as possible. hardware signal defined by the RS-232-C
standard to request permission to transmit.
See also Novell Directory Services; parti-
tion; replica. See also Clear to Send.

replication The process of synchronizing reserved memory In MS-DOS, a term

data stored on two or more computers ei- used to describe that area of memory
between 640Kb and 1MB, also known as
ther for backup purposes or to make the in-
upper memory. Reserved memory is used
formation more accessible to users at
by MS-DOS to store system and video
different locations.
information.
In Microsoft Windows NT Server, replica-
See also memory management.
tion is used to duplicate data to another
server; the server holding the master copy of reserved word See keyword.
the data is called the export server, and the
server receiving the data is known as the im- resource 1. Any part of a computer sys-
port server. tem that can be used by a program as it runs.
Resources include memory, hard and floppy
In Novell Directory Services (NDS), repli- disks, networking components, the operat-
cation is used to distribute all or part of the ing system, printers, and other output devic-
Novell Directory Database to other servers. es, as well as queues, security features, and
other less well defined data structures.
requester Special software loaded onto a
networked workstation to manage commu- 2. In HTML, any URL, directory, or appli-
nications between the network and the work- cation that the server can access and send to
station. This software may also be referred to a requesting client.
as a shell, redirector, or client, depending on See also HyperText Markup Language;
the networking system in use. Uniform Resource Locator.
See also NetWare shell; NetWare DOS Re-
Resource Reservation Protocol Ab-
quester; NETx.COM.
breviated RSVP. An Internet protocol de-
signed to deliver data on time and in the right
Request for Comment Abbreviated
order over TCP/IP (Transmission Control
RFC. A document or a set of documents in
Protocol/Internet Protocol) networks.
which proposed Internet standards are de-
scribed or defined. RSVP is a control and signaling protocol, not
a routing protocol, and it works by reserving
Well over a thousand RFCs are in exist- bandwidth from one end system to another;
ence, and they represent a major method of this reduces the bandwidth available to other
online publication for Internet technical users.
standards.
See also IP switching; Real-time Transport
See also Internet Engineering Task Force. Protocol.
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response time

response time The time lag between REXX is a general-purpose interpreted lan-
sending a request and receiving the data. guage and uses English-like words, rather
Response time can be applied to a complete than the sometimes terse syntax of C or C++.
computer system, as in the time taken to RFC See Request for Comment.
look up a certain customer record, or to a
system component, as in the time taken to RFI See radio frequency interference.
access a specific cluster on disk or for a
memory circuit to return data requested by RFS See Remote File System.
the processor. RG-58 A 50-ohm coaxial cable, used in
restore To copy files from a backup or Ethernet networks, that conforms to the
archival storage to their normal location, IEEE 802.3 10Base2 standard.
especially when the files are being copied to
RG-59 A 75-ohm coaxial cable used in
replace files lost by accident.
ARCnet and in television.
See also backup.
RG-62 A 93-ohm coaxial cable used in
retensioning A maintenance operation ARCnet LANs or in IBM 3270 applications.
required by certain tape drives to ensure
right angle bracket The > symbol that
correct tape tension; retensioning fast for-
is used in Unix and other operating systems
wards and then rewinds the entire tape or
to direct the output from a command to a
tape cartridge.
file or to a device.
Return key See Enter key.
Also commonly used in e-mail messages to
Reverse Address Resolution Protocol indicate the text has been cut from another
Abbreviated RARP. A part of the TCP/IP e-mail message.
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
rights In a network or multiuser envi-
Protocol) protocol suite that allows a com-
ronment, the ability of a user to access cer-
puter, more specifically a diskless worksta-
tain system resources, including files and
tion, to obtain an IP address from a server
directories. Permissions are based on the
when only the hardware address is known.
rights given to user accounts by the system
See also Address Resolution Protocol; administrator.
hardware address; IP address.
See also inherited rights.
REXX Acronym formed from Restruc-
tured Extended Executor Language. A rightsizing The process of matching a
scripting language from IBM, originally corporation’s goals to the computing and
written by Mike Cowlishaw of IBM UK in network solutions available to maximize
1979 for the VM mainframe environment business effectiveness in reaching that goal.
and now available on many operating sys- See also downsizing; outsourcing; service
tems, including OS/2, Unix, and VMS. bureau.

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RJ-12

ring network A network topology in the generation that allows a ring network to
form of a closed loop or circle, with each cover greater distances than star networks
node in the network connected to the next. or bus networks. Ring networks normally
use some form of token-passing protocol to
Messages move in one direction around the
regulate network traffic.
system. When a message arrives at a node,
the node examines the address information The failure of a single node can disrupt net-
in the message. If the address matches the work operations; however, fault tolerant
node’s address, the message is accepted; techniques have been developed to allow
otherwise, the node regenerates the signal the network to continue to function in the
and places the message back on the network event one or more nodes fail.
for the next node in the system. It is this re- See also token-ring network.

RING NETWORK

RIP See Routing Information Protocol. See also plenum cable.

RIS See Remote Installation Services. RJ-11 A commonly used modular tele-
phone connector. RJ-11 is a four-wire (two-
RISC See reduced instruction set pair) connector most often used for voice
computing. communications.

riser cable Any cable that runs vertically RJ-12 A commonly used modular tele-
between floors in a building. Riser cable phone connector. RJ-12 is a six-wire (three-
may be run through special conduits or in- pair) connector most often used for voice
side the elevator shaft. communications.

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RJ-45

RJ-11

RJ-45 A commonly used modular tele- See also local user profile; mandatory user
phone connector. RJ-45 is an eight-wire profile.
(four-pair) connector used for data transmis-
sion over unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) ca- robot Sometimes abbreviated bot. A
ble and leased telephone line connections. World Wide Web application that auto-
matically locates and collects information
RLL encoding An efficient method of
about new Web sites. Robots are most often
storing information on a hard disk. Com-
used to create large databases of Web sites.
pared with older, less-efficient methods,
such as modified frequency modulation en- See also spider.
coding (MFM), RLL encoding effectively
doubles the storage capacity of a disk. Rockwell Semiconductor Systems A
See also advanced run-length limited major manufacturer of chip sets for mo-
encoding. dems, cellular and cordless telephones, fax
machines, PC-based videoconferencing
rlogin A Unix utility that establishes a systems, and high-speed communications
terminal to remote host connection on a systems.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/In- For more information on Rockwell Semicon-
ternet Protocol) network. Once the connec- ductor Systems, see www.rockwell.com.
tion is established, any commands you
enter will run on the remote system. roll back The ability of a database man-
agement system to abort a transaction
roaming user profile In Microsoft Win-
against the database before the transaction
dows NT Server, a user profile stored on the
is complete and return to a previous stable
server and downloaded to a workstation
condition.
that follows a user from one computer to
another, allowing users to access their pro- See also roll forward; transaction
file from any location on the network. processing.

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ROT-13

RJ-45

roll forward The ability of a database See also child domain; first-layer domain;
management system to re-create the data in parent domain
the database by rerunning all the transac-
tions listed in the transaction log. root directory In a hierarchical direc-
tory structure, such as that used in Unix
See also roll back; transaction processing.
and many other operating systems, the di-
ROM See read-only memory. rectory from which all other directories
must branch. You cannot delete the root
ROM BIOS See BIOS. directory.
root 1. In many operating systems, the See also parent directory; period and
name of the directory at the top of the di- double-period directories.
rectory tree from which all other directories
are descended. Root object In Novell Directory Services
2. In Unix, the name of the superuser, user (NDS), the original container object, creat-
number 0. The system administrator uses ed when NDS is first installed.
this account for certain administrative The Root object contains all other NDS ob-
tasks. One of the main objectives of an in- jects and cannot be deleted, renamed, or
truder on a Unix system is to gain root user moved. Sometimes written [Root].
status. Once achieved, the intruder has un-
limited access to the system. ROT-13 Pronounced “rote-13.”A simple
encoding scheme often used to scramble
See also avatar; root directory.
posts to Usenet newsgroups.
root domain The top-level Domain ROT-13 works by swapping each alphabet-
Name Service (DNS) domain on the Inter- ic character with another 13 characters re-
net. Also, in Microsoft Windows 2000 moved from its location in the alphabet, so
Server, the top-level domain in a Windows that a becomes n, and so on; numbers and
2000 domain tree. punctuation are unaffected.

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router

ROT-13 makes the article unreadable until networks connected by routers can use sim-
the text is decoded and is often used when ilar or different networking protocols.
the subject matter might be considered of- A router may be one or more of the follow-
fensive. Many newsreaders have a built-in ing types:
command to unscramble ROT-13 text, and ■
Central Acts as a network backbone,
if you use it, don’t be surprised by what you
connecting many LANs.
read. If you think you might be offended,
don’t decrypt the post.
■
Peripheral Connects individual LANs to
either a central router or to another pe-
You will also find other, inoffensive mate- ripheral router.
rial encoded by ROT-13, including spoilers ■
Local Operates within its LAN driver’s
that give away the ending of a book or film cable-length limitations.
and answers to puzzles or riddles.
■
Remote Connects beyond its device
router An intelligent connecting device driver limitations, perhaps through a mo-
that can send packets to the correct LAN dem or remote connection.
segment to take them to their destination. ■
Internal Part of a network file server.
Routers link LAN segments at the network ■
External Located in a workstation on
layer of the OSI Reference Model for com- the network.
puter-to-computer communications. The See also bridge; brouter; gateway.

ROUTER

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RS-232-C

routing The process of directing packets See also routing protocol.

from a network source node to the destina-
tion node. RPC See Remote Procedure Call.

Routing and Remote Access Service RPL A Novell NetWare server utility that
Abbreviated RRAS. In Microsoft Windows allows users to boot diskless workstations
2000 Server, the service used by remote users from files on the server.
to access the server. In addition, RRAS pro-
See also remote boot.
vides routing functions. RRAS replaces the
Windows NT Remote Access Service (RAS).
RRAS See Routing and Remote Access
Routing Information Protocol Abbre- Service.
viated RIP. A routing protocol used on
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/ RS-232-C A recommended standard (RS)
Internet Protocol) networks that main- interface established by the Electronic In-
tains a list of reachable networks and cal- dustries Association (EIA). Also known as
culates the degree of difficulty involved in EIA/TIA-232.
reaching a specific network from a partic- The standard defines the specific electrical,
ular location by determining the lowest functional, and mechanical characteristics
hop count. used in asynchronous transmissions be-
The Internet standard routing protocol tween a computer (data terminal equip-
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is the suc- ment, or DTE) and a peripheral device (data
cessor to RIP. communications equipment, or DCE). RS is
the abbreviation for recommended stan-
See also Open Shortest Path First.
dard, and the C denotes the third revision of
that standard. RS-232-C is compatible with
routing protocol The protocol that en-
the CCITT V.24 and V.28 standards, as
ables routing by the use of a specific routing
well as ISO IS2110.
algorithm that determines the most appro-
priate path between the source and destina- RS-232-C uses a 25-pin or 9-pin DB con-
tion nodes. nector. The accompanying illustration
Routing protocols provide dynamic routing shows the pinouts used in a DB-25 male
configuration; without routing protocols, connector. It is used for serial communica-
system administrators would have to man- tions between a computer and a peripheral
ually configure routing tables. device, such as a printer, modem, or mouse.
The maximum cable limit of 15.25 meters
See also Open Shortest Path First; Routing
(50 feet) can be extended by using high-
Information Protocol; routing table.
quality cable, line drivers to boost the sig-
nal, or short-haul modems.
routing table A table stored in a router;
used to keep track of routes to specific net- See also 1394; High Speed Serial Interface;
work destinations. Universal Serial Bus.

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RS-422

RS-232-C INTERFACE

RS-422 A recommended standard (RS) serial interface, but does not specify a con-
interface established by the Electronic In- nector. Manufacturers who use this stan-
dustries Association (EIA). Also known as dard use many different types of connectors
EIA/TIA-422. with nonstandard pin configurations.
The standard defines the electrical and RS-449 A recommended standard (RS)
functional characteristics used in a bal- interface established by the Electronic In-
anced serial interface, but does not specify dustries Association (EIA). Also known as
a connector. Manufacturers who use this EIA/TIA-449.
standard use many different types of con-
The standard defines the specific electrical,
nectors with nonstandard pin configura-
functional, and mechanical characteristics
tions. Serial ports on some Macintosh
used in serial binary data interchange,
computers are RS-422 ports.
and it is often used with synchronous
RS-423 A recommended standard (RS) transmissions.
interface established by the Electronic In- RS-449 may be implemented using a 37-pin
dustries Association (EIA). Also known as or 9-pin DB connector; the accompanying
EIA/TIA-423. illustration shows a DB-37 male connector.
The standard defines the electrical and func-
tional characteristics used in an unbalanced

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RS-530

RS-449 INTERFACE

RS-485 A recommended standard (RS) The standard defines the specific electrical,
interface established by the Electronic In- functional, and mechanical characteristics
dustries Association (EIA). Also known as used in transmitting serial binary data, ei-
EIA/TIA-485. ther synchronously or asynchronously, us-
ing a 25-pin DB connector.
RS-485 is similar to RS-422, except that the
associated drivers are tri-state rather than RS-530 works in conjunction with RS-422
dual-state. RS-485 can be used in multi- (balanced electrical circuits) or RS-423 (un-
point applications, in which one computer balanced electrical circuits) and allows data
controls as many as 64 devices. rates from 20Kbps to 2Mbps. The maximum
distance depends on the electrical interface in
RS-530 A recommended standard (RS) use. RS-530 is compatible with CCITT V.10,
interface established by the Electronic In- V.11, X26; MIL-188/114, and RS-449.
dustries Association (EIA). Also known as
EIA/TIA-530.
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RS/6000

RS-530 INTERFACE

RS/6000 See IBM RS/6000. For more information on RSA Data

Security, see www.rsa.com.
RSA A public key, or asymmetric, en-
cryption scheme invented by and named for RSVP See Resource Reservation
three mathematicians—Ron Rivest, Adi Protocol.
Shamir, and Len Adleman.
The theoretical background to RSA is that RTP See Real-time Transport Protocol.
it is very difficult to find the factors of a very
RTS See Request to Send.
large number that is the product of two
prime numbers. RSA has been analyzed RTSP See Realtime Streaming Protocol.
closely and is considered very secure pro-
vided a sufficiently long key is used. run-time version A special, limited-
capability release of software bundled with a
RSA Data Security A leading publisher
single product that allows that product to run,
of encryption software, founded by mathe-
but does not support any of the other applica-
maticians Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Len
tions capable of running in that same environ-
Adleman.
ment. The run-time version provides some but
The company holds patents on several im- not all the features of the full product.
portant encryption schemes and provides
encryption and security consulting services. RXD See Receive Data.

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SAN

S
S3 Inc. A leader in the field of multimedia SAM See Security Accounts Manager.
and graphics accelerator chips, S3 Inc. sells
SAM database In Microsoft Windows
to companies such as Compaq, Dell, and
NT, the Security Accounts Manager data-
Diamond Multimedia, who use the chips in
base that holds all the user accounts, groups,
their systems and on add-in cards.
policies, and other information relating to
For more information on S3 Inc., see the domain.
www.s3.com.
The SAM database is maintained by the
SAA See Systems Application User Manager for Domains utility and is ac-
Architecture. cessed internally by the Security Accounts
Manager.
safe mode In Microsoft Windows, a
special way of starting the operating system See also domain; Security Accounts
using only the most essential components, Manager.
to allow for problem diagnosis and system
same-server migration In Novell Net-
troubleshooting.
Ware, one of the methods used to upgrade
See also Emergency Repair Disk; Recovery from NetWare 2 to NetWare 4.
Console.
The process involves upgrading the file sys-
sag A short-term drop in line voltage to tem to the NetWare 3 format first and then
between 70 and 90 percent of the nominal upgrading to NetWare 4. The server hard-
voltage. ware must be capable of running NetWare 4.

See also power conditioning; spike; surge. See also across-the-wire migration.

salvageable files In Novell NetWare, Samsung/AST Research The more

files that have been deleted by users, but than 30 companies in the Samsung Group
that are recoverable. manufacture everything from consumer
electronics to notebook PCs and monitors
The FILER utility can display a list of delet-
to ATM switches, and Samsung Electronics
ed files and can recover the files providing
is one of the largest producers of DRAM
they have not been overwritten in whole or
and other semiconductors in the world.
in part.
For more information on Samsung, see
If the directory containing the deleted file is
www.samsung.com, and for more informa-
also deleted, the file is saved in a system di-
tion on AST Research, see www.ast.com.
rectory called DELETED.SAV in the vol-
ume’s root directory. SAN See storage area network.

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sandbox

sandbox In the Java programming sys- SAP AG One of the world’s largest inde-
tem, an area within which the Java applet pendent software suppliers, based in Wall-
may execute. The sandbox is created by the dorf, Germany.
Java Virtual Machine. SAP’s flagship product goes under the un-
The applet can do anything it likes within assuming name of R/3, but the product
the sandbox, but it cannot read or alter any serves a large part of the corporate client/
data outside the sandbox. This security server world and encompasses accounting
measure allows users (at least in theory) to and controlling, production and materials
run untrusted code without compromising management, human resources manage-
the security of their own environment. ment, plant maintenance, workflow soft-
See also Java; Java applet; Java Virtual ware, quality management, sales and
Machine. distribution, and project management.
For more information on SAP, see
Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. Abbreviat- www.sap.com.
ed SCO. Developers of several important
strains of Unix, including XENIX, SCO SAR See segmentation and reassem-
UNIX, and the SCO OpenServer series of bly sublayer.
products. SAS See single-attached station.
SCO began shipping Unix products based
on Intel processors in 1982, and now SCO SATAN See Security Administrator
Tool for Analyzing Networks.
accounts for approximately 40 percent of
the Unix market, with more than 8,000 ap- Scalable Performance Architecture
plications available from various vendors. Abbreviated SPARC. A 32-bit reduced in-
In 1995, SCO bought the rights to Unix struction set computing (RISC) processor
from Novell, and recently the company from Sun Microsystems.
combined UnixWare and OpenServer into See also SPARCstation; Sun Microsystems,
a single integrated operating system. Inc.
For more information on SCO, see
www.sco.com. scalablility The ability of an operating
system to add system resources to provide
See also OpenServer; UnixWare.
faster processing or to handle increased
Santa Cruz Operation Advanced Certi- loads in anticipation of future needs.
fied Engineer Abbreviated SCO ACE. A In practice, this usually means that an op-
certification from Santa Cruz Operation erating system is available on a range of in-
based on its SCO Unix products. Three spe- creasingly capable hardware, with only
cializations are available: Server Track, modest increases in price at each level.
Open Server Track, and UnixWare Track.
Schedule service In Microsoft Win-
SAP See Service Advertising Protocol. dows NT, a system service that performs an

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SCSI-1

automated task at a specific time using the SCO Unix includes the Korn shell, X Win-
AT command. dow, Level C2 security, multiprocessor
support, and the ability to run MS-DOS
Schema In Microsoft Active Directory,
and Windows applications under software
the definition of the objects and their prop-
emulation.
erties that can be stored in the Active Direc-
tory database. See also Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.

The Active Directory Schema is flexible and

SCR See Sustainable Cell Rate.
allows programmers to add new objects and
to add new properties to existing objects. script A small program or macro invoked
See also Active Directory; Global Catalog; at a particular time.
Multimaster Replication; Object
For example, a login script may execute the
same specific set of instructions every time a
SCO See Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
user logs in to a network. A communications
SCO ACE See Santa Cruz Operation Ad- script may send user-identification informa-
vanced Certified Engineer. tion to an Internet Service Provider (ISP)
each time a subscriber dials up the service.
SCOadmin A set of graphical system ad-
ministrator tools provided with Santa Cruz scripting The process of invoking a
Operation (SCO) OpenServer. script, written in a scripting language, from
SCOadmin lets you add or remove users, an HTML document on a Web site.
manage printers and filesystems, and check Scripts can be written in a range of languag-
your network configuration quickly and es, including Perl, Tcl, REXX, JavaScript,
easily. JScript, or even Microsoft Visual Basic.
SCO OpenServer A set of Unix prod- See also Common Gateway Interface;
ucts from Santa Cruz Operation (SCO). JavaScript; Perl; REXX; Tcl.
OpenServer includes a journaling filesys-
tem, integrated symmetrical multiprocess- SCSI See Small Computer System
ing, a set of graphical administration tools, Interface.
and a Web server. You can also run
MS-DOS and Windows applications SCSI-1 A commonly used name for the
under software emulation. first Small Computer System Interface
(SCSI) definition, published in 1986; has
See also Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.; SCO
an 8-bit parallel interface and a maximum
Unix.
data transfer rate of 5MBps.
SCO Unix A popular version of Unix See also Fast SCSI; Fast/Wide SCSI; SCSI-
from Santa Cruz Operation (SCO), based 2; SCSI-3; Small Computer System Inter-
on System V, Release 3.2, with many Sys- face; Ultra SCSI; Ultra2 SCSI; Wide Ultra
tem V, Release 4 enhancements. SCSI; Wide Ultra2 SCSI.

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SCSI-2

SCSI-2 A 1994 extension to the Small Architecture; Ultra SCSI; Ultra2 SCSI; Wide
Computer System Interface (SCSI) Ultra SCSI; Wide Ultra2 SCSI.
definition.
SCSI bus Another name for the Small
This standard broadened the 8-bit data bus
Computer System Interface (SCSI) interface
to 16 or 32 bits (also known as Wide SCSI),
and communications protocol.
doubling the data transfer rate to 10 or
20Mbps (also known as Fast SCSI). Wide SCSI terminator The Small Computer
SCSI and Fast SCSI can be combined to give System Interface (SCSI) interface must be
Fast/Wide SCSI, with a 16-bit data bus and correctly terminated to prevent signals
a maximum data-transfer rate of 20Mbps. echoing on the bus.
SCSI-2 is backward compatible with SCSI-1,
Many SCSI devices have built-in termina-
but for maximum benefit, you should use
tors that engage when they are needed.
SCSI-2 devices with a SCSI-2 controller.
With some older SCSI devices, you must
SCSI-2 also adds new commands, and al- add an external SCSI terminator that plugs
though the connector is physically smaller, into the device’s SCSI connector.
it uses 68 pins rather than the 50 in SCSI-1.
See also active termination; forced perfect
Higher data-transfer rates are achieved by
termination; passive termination.
using synchronous rather than asynchro-
nous transfers. scuzzy See Small Computer System
See also Fast SCSI; Fast/Wide SCSI; SCSI; Interface.
SCSI-1; SCSI-3; Small Computer System
SDH See Synchronous Digital
Interface; Ultra SCSI; Ultra2 SCSI; Wide Ul-
Hierarchy.
tra SCSI; Wide Ultra2 SCSI.
SDK See software development kit.
SCSI-3 An extension to the Small Com-
puter System Interface (SCSI) standard. SDLC See Synchronous Data Link
This definition increased the number of Control.
connected peripherals from 7 to 16, in- SDRAM See synchronous DRAM.
creased cable lengths, added support for a
variety of interfaces including a serial inter- SDSL See Single-Line Digital Subscriber
face, a Fibre Channel interface, a 1394 in- Line.
terface, and support for Serial Storage
Seagate Desktop Management
Architecture and several packet interfaces.
Suite A package of network manage-
Data-transfer rates depend on the hardware ment utilities from Seagate Software, Inc.,
implementation, but data rates in excess of that includes hardware and software inven-
160Mbps are possible. tory, server monitoring, client monitoring
See also 1394; Fast SCSI; Fast/Wide SCSI; and control, network traffic monitoring, vi-
Fibre Channel; Small Computer System rus protection, remote access, remote con-
Interface; SCSI-1; SCSI-2; Serial Storage trol, and print-queue management.

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Secure MIME

The Desktop Management Suite also uses See also portal.

Seagate’s Crystal Reports and includes
more than 80 standard reports as well as fa- secondary cache Cache memory locat-
cilities to create custom reports. ed on the motherboard rather than on the
See also Desktop Management Interface. microprocessor; also known as L2 cache.

Secondary cache can significantly improve

Seagate Technology, Inc. A major system performance.
manufacturer of storage technology solu-
tions, including tape drives, hard disks, as second source In computer hardware,
well as network information management an alternative supplier of an identical prod-
software and the reporting package, Crys- uct. Second sources are a safety net for the
tal Reports. buyer, because there are at least two suppli-
For more information on Seagate Technol- ers for one product.
ogy, Inc., see www.seagate.com.
secondary time server In Novell Net-
search drive A drive that the operating Ware, a server that does not determine the
system searches when the requested file is network time, but receives that information
not located in the current directory. from a primary or single reference time
See also current drive. server.
See also primary time server; reference
search engine A special Web site that time server; single reference time server.
lets you perform keyword searches to locate
Web pages; see Appendix A for a list of pop-
Secure HTTP Abbreviated S-HTTP, S/
ular search engines.
HTTP, or HTTP-S. An extension to the Hy-
To use a search engine, you enter one or pertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), from
more keywords or, in some cases, a more Enterprise Integration Technology, that al-
complex search string such as a Boolean ex- lows Web browsers and servers to sign, au-
pression. The search engine returns a list of thenticate, and encrypt an HTTP packet at
matching Web pages, newsgroups, and FTP the application layer.
archives taken from its database, usually
ranked in some way, that contain the ex- S-HTTP is not widely used and is being re-
pression you are looking for, along with a placed by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
brief text description of the material. See also Secure Sockets Layer.
Searching this database is much faster than
actually searching the Internet, but the ac- Secure MIME Abbreviated S/MIME. An
curacy and relevance of the information it extension to the Multipurpose Internet
contains depend on how often the data is Mail Extension (MIME) e-mail standard
updated and on the proportion of the Web that adds security in the form of the RSA
that is actually searched for new content. public-key algorithm.

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Secure Sockets Layer

See also Multipurpose Internet Mail Ex- verifiable security level, to Class D, the low-
tension; Pretty Good Privacy; Privacy En- est, which has no security.
hanced Mail.
Class C2 is the security level most appro-
Secure Sockets Layer Abbreviated priate to the business world; higher levels of
SSL. An interface originally developed by security tend to intrude too much into nor-
Netscape that provides encrypted data mal commercial working patterns. C2 secu-
transfer between client and server applica- rity requires that the operating system
tions over the Internet. provide individual logins with separate ac-
counts and a verifiable audit trail, that re-
SSL works at the network level and so can be sources have owners, and that files and
used by any SSL-compliant application. other system resources be protected from
Applications that use SSL use RSA public other processes that might corrupt them.
key encryption and digital signatures to
establish the identity of the two parties in the An operating system that lets anyone have
transaction. unfettered access, such as MS-DOS or the
MacOS, falls into the D category. C1 and
See also RSA; Secure HTTP; SOCKS.
C2 levels can be implemented in a commer-
Secure WAN Abbreviated S/WAN. An cial environment. After the B1 level, the
initiative from RSA Data Security designed computing environment changes radically,
to create secure firewall-to-firewall connec- and many of the mandatory access-control
tions over the Internet. mechanisms become impractical for nor-
mal commercial operations.
S/WAN creates a Virtual Private Network
(VPN) over the Internet, and all data trans- See also intruder.
mitted on this VPN is encrypted to keep it
secure. Security Accounts Manager Abbrevi-
ated SAM. In Microsoft Windows NT, the
See also IPSec; SOCKS; Virtual Private
security system that manages and provides
Network.
access to the account or SAM database.
security Operating system controls used SAM authenticates a user name and pass-
by the network administrator to limit users’ word against information contained in the
access to approved areas. database and creates an access token that
The National Security Agency document includes the user’s permissions.
called “Trusted Computer System Evalua- See also SAM database; security identifier.
tion Criteria” (TCSEC) specifies security lev-
els that vendors must follow to comply with Security Administrator Tool for Ana-
Department of Defense security standards. lyzing Networks Abbreviated SATAN.
This publication details standards for secu- A software package, available free over the
rity levels used to control access to comput- Internet, that allows network administrators
er systems from Class A1, the highest to identify gaps in their security systems.

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semaphore

Critics of the program argue that SATAN security zone In Microsoft Internet Ex-
lets hackers exploit the information con- plorer, a set of classifications that control
tained in the program on how to infiltrate how a Web-based application can interact
these security systems, but so far, the pro- with the browser.
gram seems to have acted as a wake-up call
The four zones—Internet, Local intranet,
for network administrators.
Trusted sites, and Restricted sites—place
See also intruder; security. different security restrictions on any Web
sites visited and manage ActiveX controls,
security equivalence In Novell Direc- Java applets, cookies, downloads, and
tory Services (NDS), when an object or scripting .
trustee receives the same rights given to an-
other object. segmentation and reassembly
See also implied security equivalence; ex- sublayer Abbreviated SAR. One of two
plicit security equivalence. sublayers that make up the ATM Adapta-
tion Layer, the other being the convergence
security groups In Microsoft Windows sublayer (CS).
2000 Server, the groups used to assign The SAR is the lower of the two sublayers,
rights and permissions. Security groups re- packages variable-sized data packets into
place Windows NT’s user groups. fixed-sized cells at the transmitting end, and
See also distribution groups. repackages the cells at the receiving end.

security ID See security identifier. SAR is also responsible for locating and
managing lost cells and cells that are re-
security identifier Abbreviated security ceived out of sequence.
ID or SID. In Microsoft Windows NT, a
See also ATM Adaptation Layer; conver-
unique name that identifies a logged-on
gence sublayer.
user to the internal security system.
A SID contains a complete set of permis- semaphore An interprocess communica-
sions and can apply to a single user or to a tion signal that indicates the status of a
group. shared system resource, such as shared mem-
See also Security Accounts Manager. ory, in a multitasking operating system.
There are several types of semaphores:
security log In Microsoft Windows
2000, a system log that records changes to Event Allows a thread to tell other
security settings and audited access such as threads that an event has occurred and that
attempts to open files or folders. You can it is safe for them to resume execution.
use the Event Viewer to look at the contents Mutual exclusion (mutex) Protects sys-
of the security log. tem resources, such as files, data, and pe-
See also application log; Event Viewer; ripheral devices, from simultaneous
system log. access by several processes.

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sendmail

Multiple wait (muxwait) Allows threads sequential access An access method

to wait for multiple events to take place or used by some storage devices, such as tapes,
for multiple resources to become free. that requires them to start at the beginning
to find a specific storage location. If the in-
See also mailslots; named pipe; pipe;
formation is toward the end of the tape, ac-
shared memory; socket.
cess can take a long time.

sendmail A Unix system utility program See also random access.

or daemon that acts as a mail transport
agent in an e-mail system, receiving mes- serial communications The transmis-
sages from a user’s e-mail program and sion of information from computer to com-
then routing the mail to the correct desti- puter or from computer to peripheral
nation. Normal users rarely come into device one bit at a time.
direct contact with sendmail; it is difficult
Serial communications can be synchronous
to administer and is a known security
and controlled by a clock, or they can be
problem.
asynchronous and coordinated by start and
See also Post Office Protocol; Simple Mail stop bits embedded in the data stream. The
Transfer Protocol. sending and receiving devices must both use
the same baud rate, parity setting, and other
sequel See Structured Query Language. communication parameters.
See also 1394; asynchronous transmis-
Sequenced Packet eXchange Abbre-
sion; High Speed Serial Interface; RS-232-
viated SPX. A set of Novell NetWare pro-
C; RS-422; RS-423; RS-449; RS-485; RS-
tocols implemented on top of IPX
530; Serial Storage Architecture; synchro-
(Internetwork Packet eXchange) to form a
nous transmission; Universal Serial Bus.
transport-layer interface.

SPX provides additional capabilities over Serial Line Internet Protocol Abbrevi-
IPX. For example, it guarantees packet de- ated SLIP. A protocol used to run Internet
livery by having the destination node verify Protocol over serial lines or telephone con-
that the data were received correctly. If no nections using modems.
response is received within a specified time,
SLIP allows a computer to establish a tem-
SPX retransmits the packet. If several re-
porary direct connection to the Internet via
transmissions fail to return an acknowledg-
modem and to appear to the host system as
ment, SPX assumes that the connection has
if it were a port on the host’s network.
failed and informs the operator. All packets
in the transmission are sent in sequence, SLIP is slowly being replaced by PPP (Point-
and they all take the same path to their des- to-Point Protocol).
tination node.
See also Internet Protocol; Point-to-Point
See also Internetwork Packet eXchange. Protocol.

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Server Message Block

serial port A computer input/output workstation. A server may also have sev-
port that supports serial communications, eral processors rather than just one and
in which information is processed one bit at may be dedicated to a specific support
a time. function such as printing, e-mail, or com-
RS-232-C is a common protocol used on se- munications. Many servers also have large
rial ports when communicating with mo- power supplies, UPS (uninterruptible pow-
dems, printers, mice, and other peripherals. er supply) support, and fault-tolerant fea-
tures, such as RAID technology.
See also parallel port.
On the Internet, a server responds to re-
Serial Storage Architecture Abbrevi- quests from a client, usually a Web browser.
ated SSA. A high-performance serial inter-
See also access server; communications/
face, originally developed by IBM, used to
modem server; file server; print server;
connect peripherals, such as scanners, disk
Web server.
drives, optical disks, and printers, to work-
stations or servers. server application In Object Linking
A typical SSA interface has two ports with and Embedding (OLE), an application that
a total bandwidth of 80Mbps and can man- creates OLE objects.
age two 20Mbps transmissions simulta-
See also Object Linking and Embedding.
neously, one in each direction. The shielded
four-wire cable is configured as two pairs, server-based application An applica-
and the maximum cable length is 25 meters tion run from the server rather than from a
(82 feet). local hard disk.
SSA is also specified as a physical layer se- See also client application; thin client.
rial interface in SCSI-3.
See also 1394; Fibre Channel; SCSI-3; serial server-based computing See Termi-
communications. nal services.

server Any computer that makes access Server Manager A Microsoft Windows
to files, printing, communications, and oth- NT Server utility used to manage domains,
er services available to users of the network. workgroups, and computers.
In large networks, a dedicated server runs a Server Message Block Abbreviated
special network operating system; in small- SMB. A distributed file-system network
er installations, a nondedicated server may protocol, developed by Microsoft and
run a personal computer operating system adopted by many other vendors, that al-
with peer-to-peer networking software run- lows a computer to use the files and other
ning on top. resources of another computer as though
A server typically has a more advanced they were local. For network transfers,
processor, more memory, a larger cache, SMBs are encapsulated within the NetBIOS
and more disk storage than a single-user network control block packet.

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server push

server push A mechanism used on the See also Alerter service; Messenger ser-
Internet whereby a client application, usu- vice; Server service.
ally a Web browser, maintains an open con-
nection to a Web site, and the Web server Service Advertising Protocol Abbrevi-
provides new content to the client automat- ated SAP. A protocol that provides a meth-
ically, as soon as the new content becomes od for servers, printers, and other devices to
available. This process continues until the advertise their services on a Novell Net-
server decides to close the connection. Ware network and allows routers to create
See also client pull. and maintain a database of current inter-
network server information.
server root A directory on a Web server SAP packets are normally broadcast every
that contains the server program as well as 60 seconds and include the name, network
configuration and information files. address, and type of service offered by a
Server service In Microsoft Windows server.
NT Server, a service that manages access to SAP traffic can be excessive on large net-
and sharing of local resources attached to works, and SAP filtering is often used to re-
the network. duce the traffic; SAP traffic can be severely
reduced or even eliminated from rarely used
server side include Abbreviated SSI. A
servers.
method used to create dynamic Web pages.
The INCLUDE statement is used to embed service bureau A company that pro-
commands within an HTML document and vides data processing or business software
tells the Web server to perform specific development services to its customers.
tasks. A common way of using INCLUDE is
A service bureau might provide typesetting,
to tell the server to load the contents of an-
prepress production, optical document
other external file at a specific point in the
scanning, or other services.
original HTML document.
SSIs can degrade server performance due to By using a service bureau, a company can
the number of repeated disk accesses they avoid the high hardware and personnel costs
make, and they can also prove to be a secu- associated with running its own in-house
rity problem. services.

See also Extensible Markup Language; See also outsourcing.

HyperText Markup Language.
Service Level Agreement Abbreviated
service In Microsoft Windows NT, a pro- SLA. An agreement between a user and a
cess that performs a particular system func- service provider that defines the terms and
tion and often provides an API (application conditions of the service, as well as being a
programming interface) so that other pro- means for evaluating the service provided
cesses can take advantage of its abilities. against the service specified.

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SET

See also Internet Service Provider; service (Internetwork Packet eXchange/Sequenced

provider. Packet eXchange) settings.
It also provides a convenient front end to
service pack A periodic update to the
the SET command, as well as information
Microsoft Windows family of operating
about the number of running processes,
systems.
NetWare Loadable Modules (NLMs) in-
A service pack includes fixes to bugs and stalled, volumes mounted, users logged in,
problems reported by both customers and and name spaces loaded.
by Microsoft and may also contain addi- In NetWare 5, SERVMAN has been
tional new features or applications. merged into MONITOR.
Service Profile Identifier Abbreviated See also MONITOR; SET.
SPID. An 8- to 14-character identifier
associated with an ISDN connection that session 1. The time during which a pro-
defines the services available on that gram is running on either a local or a remote
connection. computer.
2. An MS-DOS or a Microsoft Windows
The SPID is actually stored at the telephone
program run as a separate protected task
company central office and is accessed by
under certain multitasking operating sys-
and used to identify your ISDN service.
tems, such as OS/2.
Don’t lose it; your ISDN system will not run
without it. 3. In communications, the name for the ac-
tive connection between a mainframe ter-
See also Integrated Services Digital
minal (or a personal computer emulating a
Network.
terminal) and the computer itself. Many
different transactions or message exchang-
service provider A general term used to
es may take place during a single session.
describe those companies providing a con-
nection to the Internet or to other commu- See also process; thread.
nications services. Access methods vary
session layer The fifth of seven layers of
from high-speed dedicated access to dialup
the OSI Reference Model for computer-to-
using SLIP or PPP.
computer communications.
See also Internet Service Provider.
The session layer coordinates communica-
tions and maintains the session for as long
servlet A small application that is writ-
as it is needed, performing security, logging,
ten in the Java programming language and
and administrative functions.
runs on a Web server.
See also OSI Reference Model.
SERVMAN A Novell NetWare utility
used to manage the server and view net- SET A Novell NetWare server com-
work information, including operating sys- mand used to establish operating system
tem performance parameters and IPX/SPX parameters, including parameters for

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setup string

communications, the memory pool, file shared folder In a networked Macin-

and directory caching, the disk and file tosh, a folder that is available to other users,
system, locking, transaction tracking, the either without restriction or through a pass-
NetWare Core Protocol (NCP), and error word. A shared folder in the Macintosh is
handling. comparable to a network directory on a PC.
The SET command is also used by many oth-
shared memory An interprocess commu-
er operating systems, including MS-DOS,
nications technique in which the same mem-
OS/2, and Unix, to establish environment
ory is accessed by more than one program
values.
running in a multitasking operating system.
setup string See control code. Semaphores or other management elements
prevent the applications from colliding or try-
SFT See System Fault Tolerance.
ing to update the same information at the
sgi See Silicon Graphics, Inc. same time.

SGML See Standard Generalized See also mailslots; named pipe; pipe;
Markup Language. semaphore; socket.

SGRAM See synchronous graphics sharing In Microsoft Windows, the pro-

RAM. cess of making a network resource, such as
shadow member One of two members a file, a folder, or a printer, available to oth-
of a mirror set. The primary member con- er network users.
tains the original data; the shadow member See also share; hidden share.
contains the copy. The shadow member is
read only if the primary member cannot be shell In Unix, the command processor.
read. The shell accepts commands from the user,
See also disk mirroring; primary member. interprets them, and passes them to the op-
erating system for execution.
shadow memory The technique of
copying the contents of the BIOS ROM The three major shells are the Bourne shell
into faster RAM when the computer first (the original Unix shell from AT&T), the C
boots up. shell (developed as a part of the BSD Unix
efforts), and the Korn shell (also developed
Because RAM is usually two to three times
by AT&T).
faster than ROM, and the speedier access
reduces the time required to execute a BIOS In recent years several public-domain shells
routine, the processor spends more time have become popular, including Bash (the
working and less time waiting. Bourne-again shell), which is often used on
Linux, Tcsh, and Zsh.
share In Microsoft Windows NT, a re-
source such as a printer or a directory, See also Bash shell; Bourne shell; C shell;
shared by a server or a peer on the network. Korn shell.

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shortcut trust

shielded cable Cable protected against short circuit Often abbreviated to short.
electromagnetic and radio frequency inter- A circuit that is accidentally completed at a
ference (RFI) by metal-backed mylar foil point too close to its origin to allow normal
and plastic or PVC. or complete operation. In cabling, a short
circuit often occurs when two stripped
See also unshielded cable. wires touch.

shielded twisted-pair cable Abbrevi- shortcut In Microsoft Windows, a link

ated STP. Cable with a foil shield and cop- to an object such as a file, a folder, a Web
per braid surrounding the pairs of wires. page, or an application. You can create an
unlimited number of shortcuts, and you can
The wires have a minimum number of place them on the Desktop, on the Start
twists per foot of cable length; the greater menu, or in a particular folder.
the number of twists, the lower the
crosstalk. STP offers high-speed transmis- shortcut keystroke See key
sion for useful distances, and it is often as- combination.
sociated with Token Ring networks, but its shortcut trust In Microsoft Windows
bulk quickly fills up wiring conduits. 2000 Server, an explicit trust used to defeat
See also crosstalk; shielded cable; un- the trust referral process between directory
shielded twisted-pair cable. trees.
See also downlevel trust; explicit trust;
short See short circuit. two-way transitive trust.

SHIELDED TWISTED-PAIR CABLE

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shortest-path routing

shortest-path routing A routing algo- demonstrate proficiency in administering

rithm in which paths to all network desti- Silicon Graphics IRIX-based networks.
nations are calculated. The shortest path is
then determined by a cost assigned to each Silicon Graphics Certified IRIX System
link. Administrator A basic certification from
Silicon Graphics designed to demonstrate
short-haul modem A simple, low-cost proficiency in administering Silicon Graph-
modem that can transmit information only ics IRIX systems.
over short distances, such as from one side
of a building to the other side. Silicon Graphics, Inc. Sometimes ab-
breviated sgi. A major manufacturer of
See also line driver; long-haul modem.
Unix and RISC-based graphics worksta-
tions and supercomputers.
S-HTTP See Secure HTTP.
The company’s workstations are used in
S/HTTP See Secure HTTP.
product engineering, computer simulation,
SID See security identifier. data warehousing, and in Hollywood post-
production facilities to add special effects.
SIG See special interest group.
For more information on Silicon Graphics
signal-to-noise ratio Abbreviated SNR. Inc, see www.sgi.com.
The ratio between the desired signal and the
unwanted noise at a specific point in a ca- Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Abbre-
ble; a measure of signal quality. viated SMTP. The TCP/IP (Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) proto-
SNR is particularly important in networks col that provides a simple e-mail service and
using unshielded twisted-pair cable (UTP). is responsible for moving e-mail messages
SNR specifications for token-ring networks from one e-mail server to another. SMTP
are much more stringent than those for provides a direct end-to-end mail delivery,
10BaseT or ARCnet. which is rather unusual; most mail systems
signature A short text file that is auto- use store-and-forward protocols.
matically added to the end of your e-mail or The e-mail servers run either Post Office
Usenet posts. Protocol (POP) or Internet Mail Access Pro-
A signature file usually contains your name tocol (IMAP) to distribute e-mail messages
(or alias) and e-mail address, and some peo- to users.
ple like to add pithy quotes; whatever your Many third-party vendors sell host soft-
signature file contains, remember to keep it ware capable of exchanging SMTP e-mail
short. with proprietary e-mail systems, such as
IBM’s PROFS.
Silicon Graphics Certified IRIX Net-
work Administrator An advanced certi- See also Internet Mail Access Protocol;
fication from Silicon Graphics designed to Post Office Protocol; store-and-forward.

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single-ended SCSI

Simple Network Management SNMP is a communications protocol for

Protocol Abbreviated SNMP. A standard collecting information about devices on the
protocol, part of the TCP/IP (Transmission network, including hubs, routers, and
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) suite, bridges. Each piece of information to be
used to manage and monitor nodes on a collected about a device is defined in a Man-
network. The accompanying illustration agement Information Base (MIB). SNMP
shows how the SNMP manager and agent uses UDP (User Datagram Protocol) to send
are organized. and receive messages on the network.

SIMPLE NETWORK MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL

single-attached station Abbreviated they are less expensive than dual-attached

SAS. In the Fiber Distributed Data Interface stations (DASs).
(FDDI), a device attached to only one of the See also dual-attached station; Fiber Dis-
dual, counter-rotating rings. tributed Data Interface.
Noncritical devices, such as workstations,
are often connected using SASs, because single-ended SCSI A Small Computer
System Interface (SCSI) bus-wiring scheme

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single large expensive disk

that uses a single wire for each signal trans- LEDs are used to transmit signals through
mitted on the bus. Used more often than dif- the cable.
ferential SCSI.
Single-mode fiber allows only one route for
See also differential SCSI; Small Computer a light wave to pass through, and it can
System Interface. transmit signals over considerable distanc-
es. For this reason, it is often used in tele-
single large expensive disk Abbrevi- phone networks rather than in local-area
ated SLED. The traditional alternative to networks.
RAID (redundant array of inexpensive See also multimode fiber.
disks), used by most networks.
single reference time server In Novell
Single-Line Digital Subscriber Line Ab-
NetWare, the server that determines the
breviated SDSL; sometimes called Symmetri-
network time and provides that informa-
cal Digital Subscriber Line. A symmetrical,
tion to workstations and to secondary time
bidirectional Digital Subscriber Line service
servers on the network.
that operates on one twisted-pair wire.
Single reference time servers are not compat-
SDSL can provide data rates of up to the T1
ible with reference or primary time servers.
rate of 1.544Mbps over a cable length of
up to 1,000 feet, and because it operates See also primary time server; reference
above the voice frequency, voice and data time server; secondary time server.
can be carried on the same connection at
the same time. single sign-on See single login.

See also Asymmetric Digital Subscriber single-user logon In Microsoft Win-

Line; Digital Subscriber Line; High-Bit-Rate dows NT, a mechanism that allows a user
Digital Subscriber Line; Rate-Adaptive Dig- to connect to multiple servers, domains,
ital Subscriber Line; Very-High-Bit-Rate and applications with a single logon.
Digital Subscriber Line. See also single login.

single login An authentication process single-user system A computer system

that allows users to log in to a complex net- designed for use by one person at a time, of-
work only once rather than requiring them ten on a personal computer.
to log in to each separate network element.
Windows 95 and 98, MS-DOS, the MacOS,
Additional connections and drive mappings OS/2 Warp, and Windows NT Worksta-
are managed in the background as a part of tion are all examples of single-user operat-
the authentication process. Also known as ing systems. Unix and most network
single sign-on. operating systems are multiuser systems.

single-mode fiber Narrow diameter Site In Microsoft Active Directory, one

fiber-optic cable in which lasers rather than or more TCP/IP (Transmission Control

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Small Computer System Interface

Protocol/Internet Protocol) subnets linked to connect a computer to peripheral devices

by reliable network connections. using only one port. Devices connected in
this way are said to be “daisy-chained,” and
site license A software license that cov-
each device must have a unique identifier or
ers all the installed copies of a software
priority number.
package at a specific location or locations.
SCSI has been standard on the Macintosh
Some large corporations and government
since the Mac Plus was introduced, and it is
institutions prefer to negotiate a site li-
available on personal computers as a single
cense rather than try to pay for and keep
host adapter, using a special connector.
track of all the individual copies they use.
A site license may allow unlimited copies SCSI is often used to connect hard disks,
for internal use, or it may limit the number tape drives, CD-ROM drives, and other
of copies of a program the corporation can mass storage media, as well as scanners and
use concurrently. printers.
See also application metering; concurrent Features of the SCSI definition include:
license. ■
The bus can manage simultaneous reads
and writes.
SLA See Service Level Agreement.
■
The original standard supports as many as
slash The / character. In many operating 7 devices on a single host adapter; new
systems, used to separate command-line standards support as many as 16 devices
switches that alter the default settings for an and a bus length of up to 25 meters (80
operating system command. feet).
Used in Unix as the name of the root file- ■
SCSI devices have their own control cir-
system and also to separate elements (files cuitry and can disconnect from the host
and directories) in a directory pathname. adapter to process tasks on their own,
SLED See single large expensive disk. freeing the bus for other purposes.
Table S.1 lists the various SCSI standards,
SLIP See Serial Line Internet Protocol.
along with the bus speed in Mbps, the bus
Small Computer System Interface width in bits, and the maximum number of
Abbreviated SCSI, which is pronounced devices supported.
“scuzzy.” See also Fast SCSI; Fast/Wide SCSI; SCSI-1;
A high-speed parallel interface defined by SCSI-2; SCSI-3; Ultra SCSI; Ultra2 SCSI;
the ANSI X3T9.2 committee. SCSI is used Wide Ultra SCSI; Wide Ultra2 SCSI.

TABLE S.1 SCSI STANDARDS

SCSI Standard Maximum Bus Speed Bus Width Maximum Devices

SCSI-1 5 8 8

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small office/home office

TABLE S.1 SCSI STANDARDS (CONTINUED)

SCSI Standard Maximum Bus Speed Bus Width Maximum Devices

Fast SCSI 10 8 8

Fast/Wide SCSI 20 16 16

Ultra SCSI 20 8 8

Wide Ultra SCSI 40 16 16

Ultra2 SCSI 40 8 8

Wide Ultra2 SCSI 80 16 16

small office/home office Abbreviated smart hub A concentrator, used in

SOHO. That portion of the market for Ethernet or ARCnet networks, with certain
computer services occupied by small offices network-management facilities built in to
and home-based businesses rather than by firmware that allow the network adminis-
large corporate buyers. SOHO is a small trator to control and plan network config-
but growing market sector characterized by urations; also known as an intelligent hub.
very well informed buyers. In token-ring networks, a smart hub is
known as a Controlled Access Unit (CAU).
The large number of home offices is the re-
A CAU can determine if nodes are operat-
sult of many factors in the economy, includ- ing, connect and disconnect nodes, and
ing corporate downsizing and cheaper, more monitor node activity.
capable computers and office equipment,
See also Controlled Access Unit.
and is a trend that is likely to continue.
See also telecommuting. smart terminal See intelligent terminal.

SMB See Server Message Block.

smart card A credit-card–sized device
that stores public and private keys, pass- SMDS See Switched Multimegabit
words, and other personal information that Data Services.
must be kept secure. Several operating sys- smiley A group of text characters used in
tems, including Windows 2000, can use e-mail and in Usenet posts to indicate hu-
smart-card information for certificate- mor or some other emotion. You must turn
based authentication and log on. a smiley on its side for it to make sense.

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social engineering

Hundreds of smileys are in common use, In Windows 2000, Computer Management

and new ones are invented all the time. Two is a MMC snap-in.
popular favorites are :-), to indicate smiling, See also Computer Management; Mi-
and ;-), to indicate winking. crosoft Management Console.
See also emoticon.
sneakernet An informal method of file
S/MIME See Secure MIME. sharing in which a user copies files on to a
floppy disk and then carries the disk to the
SMM See system management mode. office of a co-worker.
SMS See Storage Management sniffer A small program loaded onto a
Services. system by an intruder, designed to monitor
specific traffic on the network.
SMTP See Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol. The sniffer program watches for the first
part of any remote login session that includes
SNA See Systems Network the user name, password, and host name of
Architecture. a person logging in to another machine.

SNA gateway A hardware and software Once this information is in the hands of the
device that connects an SNA (Systems Net- intruder, he or she can log on to that system
work Architecture) mainframe to a local- at will. One weakly secured network can
area network. therefore expose not only the local systems,
but also any remote systems to which the lo-
SNA gateway products are available from cal users connect.
Microsoft and from Novell.
Sniffer is also the name of a network ana-
See also Microsoft SNA Server; NetWare lyzer product from Network General.
for SNA.
See also intruder; network analyzer; spoof-
snail mail A rude reference to the rela- ing; Trojan Horse.
tively slow speed of the conventional postal
SNMP See Simple Network Manage-
service when compared with the speed of
ment Protocol.
online e-mail systems.
SNR See signal-to-noise ratio.
snap-in In Microsoft Management Con-
sole (MMC), the software that constitutes social engineering A method used by
the administrative tool. intruders to collect password information
MMC provides the user interface, and the from genuine users by false pretenses.
snap-in actually performs the management Social engineering can take many forms.
or administrative function. Snap-ins can be For example, a potential intruder tele-
provided by Microsoft or can be written by phones a busy technical support depart-
third-party software developers. ment, claiming to be a new service engineer

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socket

who has just lost his password. Rather than provides a BIOS-level software interface to
go through the appropriate procedures, the the hardware, effectively hiding the specific
technical support person assigns a new details from higher levels of software. Sock-
password over the phone and implements it et services also detect when you insert or re-
on the system so that the new engineer can move a PCMCIA card and identify the type
use it immediately. of card.
See also brute-force attack; dictionary at- See also card services.
tack; sniffer.
SOCKS A proxy protocol that provides a
socket 1. A general-purpose interpro- secure channel between two TCP/IP (Trans-
cess communication mechanism, original- mission Control Protocol/Internet Proto-
ly developed in the Unix world. Sockets col) systems, usually a Web browser
allow processes that are not running at the running on an internal corporate intranet
same time or on the same system to ex- and a Web server on the Internet.
change information; pairs of cooperating
sockets manage communications between SOCKS provides firewall services, as well
the processes on your computer and those as fault tolerant features, auditing, and
on a remote computer in a networked en- management.
vironment. You can read data from or See also firewall; proxy server; Secure
write data to a socket just as you can to a Sockets Layer; Secure WAN.
file. Sockets are now used in many other
environments. soft modem See controllerless modem.
2. That part of an IPX (Internetwork Pack-
et eXchange) internetwork node address software An application program or op-
that represents the destination of an IPX erating system that a computer can execute.
packet. Certain sockets are reserved by Net- Software is a broad term that can imply one
Ware for particular applications. For exam- or many programs, and it can also refer to
ple, IPX delivers all NetWare Core Protocol applications that may consist of more than
(NCP) request packets to socket 451h. one program.

See also mailslots; named pipe; pipe; software development kit Abbreviat-
semaphore; shared memory; WinSock. ed SDK. A package that contains useful soft-
ware development tools, such as editors,
socket services Part of the software compilers, debuggers, libraries, and techni-
support needed for PCMCIA (PC Memory cal information.
Card International Association) hardware
devices in a portable computer, controlling software interrupt An interrupt gener-
the interface to the hardware. ated by an instruction in a program, often
called a trap.
Socket services is the lowest layer in the
software that manages PCMCIA cards. It See also hardware interrupt.

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source license

software license A license to use a soft- cost of purchasing each application sepa-
ware package subject to certain conditions. rately. Additional benefits include inter-ap-
These conditions usually define the rights of plication communications, easy installation
the purchaser and limit the liability of the of the whole package, and reduced training
program’s publisher. time.
See also application metering; site license. Microsoft Office and Lotus SmartSuite are
examples of popular software suites.
software piracy The illegal copying and
distribution of copyrighted software. SOHO See small office/home office.
Copying software, like duplicating any
Solaris A version of Unix from SunSoft
copyrighted material, is illegal.
that runs on Intel-based PCs and Sun
In an attempt to discourage software pira- workstations; SunSoft is a subsidiary of
cy, the Software Publishers Association Sun Microsystems.
(SPA) has run several advertising cam-
Solaris is based on Unix System V Release 4
paigns, including a billboard showing a pair
and includes networking support, the
of handcuffs and the message “Copy soft-
OpenWindows graphical user interface,
ware illegally and you could get this hard-
and DeskSet, an integrated desktop that in-
ware absolutely free.” The SPA has been
cludes some 50 productivity tools. Solaris
successful in persuading companies to in-
supports a Java Virtual Machine as well as
ventory their software so that corporations
the Common Desktop Environment and
know which software copies they have pur-
WebNFS. Multiprocessor systems are sup-
chased legally.
ported, and Solaris uses symmetrical multi-
Software Publishers Association Ab- processing techniques to take advantage of
breviated SPA. An association of software the additional processing power.
developers and distributors most notable See also Common Desktop Environment;
for their tactics in fighting software piracy, Java Virtual Machine; SunOS; WebNFS.
including extremely blunt advertising cam-
paigns and unannounced visits to compa- SOM See System Object Model.
nies suspected of acts of piracy.
SONET See Synchronous Optical
software suite A selection of business Network
applications sold as a single integrated
package. source address The address portion of
The standard version of a software suite a packet or datagram that identifies the
usually includes a word processor, a sender.
spreadsheet, presentation graphics, and an See also destination address.
e-mail program, and the professional ver-
sion will often add a database program. The source license A software license that
cost of the suite is significantly less than the gives the user the right to possess and modify

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source routing

the original source code from which an ap- these loops could lead to packets looping on
plication or operating system is created. their way to their destination.
In the past, source licenses have either been SP See switch processor.
simply impossible to obtain or have been
prohibitively expensive. With the spread of spanning tree algorithm A technique
open source software, things are changing. based on the IEEE 802.1 standard that finds
the most desirable path between segments
See also binary license; open source
of a multilooped, bridged network.
software
If multiple paths exist in the network, the
source routing IBM’s Token Ring spanning tree algorithm finds the most effi-
method of routing data frames through a cient path and limits the link between the
network consisting of multiple LANs by two networks to this single active path. If
specifying the route to be traveled in each this path fails because of a cable failure or
frame. The route is actually determined by other problem, the algorithm reconfigures
the end stations through a discovery pro- the network to activate another path, thus
cess supported by source-bridge routers. keeping the network running.

IBM bridges can be of two types: SPARC See Scalable Performance

■
Single-route broadcasting allows certain Architecture.
bridges to pass the packet so that only a SPARCstation A Sun Microsystems
single copy arrives on each ring in the family of Unix workstations based on the
network. SPARC processor.
■
All-routes broadcasting sends the packet SPARCstations range from small, diskless
across all the possible routes in the net- desktop systems to high-performance, tow-
work, so as many copies of the packet ar- er servers in multiprocessor configurations.
rive at the destination as there are bridges
See also Scalable Performance Architec-
in the network.
ture; Sun Microsystems, Inc.
SPA See Software Publishers
Association. SPEC benchmarks See Systems
Performance Evaluation Cooperative
space parity See parity. benchmarks.

spanning tree A network segment that special group In Microsoft Windows NT

is free of logical loops; a network structure Server, a group whose membership is pre-
that has a root node and one path, usually defined and automatically updated.
the shortest distance, that connects all the
Special groups provide an easy way to de-
other nodes.
scribe sets of users. For example, the Every-
This tree structure is used in bridged net- one group always includes all domain users
works to make routing decisions, especially and is updated automatically as user ac-
if multiple paths connect nodes, because counts are added and deleted.
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ST506 Interface

special interest group Abbreviated conversation or, in a more concerted

SIG. A group that meets to share informa- attack, may use a network analyzer to
tion about a specific topic, such as particular monitor and capture network traffic.
hardware, software, programming languag- See also brute-force attack; dictionary
es, or operating systems. A SIG is often part attack; sniffer; social engineering; Trojan
of a user group or other organization. Horse.
SPID See Service Profile Identifier.
spooler See print spooler.
spider A World Wide Web application
that automatically locates and collects in- SPX See Sequenced Packet eXchange.
formation about new Web sites. Spiders SQE Abbreviation for signal quality
are most often used to create large data- error. See heartbeat.
bases of Web sites that in turn are accessed
by search engines responding to user re- SQL See Structured Query Language.
quests for information.
SRAM See static RAM.
See also robot; search engine.
SSA See Serial Storage Architecture.
spike A short, transient electrical signal,
often of very high amplitude. SSE See Streaming SIMD Extensions.

See also power conditioning; power surge; SSI See server side include.
surge suppressor.
SSL See Secure Sockets Layer.
splat A slang expression for the asterisk
ST506 Interface A popular hard-disk in-
character (*) that you can yell across a
terface standard developed by Seagate
crowded room without fear of being mis-
Technologies, first used in IBM’s PC/XT
understood.
computer.
See also bang.
The interface is still used in systems with
splitter server In Internet video, a server disk capacities smaller than about 40MB.
that receives a video signal and then re- ST506 has a relatively slow data-transfer
broadcasts that signal across a network. rate of 5Mbps.

See also IP multicast; multicast; stream A later variation of ST506, called ST412,
thinning. adds several improvements. Because these
two interfaces are so closely related, they
spoofing A security breach in which an are often referred to as ST506/412.
intruder logs on to the system by pretending See also Enhanced Small Device Interface;
to be a genuine user. Integrated Drive Electronics; Small Com-
The intruder may obtain another person’s puter System Interface.
user name and password in casual

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ST

ST See straight-tip connector. backup to the Active Monitor and can take
over in the event that the Active Monitor
Standard Generalized Markup
fails.
Language Abbreviated SGML. A 1986
standard (ISO 8879) for defining the struc- See also Active Monitor.
ture and managing the contents of any dig-
ital document. star network A network topology in the
form of a star.
The standard specifies a definition for for-
matting a digital document so that it can be At the center of the star is a wiring hub or
modified, viewed, or output on any com- concentrator, and the nodes or workstations
puter system. Each SGML document con- are arranged around the central point
sists of two parts: representing the points of the star. Wiring
costs tend to be higher for star networks than
■
The DTD (Document Type Definition)
for other configurations, because each node
defines the structure of the document.
requires its own individual cable. Star
■
The DI (Document Instance) describes the networks do not follow any of the IEEE
data or text of the document. standards.
HTML, used in World Wide Web docu- See also bus network; ring network;
ments on the Internet, is a part of SGML. topology.
See also Extensible Markup Language;
HyperText Markup Language; Virtual star-dot-star A commonly available file
Reality Modeling Language. specification (*.*) that uses the asterisk
wildcard character. It is equivalent to spec-
Standby Monitor In a Token Ring net- ifying any combination of filename and file-
work, a network node that serves as a name extension.

STAR NETWORK

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stop bit

StarLAN A network operating system If a connection fails, the administrator must

from AT&T that implements CSMA/CD reprogram the router to use a new path. In
(Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision most large networks, the delay that this
Detection) protocols on twisted-pair cable causes is unacceptable, and dynamic rout-
transmitting at 1Mbps; a subset of 802.3. ing is used instead. Dynamic routing auto-
In 1988, StarLAN was renamed StarLAN matically locates and uses the best available
1, and StarLAN 10 was launched. StarLAN path and recalculates paths if a connection
10 is a 10Mbps Ethernet version that uses fails.
twisted-pair cable or fiber-optic cable. See also dynamic routing.

start bit In asynchronous transmissions, statistical multiplexing Abbreviated

a start bit is transmitted to indicate the be- stat mux. In communications, a method of
ginning of a new data word. sharing a transmission channel by using sta-
See also data bits; parity; stop bit. tistical techniques to allocate resources.
A statistical multiplexer can analyze traffic
STARTUP.NCF A Novell NetWare serv-
density and dynamically switch to a differ-
er configuration boot file that loads the
ent channel pattern to speed up the trans-
NetWare server’s disk driver, along with
mission. At the receiving end, the different
name spaces and certain SET parameters.
signals are merged back into individual
See also SET. streams.

stateless filter See packet-level filter. See also frequency-division multiplexing;

inverse multiplexing; time-division
static RAM Abbreviated SRAM, pro- multiplexing.
nounced “ess-ram.” A type of computer
memory that retains its contents as long as stat mux See statistical multiplexing.
power is applied; it does not need constant
stealth virus A form of virus that at-
refreshment, as required by dynamic RAM
tempts to hide from antivirus software and
(DRAM) chips.
from the operating system by remaining in
An SRAM chip can store only about one- memory.
fourth of the information that a DRAM chip
See also boot sector virus; file-infecting
of the same complexity can hold. However,
virus; macro virus; multipart virus; poly-
SRAM, with access times of 10 to 25 nano-
morphic virus; Trojan Horse; vaccine.
seconds, is much faster than DRAM, at 80
nanoseconds or more, and is often used in stop bit In asynchronous transmissions,
caches. SRAM is four to five times as expen- a stop bit is transmitted to indicate the end
sive as DRAM. of the current data word. Depending on the
static routing A method used to prepro- convention in use, one or two stop bits are
gram connecting paths between networks used.
into a router by a network administrator. See also data bits; parity; start bit.

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storage area network

storage area network Abbreviated store-and-forward A method that tem-

SAN. A method used to physically separate porarily stores messages at intermediate
the storage function of the network from nodes before forwarding them to the next
the data-processing function. destination. This technique allows routing
SAN provides a separate network devoted to over networks that are not available at all
storage and so helps to reduce network traf- times and lets users take advantage of off-
fic by isolating large data transfers such as peak rates when traffic and costs might be
backups. Most of the SAN vendors, includ- lower.
ing StorageTek and Compaq, use a Fibre See also message switching.
Channel–based SAN system, although IBM
has proposed a proprietary architecture. STP See shielded twisted-pair cable.
See also network attached storage.
straight-tip connector Abbreviated ST.
Storage Management Services Ab- A fiber-optic cable connector that main-
breviated SMS. A set of Novell NetWare tains the perfect alignment of the ends of the
Loadable Modules and other software that connected fibers, required for efficient light
allows data to be backed up and retrieved transmission.
from the server and from workstations at-
tached to the network. SMS is independent stream In Internet video, an end-to-end
of both the hardware used to create the connection between a client and a server that
backup and also the file systems actually be- lets a user start to look at a video clip before
ing backed up or restored. the whole file has finished downloading.

STRAIGHT-TIP CONNECTOR

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StreetTalk

streaming A method used to deliver au- the tape is not stopped during a backup. To
dio and video content in real time so that use streaming tape, the computer and back-
the person using the system can interact up software must be fast enough to keep up
with the data stream. with the tape drive.
A client downloads a portion of the audio/ See also DC-2000; tape cartridge.
video file, decompresses it, and starts to
view the video clip before the rest of the file STREAMS A Novell NetWare Loadable
arrives. Data is built up in a buffer before Module (NLM) that provides a common in-
the playback begins, and the next part of terface between NetWare and transport
the file is downloaded as the first part plays. protocols such as IPX/SPX, TCP/IP, and
SNA.
See also IP Multicast multicasting.
STREAMS allows services to be provided
Streaming SIMD Extensions Abbrevi- across the network regardless of the trans-
ated SSE. A set of multimedia instructions port protocol in use, because the protocol is
introduced with Intel’s Pentium III. transparent to the operating system.

SSE provides four main improvements over streams A function within Unix that
the Pentium II instruction set: provides flexible communications paths be-
tween processes and device drivers.
■
Eight new directly addressable 128-bit
floating-point registers. stream thinning In Internet video, the
■
Eight new instructions for streaming data process of removing video frames to protect
to and from memory. the audio feed.
■
Twelve new Single Instruction, Multiple Stream thinning is used to preserve the con-
Data (SIMD) integer instructions. nection in times of network congestion and
to avoid a forced reconnection and its asso-
■
Fifty new SMID floating-point ciated disruptive effect on the transmission.
instructions. Stream thinning restores the full video sig-
SSE can benefit 3-D graphics, 2-D images, nal once additional bandwidth becomes
speech recognition, and MPEG-2 encoding, available.
as well as scientific and engineering applica-
StreetTalk The distributed global
tions. Most standard office and business ap-
naming and directory service for Banyan
plications will see little or no improvement.
VINES network operating system. The
See also Pentium III. StreetTalk database contains all the neces-
sary information about all nodes and de-
Streaming Single Instruction, Mul- vices on the network, and this database is
tiple Data Extensions See Streaming updated constantly.
SIMD Extensions.
Under StreetTalk, all users, printers, and
streaming tape A high-speed tape back- servers have a three-part StreetTalk address
up system designed to optimize throughput; in the form of device or user name, domain

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string

name, and organization name. StreetTalk SQL contains about 60 commands and is
also allows nicknames for nodes and devices. used to create, modify, query, and access
SteetTalk is designed to manage a large data organized in tables. It can be used ei-
number of different environments, includ- ther as an interactive interface or as embed-
ing Banyan networks, Windows NT, Unix, ded commands in an application:
and Novell NetWare. ■
Dynamic SQL statements are interactive,
See also domain directory services; Enter- and they can be changed as needed. If you
prise Network Services; global directory normally access SQL from a command-
services; NetWare Directory Services; line environment, you are using dynamic
X.500. SQL, which is slower than static SQL but
much more flexible.
string See character string. ■
Static SQL statements are coded into ap-
stripe set A single volume created across plication programs, and as a result, they
multiple hard disk drives and accessed in do not change. These statements are usu-
parallel to optimize disk-access time. ally processed by a precompiler before be-
ing bound into the application.
See also disk striping; disk striping with
parity. Many databases implement SQL queries
behind the scenes, enabling communication
strong password A password that is with database servers in systems with client/
specifically designed to be difficult to guess. server architecture.
Strong passwords are always more than SQL is an ANSI standard in the United
10 characters and always include punctu- States, as well as a worldwide International
ation characters and numbers. Organization for Standardization (ISO)
See also password; weak password. standard.
See also Open Database Connectivity.
structured graphics See object-
oriented graphics. structured wiring A planned cabling
Structured Query Language Abbrevi- system for enterprise-wide network com-
ated SQL, pronounced “sequel.” In rela- munications, including both voice and da-
tional database management systems, a ta. AT&T’s Premises Distribution Systems
query language developed by IBM for use in and IBM’s Cabling System are both struc-
mainframe applications. tured wiring designs.

SQL was adopted by Oracle Corporation subdirectory A directory contained

for use in its database management systems within another directory. The root directo-
running on all platforms, not just main- ry is the top-level directory, from which all
frames, and subsequently emerged as a de other directories must branch. In common
facto standard for all database manage- use, subdirectory is synonymous with direc-
ment packages. tory or folder.

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superpipelining

See also current directory; parent directo- subscribe To post to a Usenet news-
ry; period and double-period directories. group or to join a mailing list. This is not a
subscription in the sense of a magazine sub-
sub-hive An organizational element in scription; no money ever changes hands.
the Microsoft Windows Registry, similar to
Sun Certified Solaris Administrator
a subdirectory on a hard disk.
A basic certification from Sun Microsystems
A sub-hive may contain other sub-hives or designed to recognize technical expertise in
may contain keys. Microsoft documentation installing and administering Solaris-based
sometimes refers to sub-hives as sub-keys. systems.
See also hive; key; Registry. See also Sun Microsystems, Inc.

sub-key See sub-hive. Sun Certified Solaris Network

Administrator An advanced certification
subnet A logical network created from a from Sun Microsystems designed to recog-
single IP address. A mask is used to identify nize technical expertise in networking and
bits from the host portion of the address to administering Solaris-based systems and in
be used for subnet addresses. the security aspects of Solaris.
See also Sun Microsystems, Inc.
See also address classes; Classless Inter-
Domain Routing; IP address; subnet ad- Sun Microsystems, Inc. A manufactur-
dress; subnet mask. er of high-powered workstations and one of
the major technical forces in the Unix world.
subnet address The subnet portion of
Sun workstations run Solaris, a version of
an IP address. In a subnetted network, the
Unix based on Unix System V Release 4,
host part of the IP address is divided into a
and range from small, diskless desktop sys-
subnet portion and a host portion by a sub-
tems to high-performance, tower servers in
net mask.
multiprocessor configurations.
See also address classes; Classless Inter-
For more information on Sun Microsystems,
Domain Routing; IP address; subnet; sub-
Inc., see www.sun.com.
net mask.
See also Java; Jini; Network File System;
Solaris.
subnet mask A number or, more cor-
rectly, a bit pattern that identifies which
SunOS A Unix operating system from
parts of an IP address correspond to the net-
Sun Microsystems. SunOS is based on BSD
work, subnet, and host portions of the ad-
Unix; Solaris is based on System V Release 4.
dress. Also referred to as an address mask.
See also Solaris; Sun Microsystems, Inc.
See also address classes; Classless Inter-
Domain Routing; IP address; subnet; sub- superpipelining A preprocessing tech-
net address. nique used by some microprocessors in

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superscalar

which two or more execution stages (such for security reasons. The superuser’s login
as fetch, decode, execute, or write back) are name is usually root, with a user ID of 0.
divided into two or more pipelined stages, See also avatar.
giving considerably higher performance.
surfing To browse your way through
superscalar A microprocessor architec-
various Internet resources, exploring tan-
ture that contains more than one execution
gents whenever you feel like it.
unit, or pipeline, allowing the processor to
execute more than one instruction per clock surge A short, sudden, and often de-
cycle. structive increase in line voltage. A voltage-
regulating device, known as a surge
For example, the Pentium processor is super-
suppressor, can protect computer equip-
scalar, with two side-by-side pipelines for
ment against surges.
integer instructions. The processor deter-
mines whether an instruction can be execut- See also power conditioning; spike; surge
ed in parallel with the next instruction in suppressor.
line. If it does not detect any dependencies,
surge protector See surge suppressor.
the two instructions are executed.
See also complex instruction set comput- surge suppressor A voltage-regulating
ing; reduced instruction set computing. device placed between the computer and
the AC line connection that protects the
superserver A computer specifically de- computer system from power surges; also
signed for use as a network server. known as a surge protector.
See also power conditioning.
A superserver is a very high performance sys-
tem, often characterized by scalable input/ Sustainable Cell Rate Abbreviated
output channels, complex multiprocessing SCR. In Asynchronous Transfer Mode
features, and a large price tag. It may have (ATM), the maximum average cell rate that
several processors, large amounts of error- can be maintained over a virtual connec-
correcting memory, cache memory, and tion.
hard-disk space, as well as fault-tolerant fea-
See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode;
tures, such as redundant power supplies.
Available Cell Rate; Minimum Cell Rate;
superuser A special Unix privilege level, Peak Cell Rate.
with unlimited access to all files, directo-
ries, and commands. SVC See switched virtual circuit.

The system administrator must become the SVID See System V Interface Definition.
superuser to perform certain functions, such
S/WAN See Secure WAN.
as creating new accounts, changing pass-
words, and other administrative tasks that swap To temporarily move a process
ordinary users are not allowed to perform from memory to disk, so that another

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symmetrical multiprocessing

process can use that memory space. When Switched Multimegabit Data
space becomes available again, the process Services Abbreviated SMDS. A high-
is swapped back into memory. This allows speed metropolitan-area network service
more processes to be loaded than there is based on the 802.6 standard for use over T1
physical memory space to run them and T3 circuits. SMDS supports Ethernet,
simultaneously. Token Ring, and FDDI (Fiber Distributed
Data Interface) gateways.
swapping The process of exchanging
See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode.
one item for another. In a virtual memory
system, swapping occurs when a program switched virtual circuit Abbreviated
requests a virtual memory location that is SVC. A communications circuit that is es-
not currently in memory. Swapping may tablished for the duration of the session and
also refer to changing floppy or compact then disconnected, much like a normal
disks as needed when using a single disk voice telephone call. SVCs are used exten-
drive. sively in X.25 networks
swap space On a hard disk, a file used to See also permanent virtual circuit.
store parts of running programs that have
been swapped out of memory temporarily Sybase, Inc. A leading supplier of data-
to make room for other running programs. base management and applications devel-
opment software, including PowerBuilder,
A swap file may be permanent, always occu- a rapid application development environ-
pying the same amount of hard-disk space, ment, and PowerJEnterprise, a Java devel-
even though the application that created it opment package.
may not be running, or temporary, created
For more information on Sybase, Inc., see
as and when needed.
www.sybase.com.
See also permanent swap file; temporary
Symantec Corporation A leading de-
swap file; virtual memory.
veloper of utility programs for the PC and
the Macintosh whose products include ap-
switch processor Abbreviated SP. In
plication and system software, security and
Cisco Systems 7000 series routers, the pro-
antivirus packages, remote productivity,
cessor module that acts as the administrator
and Internet access.
for all bus activity; also known as the cisco-
Bus controller. For more information on Symantec Corpo-
ration, see www.symantec.com.
See also ciscoBus; Cisco Extended Bus.
Symmetrical Digital Subscriber Line
Switched 56 A switched four-wire digi- See Single-Line Digital Subscriber Line
tal data service available from a local ex-
symmetrical multiprocessing A mul-
change carrier that operates at 56Kbps.
tiprocessing design that assigns a task to a
See also Virtual Private Network. processor in response to system load as the

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synchronization

application starts running. This design See also data-link layer; High-level Data
makes for a much more flexible system Link Control; Systems Network
than asymmetrical multiprocessing, in Architecture.
which the programmer matches a specific
task to a certain processor while writing Synchronous Digital Hierarchy Ab-
the program. breviated SDH. A set of fiber-optic–based
In symmetrical multiprocessing, the overall standards from the ITU for use with
workload is shared by all processors in the SONET and ATM in Europe
system; system performance increases as
synchronous DRAM Abbreviated
more processors are added into the system.
SDRAM. A high-speed memory technolo-
The drawback is that symmetrical multi-
gy, faster than EDO RAM; used in work-
processing operating systems are much
stations and servers.
harder to design than asymmetrical multi-
processing operating systems. synchronous graphics RAM Abbrevi-
See also asymmetrical multiprocessing. ated SGRAM. A type of high-speed dynam-
ic RAM used in video adapters.
synchronization The timing of separate
elements or events to occur simultaneously. Synchronous Optical Network Ab-
In computer-to-computer communica- breviated SONET. A set of fiber-optic–
tions, the hardware and software must be based communications standards with
synchronized so that file transfers can take transmission rates from 51.84Mbps to
place. 13.22Gbps.
See also asynchronous transmission; syn- First proposed by Bellcore in the mid-
chronous transmission. 1980s, SONET was standardized by ANSI,
and the ITU adapted SONET in creating the
Synchronous Data Link Control Ab- worldwide Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
breviated SDLC. The data-link protocol (SDH) standard.
most widely used in networks that con-
form to IBM’s SNA (Systems Network SONET uses synchronous transmissions in
Architecture). which individual channels (called tributar-
ies) are merged into higher-level channels
SDLC is a bit-oriented synchronous proto-
using time-division multiplexing tech-
col that organizes information into well-de-
niques. Data is carried in frames of 810
fined units known as frames. SDLC is
bytes, which also includes control informa-
similar to the HDLC (High-level Data Link
tion known as the overhead.
Control) protocol defined by the Interna-
tional Organization for Standardization See also Optical Carrier; Synchronous
(ISO). Digital Hierarchy.

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system administration

SYNCHRONOUS DATA LINK CONTROL

synchronous transmission A trans- System III The release of Unix from

mission method that uses a clock signal to AT&T prior to the release of System V.
regulate data flow.
System III was the first version of Unix to
In synchronous transmissions, frames are be ported to the Intel family of processors
separated by equal-sized time intervals. and formed the basis for SCO’s release of
Timing must be controlled precisely on the XENIX.
sending and the receiving computers. Spe-
cial characters are embedded in the data System IV A version of Unix from
stream to begin synchronization and to AT&T that was never released outside the
maintain synchronization during the trans- company, mostly to avoid confusion with
mission, allowing both computers to check the 4.xBSD series of products.
for and correct any variations in timing.
System V The last version of Unix from
See also asynchronous transmission.
AT&T, pronounced “System Five.” The lat-
syntax The formal rules of grammar as est release is known as System V Release 4.2,
they apply to a specific programming often abbreviated SVR4 or SVR4.2.
language or operating system command;
System V Interface Definition Abbre-
in particular, the exact sequence and
viated SVID. A set of documents released by
spelling of command elements required for
AT&T that defined the Unix System V in-
the command to be interpreted correctly.
terfaces and operating system calls.
syntax error An error in the use of a pro-
gramming language or operating system system administration The day-to-day
command syntax, such as misspelling a key- administrative and management tasks
word or omitting a required space. performed by the system administrator,
including:
SyQuest Technology, Inc. A leading
manufacturer of removable storage media,
■
Starting up and shutting down the system
particularly the SCSI-based removable hard ■
Setting the system time and date
disk available for the PC and the Macintosh.
■
Assigning and changing passwords
For more information on SyQuest Technol-
ogy, Inc., see www.syquest.com. ■
Adding and removing users and groups

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System Administration: Informix Dynamic Server

■
Installing, upgrading, and removing System Fault Tolerance Abbreviated
application packages and installing oper- SFT. In Novell NetWare, a method of du-
ating system upgrades plicating data on several hard disks so that
if one disk fails, the data is still available
■
Backing up the system, storing archives
from another disk.
off location, and restoring backups as
needed Several levels of hardware and software
SFT are available in NetWare, with each
■
Installing and configuring new hardware
level of redundancy decreasing the possibil-
such as printers, storage devices, and com-
ity of catastrophic data loss. For example,
munications systems
SFT I includes HotFix redirection, and SFT
■
Monitoring system performance and II adds disk duplexing and disk mirroring.
making tuning adjustments as necessary SFT III uses duplicate servers so that all
transactions are recorded on both; if one
See also system administrator.
fails, the other can take over.

System Administration: Informix See also disk striping; redundant array of

Dynamic Server A certification from inexpensive disks; Transaction Tracking
Informix designed for individuals who System.
configure, maintain, and tune Informix
Dynamic Server databases. System Information In Microsoft Win-
dows 2000, a system utility that reports de-
See also Database Specialist: Informix- tailed hardware and software
4GL Certified Professional. configuration, hardware resource informa-
tion, and a system summary. System Infor-
system administrator The person mation is a Microsoft Management
charged with the responsibility of manag- Console (MMC) snap-in located in Com-
ing the system. puter Management.
In a very large system, the system adminis- See also Computer Management; Mi-
trator may in fact be several people or even crosoft Management Console; snap-in.
a department; if you are running Linux on
your system at home, you have to be your system management mode Abbrevi-
own system administrator. ated SMM. In the Intel family of micropro-
cessors, a low power consumption mode
See also system administration.
used to conserve battery power. All recent
Intel processors have SMM and so are suit-
SYSTEM directory In Novell NetWare,
able for use in portable, battery-powered
the SYS:SYSTEM directory created during
computers.
installation. This directory contains Net-
Ware operating system files and directories, system log In Microsoft Windows
as well as NetWare Loadable Modules 2000, a default system log that records
(NLMs) and network administrator utilities. events generated by Windows 2000 system

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Systems Performance Evaluation Cooperative benchmarks

services, device drivers, and other system ■

Common Programming Interface
components. You can use the Event Viewer (CPI) A set of application programming
to look at the contents of the system log. interfaces (APIs) designed to encourage
See also application log; Event Viewer; independence from the underlying operat-
security log. ing system. The standard database query
language is Structured Query Language
System Monitor In Microsoft Windows (SQL).
2000, a network and server monitoring tool ■
Common Communications Support
that displays resource use for selected sys- (CCS) A common set of communica-
tem-level components. Replaces the Win- tions protocols that interconnect SAA sys-
dows NT Performance Monitor. tems and devices.
See also alert log; counter log; Perfor- Systems Network Architecture Ab-
mance Monitor; trace log. breviated SNA. IBM’s proprietary terminal-
to-mainframe protocol, introduced in 1974.
System Object Model Abbreviated
SNA describes a seven-layer system, with
SOM. A specification from IBM that allows
each layer building on the services provided
objects created in different environments to
by the previous layer. Devices on an SNA
communicate.
system are usually connected using the
See also Distributed System Object Model. SDLC protocol, running over serial lines.
SNA is not compatible with the seven-layer
Systems Application Architecture
OSI Reference Model.
Abbreviated SAA. A set of IBM standards,
first introduced in 1987, that defines a con- Systems Performance Evaluation
sistent set of interfaces for future IBM soft- Cooperative benchmarks Abbreviated
ware. Three standards are defined: SPEC benchmarks. A set of ten standard-
ized tests designed to measure workstation
■
Common User Access (CUA) A graphi-
performance.
cal user interface definition for products
designed for use in an object-oriented op- Six of the tests evaluate floating-point per-
erating environment. The OS/2 desktop formance, and four tests concentrate on in-
follows CUA guidelines in its design, and teger performance.
Microsoft Windows implements certain Results are reported as SPECmarks, a geo-
CUA features. metric mean of all ten scores.

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Systems Performance Evaluation Cooperative benchmarks

SYSTEMS NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

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T3

T
T See tera-. time, multipoint data communications over
local area networks and ISDN, dial-up, and
T1 A long-distance, point-to-point cir-
Internet connections. T.120 became well
cuit, providing 24 channels of 64Kbps, giv-
known after Microsoft incorporated it into
ing a total bandwidth of 1.544Mbps.
the NetMeeting package.
The standard T1 frame is 193 bits long,
See also H.323; Microsoft NetMeeting.
made up of twenty-four 8-bit voice samples
and one synchronization bit. It transmits T2 A long-distance, point-to-point com-
8000 frames per second. When a T1 service munications service, providing up to 4 T1
is made available in single 64Kbps incre- channels.
ments, it is known as fractional T1.
T2 offers 96 channels of 64Kbps, for a total
In Europe, the comparable circuit is known bandwidth of 6.3Mbps. T2 is not available
as E-1, and it has a speed of 2.054Mbps. T1 commercially, although it is used within
has been superseded by the CCITT DS-1 telephone company networks.
designation.
See also T1; T-carrier.
See also fractional T1; T-carrier.
T3 A long-distance, point-to-point com-
T1 multiplexer A statistical multiplexer munications service, providing up to 28 T1
that divides the 1.544MbpsT1 bandwidth channels.
into 24 separate 64Kbps channels of digi-
T3 can carry 672 channels of 64Kbps, for a
tized data or voice.
total bandwidth of 44.736Mbps, and is usu-
See also fractional T1; T1. ally available over fiber-optic cable. T3 is
used almost exclusively by AT&T and the
T1 small aperture terminal Abbreviat-
regional telephone operating companies,
ed TSAT. A small satellite terminal used for
although certain large private corporations
digital communications that can handle T1
are using T3 with digital microwave or fiber-
data rates of up to 1.544Mbps.
optic networks.
See also fractional T1; T1.
In Europe, T3 has been superseded by the
T.120 A group of communications and CCITT DS-3 designation.
applications protocols that support real- See also T1; T-carrier.

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T4

T4 A long-distance, point-to-point com- integration of ATM switches into the

munications service, providing up to 168 Internet and implementing routing on top
T1 channels. of those switches.
T4 can carry 4032 channels of 64Kbps, for See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode; IP
a total bandwidth of 274.176Mbps. T4 can over ATM; IP switching.
be used for both digitized voice and data
transmission. tap A connector that attaches to a cable
without blocking the passage of informa-
See also T1; T-carrier.
tion along that cable; a connection onto the
main transmission medium of the network.
table In a relational database system, a
table is comparable to a database file, but is tape cartridge A self-contained tape
more highly structured. storage module, containing tape much like
The organization of a table is logical, not that in a video cassette. Tape cartridges are
physical. Each row (or record) in a table primarily used to back up hard-disk systems.
contains a unique key, or primary key, so See also DC-2000; quarter-inch cartridge;
that any item of data in the table can be re- Zip drive.
trieved by referring only to that key.
Through the process known as normaliza- tape drive A computer peripheral device
tion, all data items in a row are made to de- that reads from and writes to magnetic tape.
pend only on this primary key. View and The drive may use tape on an open reel or
data dictionaries in a relational database from an enclosed tape cartridge. Because
take the form of two-dimensional tables. tape-management software must search
from the beginning of the tape every time it
tag An element in HTML used to annotate wants to find a file (a process called sequen-
a document. A tag is text enclosed by angle tial access), tape is too slow to use as a pri-
brackets that tells the client Web browser mary storage system; however, tapes are
how to display each part of the document. frequently used to back up hard disks.
For example, the tag <H1> indicates the start
See also streaming tape.
of a level one heading, and the tag </H1> in-
dicates the end of a level one heading.
TAPI See Telephony API.
See also element; HyperText Markup
tar In Unix, a utility program that can cre-
Language.
ate, list, add to, and retrieve from an archive
tag switching A technology from Cisco file, which is usually stored on tape. The ar-
Systems, Inc., that integrates data-link layer chive file has the filename extension .tar.
switching with network layer routing for The archive created by tar is not compressed
large-scale networks, allowing the and can be further processed by the Unix

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T-carrier

compress (extension .Z) or gzip (extension The four-level, time-division multiplexing

.gz) utilities to give compound extensions specification for the U.S. telephone system
such as filename.tar.Z or filename.tar.gz. allows the bit stream of the smaller carriers
task Any independent running program to be multiplexed into the larger ones.
and the set of system resources that it uses. The following are the four service levels:
A task may be an operating system process
or part of an application.
■
T1 Provides 24 channels of 64Kbps,
giving a total bandwidth of 1.544Mbps.
See also context switching; multitasking;
task switching.
When a T1 service is made available in
single 64Kbps increments, it is known as
Task Manager In Microsoft Windows fractional T1.
NT, an application that allows a user to ■
T2 The equivalent of 4 T1 services, T2
manually inspect the tasks running on the
offers 96 channels of 64Kbps, for a total
computer and select individual tasks for
shutdown. Task Manager is opened by bandwidth of 6.3Mbps.
pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del. ■
T3 The equivalent of 28 T1 circuits, T3
task switching To change from one run- offers 672 channels of 64Kbps, for a total
ning program to another quickly, either at bandwidth of 44.736Mbps. T3 is avail-
the direction of the operating system or at able commercially, but is not often used
the request of the user. for LANs.

TB See terabyte. ■
T4 The equivalent of 168 T1 circuits,
T4 provides 4,032 channels of 64Kbps,
T-carrier A digital communications ser-
for a total bandwidth of 274.176Mbps.
vice from a common carrier for voice or
data transmission. See also T1; T2; T3; T4.

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Tcl

T-CARRIER

Tcl See Tool Command Language. T-connector A T-shaped device, used

with coaxial cable, that connects two thin
TCM See trellis-coded modulation.
Ethernet cables and also provides a third
TCO See total cost of ownership. connector for the network interface card.

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TCP ports

T-CONNECTOR

TCP See Transmission Control Protocol. connection is established and a socket is set
up at each end of the connection. This sock-
TCP/IP See Transmission Control
et is created at a particular port number, de-
Protocol/Internet Protocol.
pending on the application in use. Table T.1
TCP ports In a TCP/IP network when a lists the port numbers used for some of the
computer connects with another computer common protocols.
to access a specific service, and end-to-end

TABLE T.1 PORT NUMBERS FOR COMMON PROTOCOLS

Port Number Protocol

21 File Transfer Protocol

23 Telnet

25 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

70 Gopher

79 Finger

80 Hypertext Transfer Protocol

119 Network News Transfer Protocol

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TDM

TDM See time-division multiplexing. the number of commuters as low as possible.

Most studies indicate that home workers are
TDMA See Time Division Multiple
happier and more productive. However,
Access.
some jobs do not lend themselves to telecom-
TDR See time-domain reflectometer. muting; welding and brain surgery are very
difficult to do over the phone.
Technical and Office Protocol Abbre-
viated TOP. An Ethernet implementation See also small office/home office.
for use in an engineering environment,
developed by Boeing Corporation. teleconferencing The use of audio, vid-
eo, animation, and application sharing,
See also Manufacturing Automation
linked by a communications channel, to al-
Protocol.
low widely separated individuals to take
part in a discussion or meeting.
telecommunications A general term for
the electronic transmission of all forms of Desktop video and chalkboard programs
information, including digital data, voice, such as Microsoft NetMeeting are becom-
fax, sound, and video, from one location to ing more and more common, and group-
another over some form of communica- ware applications such as Lotus Notes are
tions link. helping people work together.

Telecommunications Industry Associ- Telephony API Abbreviated TAPI. A

ation Abbreviated TIA. An important standard telephone interface for Microsoft
trade group, active in the areas of standards Windows, developed by Intel and Microsoft,
development, trade shows, international designed to allow applications to set up and
marketing, and legislative efforts. control calls.
The TIA often works in close association TAPI does not define the method of data
with the Electronic Industries Association transmission used once a call is in progress.
(EIA). It is completely independent of the tele-
For more information on TIA, see www phone network itself and can be used on
.tiaonline.org. public-switched telephone networks, ISDN,
See also Electronic Industries Association. and IP networks.
See also Telephony Services API.
telecommuting Working at home on a
computer connected to the office by mo- Telephony Services API Abbreviated
dems and telephone lines instead of com- TSAPI. A standard telephone interface de-
muting to the office. veloped by AT&T and Novell, designed to
Telecommuting saves time, cuts down on allow applications to set up and control
automobile use and pollution, and decreases calls. TSAPI is available as a NetWare
stress. Some local and state governments Loadable Module for NetWare 4.01 and
actively encourage telecommuting to keep later.

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terminator

TSAPI requires that the PBX (private terabyte Abbreviated TB. In computing,
branch exchange) be linked to a server and usually 240, or 1,099,511,627,776 bytes.
so has greater control over the call than Terabytes are used to represent extremely
does Telephony API. large hard-disk capacities.
See also Telephony API. terminal emulation A method of opera-
tion or software that makes a personal com-
Telnet A terminal emulation protocol, puter or a workstation act like a terminal
part of the TCP/IP suite of protocols and attached to a mainframe, usually for the
common in the Unix world, that provides purpose of telecommunications. Commu-
remote terminal-connection services. nications programs often include popular
The most common terminal emulations are emulations, such as ANSI, VT-52, VT-100,
for Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) VT-200, and TTY.
VT-52, VT-100, and VT-220 terminals, al- See also Telnet; tn3270.
though many companies offer additional
add-in emulations. Terminal services In Microsoft Win-
See also tn3270. dows 2000 Server, an optional component
that provides multiple user sessions from
temporary swap file A swap space the same machine; also known as thin-
that is created every time it is needed. A client computing, multiuser Windows, or
temporary swap file can consist of several server-based computing.
discontinuous pieces of hard-disk space. A With Terminal services installed, the major
temporary swap file does not occupy hard- portion of all application processing takes
disk space if the application that created it place on the server, rather than on the client,
is not running. allowing you to use cheaper client hard-
See also swap space; permanent swap file; ware, install application software on the
virtual memory. server rather than on every client, and ad-
minister the server from a remote console.
ter A term describing a tertiary CCITT
terminate-and-stay-resident
recommendation, an alternative or exten-
program Abbreviated TSR. A small ac-
sion to the primary or secondary recom-
cessory or utility program that stays loaded
mendation.
in memory, even when it is not actually run-
See also bis. ning. A TSR can be invoked quickly to per-
form a specific task.
tera- Abbreviated T. A prefix that means
TSR’s are often used with single-tasking op-
1012 in the metric system,
erating systems such as MS-DOS.
1,000,000,000,000; commonly referred to
as one trillion in the American numbering terminator A device attached to the last
system, and one million million in the Brit- peripheral device in a series or the last node
ish numbering system. on a network.

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TEX

For example, the last device on a SCSI bus thin client In a client/server network, a
must terminate the bus; otherwise, the bus client that requires relatively small amounts
will not perform properly. A 50-ohm resis- of local memory and hard-disk space and
tor is placed at both ends of an Ethernet leaves most of the processing to the server.
cable to prevent signals reflecting and inter- Sometimes called a Windows terminal.
fering with the transmission. In some cases, the client operating system,
See also active termination; forced perfect as well as the applications the client runs
termination; passive termination. and the data it manipulates, all reside on the
server.
TE X A typesetting language developed by
Donald E. Knuth of Stanford University, See also NetPC; network computer; total
capable of professional-quality typeset text, cost of ownership; Zero Administration for
particularly of mathematical equations and Windows.
scientific, Japanese, Chinese, Cyrillic, and
thin-client computing See Terminal
Arabic text.
services.
TE X is not easy for the casual user to mas-
ter, but several packages are available con- thin Ethernet Connecting coaxial cable
taining macros designed to solve specific used on an Ethernet network; also known
typesetting problems. as thinnet.

text file See ASCII file. The cable is 5 millimeters (0.2 inch) thick,
about as thick as your little finger, and can
text mode A mode in which the comput- be used to connect network nodes up to a
er displays characters on the screen using distance of approximately 165 meters (500
the built-in character set, but does not show feet). Thin Ethernet is primarily used for of-
any graphics characters or a mouse pointer. fice installations.
Also known as character mode.
See also thick Ethernet.
TFTP See Trivial File Transfer Protocol.
thinnet See thin Ethernet.
thick Ethernet Connecting coaxial cable
used on an Ethernet network; also known thrashing An excessive amount of disk
as thicknet. activity that causes a virtual memory sys-
The cable is 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) thick, tem to spend all its time swapping pages in
almost as thick as your thumb, and can be and out of memory, and no time executing
used to connect network nodes up to a dis- the application.
tance of approximately 1006 meters (3300 Thrashing can be caused when poor system
feet). Thick Ethernet is primarily used for configuration creates a swap file that is too
facility-wide installations. small or when insufficient memory is in-
See also thin Ethernet. stalled in the computer. Increasing the size
of the swap file or adding memory are often
thicknet See thick Ethernet. the best ways to reduce thrashing.

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TIA/EIA structured cabling standards

thread 1. A concurrent process that is See also bandwidth.

part of a larger process or program. In a
multitasking operating system, a single pro- TIA See Telecommunications Industry
gram may contain several threads, all run- Association.
ning at the same time. For example, one
part of a program can be making a calcula- TIA/EIA structured cabling
tion while another part is drawing a graph standards Standards specified by
or a chart. the Electronics Industry Association/
Telecommunications Industries Associa-
2. A connected set of postings to a Usenet
tion (EIA/TIA), including:
newsgroup. Many newsreaders present
postings as threads rather than in strict ■
ANSI/EIA/TIA-568-1991 Commercial
chronological order. Building Telecommunications Wiring.
See also multiprocessing; newsgroup; ■
EIA/TIA TSB-36 Additional Cable Speci-
newsreader; Usenet. fications for UTP Cables. 1991.

threaded newsreader An application

■
EIA/TIA TSB-40 Telecommunications
used to read the articles posted to Usenet Systems Bulletin—Additional Transmis-
newsgroups. sion Specifications for UTP Connecting
Hardware. 1992.
A threaded newsreader groups the news-
group posts into threads of related articles, ■
ANSI/EIA/TIA-568A 1995 revises the
whereas unthreaded newsreaders present original 568 document and adds material
them in their original order of posting. Of from TSB-36 and TSB-40.
the two types, threaded newsreaders are ■
ANSI/EIA/TIA-569-1990 Commercial
much more convenient to use. Building Standard for Telecommunica-
See also newsgroup; newsreader; Usenet. tions Pathways and Spaces.

throughput A measure of the data-trans-

■
ANSI/EIA/TIA-570-1991 Residential and
fer rate through a complex communica- Light Commercial Telecommunications
tions or networking scheme. Wiring Standard.

Throughput is considered an indication of ■

ANSI/EIA/TIA-606-1993 Administration
the overall performance of the system. For Standard for the Telecommunications In-
example, the throughput of a server de- frastructure of Commercial Buildings.
pends on the processor type, operating sys- ■
ANSI/EIA/TIA-607-1994 Commercial
tem in use, hard disk capacity, network
Building Grounding and Bonding Re-
interface card in use, and the size of the data
quirements for Telecommunications.
transfer buffer.
Local codes and standards may impose
In communications, throughput is usually
additional requirements.
measured as the number of bits or packets
processed each second. See also cabling standards.

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ticket

ticket A token within the Kerberos information doesn’t end up traveling a

authentication system that contains the us- TCP/IP network or the Internet for all
er’s name and address, as well as the service eternity.
the user requested, security information, Each IP datagram contains a TTL value;
a time deadline, and other authentication once this value reaches zero, the datagram
information. is simply assumed to be undeliverable and is
See also authentication; Kerberos. discarded.

tie line A private circuit, leased from a timeout Many procedures require a de-
communications carrier, connecting two or vice to respond or reply to an inquiry within
more points in a single organization. a certain period of time; if the device does
not respond, a timeout condition occurs,
Time Division Multiple Access Abbre- thus preventing the procedure from hang-
viated TDMA. A technique used to allocate ing up the computer.
multiple channels on the same frequency on
Timeouts are also used in communications
a cellular phone or satellite communica-
to detect transmission failures. Some time-
tions system.
outs are fixed, such as the amount of time
See also Code Division Multiple Access. during which an operating system will at-
tempt to access a modem or printer; others
time-division multiplexing Abbreviat- can be specified by the user.
ed TDM. A method of sharing a transmis-
sion channel by dividing the available time time-slice multitasking A form of mul-
equally between competing stations. At the titasking in which the operating system as-
receiving end, the different signals are signs the same small time period to each
merged back into their individual streams. process in turn.
See also frequency-division multiplex- See also cooperative multitasking; pre-
ing; inverse multiplexing; statistical emptive multitasking.
multiplexing.
time stamp An identification code that
time-domain reflectometer Abbrevi- includes the time that an event took place.
ated TDR. A diagnostic tool used to detect Most operating systems add a time stamp to
cabling faults. indicate a file’s create time. Automatic error
A TDR calculates the length of a cable by logging or security auditing processes often
measuring the time it takes for a reflected add a time stamp to critical events such as
pulse to return to the TDR and then mul- changes to passwords or accounts.
tiplying that by the nominal velocity of
time synchronization A method of syn-
propagation.
chronizing time across all servers on the
time to live Abbreviated TTL. A mech- network so that all servers report the same
anism used to ensure that misdirected time.

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token-ring network

tn3270 A special version of the Telnet Using standard telephone wiring, a Token
program specifically designed for use with Ring network can connect a maximum of
large IBM computers using 3270 and 327x 72 devices; with shielded twisted-pair (STP)
series terminals. Most of the computers wiring, each ring can support a maximum
on the Internet use Unix, but if you ever of 256 nodes. Although it is based on a
encounter an IBM mainframe, you will closed-loop ring structure, a Token Ring
definitely need tn3270. network uses a star-shaped cluster of as
So how do you know when to use tn3270 many as eight nodes, all attached to the
rather than Telnet? It’s time to load up same wiring concentrator or Multistation
tn3270 if you try to connect to an Internet Access Unit (MAU). The MAUs are then
host with Telnet and one of the following connected to the main ring circuit.
happens:
A Token Ring network can include person-
■
The on-screen messages are all in upper- al computers, minicomputers, and main-
case letters rather than the usual Unix mix frames. The IEEE 802.5 standard defines
of uppercase and lowercase letters. token-ring networks.
■
You see VM or MVS anywhere in the lo-
token-ring network A LAN with a ring
gin message. These are both names of IBM
structure that uses token passing to regulate
operating systems.
traffic on the network and avoid collisions.
■
Your session is aborted before it really
gets started. On a token-ring network, the controlling
network interface card generates a token
See also Telnet.
that controls the right to transmit. This to-
token passing A network access meth- ken is continuously passed from one node to
od that uses a circulating electronic token to the next around the network. When a node
prevent multiple nodes from transmitting has information to transmit, it captures the
on the network simultaneously. token, sets its status to busy, and adds the
message and the destination address. All
Before a node can transmit, it must be in
other nodes continuously read the token to
possession of the token. Fiber Distributed
determine if they are the recipient of a mes-
Data Interface (FDDI), Token Ring, and
sage. If they are, they collect the token, ex-
Token Bus networks all use token passing
tract the message, and return the token to
to avoid packet collisions.
the sender. The sender then removes the
See also Carrier Sense Multiple Access/ message and sets the token status to free, in-
Collision Detection; token-ring network. dicating that it can be used by the next node
in sequence.
Token Ring network IBM’s implemen-
tation of the token-ring network architec- See also 802.5; Carrier Sense Multiple
ture, which uses a token-passing protocol Access/Collision Detection; Token Ring
transmitting at 4 or 16Mbps. network.

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Tool Command Language

TOKEN RING NETWORK

Tool Command Language Abbreviat- signifies the type of institution or the coun-
ed Tcl, pronounced “tickle.” Developed by try of its origin.
John Ousterhout while at the University of In the United States, the most common top-
California at Berkeley, Tcl is a general-pur- level domains include:
pose extensible scripting language supplied
as a C library on Unix systems.
■
com A commercial organization. Most
companies end up in this category.
Tcl is also available in versions for MS-DOS,
Windows, and the Macintosh.
■
edu An educational establishment such
as a university.
See also Perl; REXX; scripting.
■
gov A branch of the U.S. government.
TOP See Technical and Office Protocol. ■
int An international organization such
top-level domains On the Internet, the as NATO or the United Nations.
highest category of host name, which either ■
mil A branch of the U.S. military.

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traffic

■
net A network organization. See also NetPC; network computer; thin
■
org A nonprofit organization. client; Zero Administration for Windows.

Most countries also have unique domains

TP See twisted-pair cable.
named after their international abbrevia-
tions; for example, ca represents Canada, trace log In Microsoft Windows 2000,
uk represents Great Britain, and jp repre- a System Monitor log used to monitor
sents Japan. events such as disk input/output or page
See also domain; domain name: Domain faults; when the event occurs, it is logged
Name Service. into the trace log.

topology The map of a network. Physi- See also alert log; counter log; page fault;
cal topology describes where the cables are System Monitor.
run and where the workstations, nodes,
routers, and gateways are located. Net- tracert A utility used on TCP/IP net-
works are usually configured in bus, ring, works to trace the route that datagrams
star, or mesh topologies. Logical topology take between the server and another sys-
refers to the paths that messages take to get tem. As tracert also tells you how long each
from one user on the network to another. hop takes, it can be a useful tool in identi-
fying system trouble spots.
TOPS A local-area network (LAN) from
TOPS Corporation that uses the LocalTalk trackball A device used for pointing, de-
protocol to connect Apple computers, PCs, signed as a space-saving alternative to the
and Sun workstations. mouse.
Toshiba Corporation One of the largest A trackball contains a movable ball that
manufacturers of electrical equipment in you rotate with your fingers to move the
the world, a major supplier of notebook cursor on the screen. Because it does not
computers, and a co-developer of the digital need the area of flat space that a mouse
video disc. needs, trackballs are popular with users of
For more information on Toshiba Corpo- portable computers. The Apple PowerBook
ration, see www.toshiba.com. includes a trackball as part of the keyboard
case, Microsoft has released a small track-
total cost of ownership Abbreviated
ball that clips onto the side of a laptop com-
TCO. A term first used by the Gardener
puter, and IBM has developed a dual-
Group in an attempt to quantify the real
button, touch-sensitive pointing stick called
cost of a particular computer solution.
the TrackPoint.
TCO encompasses the direct costs of the
hardware and the software required and traffic The flow of messages and data
then adds in costs for maintenance and sup- carried by a communications channel or
port, costs for the users performing their link. Traffic on a data network is normally
own technical support rather than their of- measured in bits transferred in a given time
ficial job, and system productivity costs. period.
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transaction

transaction A single activity within a transitive trust See two-way transitive

computer system, such as an entry into an trust.
airline reservation database, that is executed
in real time rather than as a batch process. Transmission Control Protocol Ab-
breviated TCP. The transport-level proto-
transaction processing A processing col used in the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
method in which transactions are executed It works above IP in the protocol stack
immediately when they are received by the and provides reliable data delivery over
system, rather than at some later time as in
connection-oriented links.
batch-processing systems. Airline reserva-
tion databases and automatic teller ma- TCP adds a header to the datagram that con-
chines are examples of transaction- tains the information needed to get the dat-
processing systems. agram to its destination. The source port
number and the destination port number al-
See also on-line transaction processing;
roll back; roll forward; two-phase commit. low data to be sent back and forth to the cor-
rect processes running on each computer. A
Transaction Tracking System Abbre- sequence number allows the datagrams to be
viated TTS. A fault-tolerant feature of No- rebuilt in the correct order in the receiving
vell NetWare that maintains the integrity of computer, and a checksum verifies that the
databases by backing out or rolling back in- data received is the same as the data sent. In
complete transactions that result from a addition to these fields, the TCP header con-
failure in a network component. tains the following information:

transceiver A contraction of transmit- ■

Acknowledgment number Indicates
ter/receiver. A device capable of both trans- that the data was received successfully. If
mitting and receiving data. the datagram is damaged in transit, the re-
ceiver discards the data and does not send
The data may be located on the network in-
terface card that connects a workstation to an acknowledgment to the sender. After a
a network, or it may be on a separate de- specified timeout expires, the sender re-
vice. A transceiver can convert between an transmits data for which no acknowledg-
AUI (Attachment Unit Interface) Ethernet ment has been received.
connection and another type of cabling, ■
Offset Specifies the length of the header.
such as fiber-optic, coaxial, or unshielded
twisted pair (UTP).
■
Reserved Variables set aside for future
use.
transfer rate See data-transfer rate.
■
Flags Indicate that this packet is the end
transient See surge. of the data or that the data is urgent.

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Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

■
Window size Provides a way to increase ning many different operating systems.
packet size, which can improve efficiency Many corporations, universities, and gov-
in data transfers. ernment agencies use TCP/IP, and it is also
■
Urgent pointer Gives the location of the basis of the Internet.
urgent data. TCP/IP is separated from the network hard-
ware and will run over Ethernet, token-ring,
■
Options Reserved for future use or for
X.25 networks, and dial-up connections. It
special options as defined by the protocol.
is a routable protocol, so datagrams can be
■
Padding Ensures that the header ends on sent over specific routes, and it has reliable
a 32-bit boundary. and efficient data-delivery mechanisms.
The data immediately follow this header TCP/IP uses a common expandable address-
information. ing scheme, so any system can address any
See also Internet Protocol; Transmission other system, even in a network as large as
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol; User the Internet, and new networks can be added
Datagram Protocol. without service disruptions.
The popularity that the TCP/IP family of
Transmission Control Protocol/ protocols enjoys today did not arise just be-
Internet Protocol Abbreviated TCP/IP. cause the protocols were available or even
A set of communications protocols first de- because the U.S. government mandated
veloped by the Defense Advanced Research their use. They are popular because they are
Projects Agency (DARPA) in the late 1970s. robust, solid protocols that solve many of
The set of TCP/IP protocols encompasses the most difficult networking problems and
media access, packet transport, session do so in an elegant and efficient way.
communications, file transfer, e-mail, and See also Address Resolution Protocol; File
terminal emulation. Transfer Protocol; Hypertext Transfer Pro-
TCP/IP is a widely published open stan- tocol; Internet Control Message Protocol;
dard, and while completely independent of Internet Mail Access Protocol; Internet Pro-
any specific hardware or software compa- tocol; Post Office Protocol; Simple Mail
ny, it is supported by a huge number of Transfer Protocol; Simple Network Man-
vendors and is available on many different agement Protocol; Telnet; tn3270; User
computers, from PCs to mainframes, run- Datagram Protocol.

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transmission medium

TCP HEADER

TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL/INTERNET PROTOCOL

transmission medium The physical twisted-pair (STP), and unshielded twisted-

cabling used to carry network information, pair (UTP) cabling.
such as fiber-optic, coaxial, shielded

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trusted domain

transmission mode The manner in tionships that share the same namespace,
which communications can take place be- Directory Schema, and Global Catalog.
tween a sender and a receiver. See also Active Directory; Directory Sche-
Several modes are defined, as follows: ma; Global Catalog.
■
Simplex Communications can go in Tree object In Novell Directory Services
only one direction, so the sender can use (NDS), the hierarchical organization of all
the whole of the available bandwidth. the objects on the network into a single
■
Half-duplex Communications can go in structure.
two directions, but only in one direction See also container object; Novell Directory
at a time. Services; Organization object.
■
Full-duplex Communications can go in
two directions simultaneously. trellis-coded modulation Abbreviated
TCM. A form of quadrature amplitude
■
Echo-plex A rare mode in which charac- modulation used in modems that operate at
ters are retransmitted to the sender for 9600 bits per second or higher. TCM en-
error-checking purposes. codes data as a set of bits associated with
Transmit Data Abbreviated TXD. A both phase and amplitude changes.
hardware signal defined by the RS-232-C Trivial File Transfer Protocol Abbrevi-
standard that carries information from one ated TFTP. A little-used and simplified ver-
device to another. sion of the TCP/IP file transfer protocol that
See also Receive Data. does not include password protection.
Because it has no security associated with it,
transport layer The fourth of seven lay- most system administrators do not support
ers of the OSI Reference Model for comput- its use and recommend File Transfer Proto-
er-to-computer communications. The col instead.
transport layer defines protocols for mes-
See also File Transfer Protocol.
sage structure and supervises the validity of
the transmission by performing some error
Trojan Horse A type of computer virus
checking.
that pretends to be a useful program, such
See also OSI Reference Model. as a game or a utility, to entice you to use it,
when in reality it contains special code that
trap See software interrupt. will intentionally damage any system onto
which it is loaded.
trap door An entry point in a computer
network, through which an intruder can See also logic bomb.
gain access without authentication.
trusted domain In Microsoft Windows
tree In Microsoft Active Directory, a NT Server, a domain that a trusting domain
hierarchy of domains linked via trust rela- will allow to authenticate logons.

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trustee

See also trusting domain; trust the potential to access the whole network.
relationship. Global groups and user accounts defined in
the trusted domain can be assigned rights
trustee In Novell NetWare, a user or and permissions in a trusting domain, even
group object that has been granted rights to though those accounts do not exist in the
work with a directory, an object, or a file. trusting domain’s directory database.
See also Public trustee; trustee assignment. See also authentication; pass-through
authentication; trusted domain; trusting
trustee assignment In Novell Net-
domain; user account.
Ware, a mechanism that determines how a
user can access an object, a directory, or a TSAPI See Telephony Services API.
file. Also known as trustee rights.
TSAT See T1 small aperture terminal.
For example, trustee rights regulate wheth-
er a user can read a file, change it, change its TSR See terminate-and-stay-resident
name, delete it, or control other users’ trust- program.
ee rights to it. Trustee rights are assigned to
TTL See time to live.
individual users, and one user’s rights can
be different from another user’s rights to TTS See Transaction Tracking System.
the same directory
tunneling The encapsulation of one pro-
See also Public trustee; trustee.
tocol within another, often used to trans-
port a local-area network protocol across a
trustee rights See trustee assignment.
backbone that does not support that partic-
trusting domain In Microsoft Win- ular protocol.
dows NT Server, a domain that lets users Tunneling is also used to create pseudo-
and groups in the trusted domain use its connections across connectionless net-
resources. works such as the Internet and may be re-
See also trusted domain; trust relationship. ferred to as protocol encapsulation or
synchronous pass-through.
trust relationship In Microsoft Win-
See also encapsulation; Point-to-Point
dows NT Server, a link between domains
Tunneling Protocol.
that allows pass-through authentication, in
which a trusting domain allows the logon twinaxial cable A cable with two coaxi-
authentication of a trusted domain. al cables inside a single insulating shield.
With the right trust relationships, a user Twinaxial cable is used with IBM AS/400
with one user account in one domain has minicomputers.

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Type 1–9 cable

TWINAXIAL CABLE

twisted-pair cable Abbreviated TP. Ca- See also on-line transaction processing; roll
ble that comprises two or more pairs of in- back; roll forward; transaction processing.
sulated wires twisted together, at six twists
two-way transitive trust In Microsoft
per inch.
Windows 2000 Server, an automatic trust
In twisted-pair cable, one wire carries the relationship created between two Windows
signal and the other is grounded. The cable 2000 domains.
may be shielded or unshielded. Telephone If domain A trusts domain B, and domain B
wire installed in modern buildings is often trusts domain C, then domain A trusts do-
twisted-pair wiring. main C, and domain C also trusts domain
A. In Windows NT, all trust relationships
two-phase commit A method used in were created and managed manually.
transaction processing to ensure data is
See also downlevel trust; explicit trust;
posted to shared databases correctly by di- shortcut trust;
viding the writing of data into two steps.
TXD See Transmit Data.
Each of the steps must receive a verification
of completeness from the shared databases; Type 1–9 cable IBM Cabling System
otherwise, the transaction-processing sys- specifications, as follows:
tem rolls back the transaction and tries ■
Type 1 Shielded, twisted, dual-pair
again. cable with 22-gauge solid conductors

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type-ahead buffer

and a braided shield. Used with Token ■

Type 9 Shielded, dual-pair, plenum ca-
Ring networks. ble with solid or braided conductors and
■
Type 2 Two-pair, shielded cable with a fire-resistant outer coating, for use be-
solid conductors and a braided shield. tween floors in a building.
Type 2 also includes four pairs of un- See also American Wire Gauge; cabling
shielded voice-grade lines, giving a total standards; plenum cable; riser cable; struc-
of six pairs in the same sheath. tured wiring.
■
Type 3 Four unshielded, solid, twisted
pairs, used for voice or data. IBM’s vari- type-ahead buffer See keyboard buffer.
ant of twisted-pair telephone wire.
typefull naming In Novell Directory
■
Type 4 No published specification. Services (NDS), a formal method used to
■
Type 5 Dual 100/140 micron fiber-optic name objects that includes name types for
cable; IBM now recommends 125-micron each part of the name. For example,
fiber-optic cable, which is the current in- .CN=Gary.OU=Marketing.O=Sybex.
dustry standard for fiber-optic cable.
See also typeless naming.
■
Type 6 Shielded, two-pair, braided ca-
ble used for patch cables. Type 6 is more typeless naming In Novell Directory
flexible than Type 1 cable. Services (NDS), a common method used to
■
Type 7 No published specification. name objects that does not include name
types for each part of the name. For exam-
■
Type 8 Shielded, dual-pair cable with
ple, .Gary.Marketing.Sybex.
no twists, housed in a flat jacket; com-
monly used under carpets. See also typefull naming.

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unicast

U
UART See universal asynchronous unauthorized access To gain entry to a
receiver/transmitter. computer system using a stolen or guessed
password.
UBR See Unspecified Bit Rate.
See also hacker; intruder.
UDP See User Datagram Protocol.
unbundled software 1. Software sold
Ultra SCSI An extension of the SCSI-2
with a computer system that is priced sep-
standard that increases the data-transfer
arately, rather than included as part of a
rate to 20Mbps independent of the bus
package.
width. Ultra SCSI supports four to eight de-
vices depending on cable type and length. 2. A feature in an application repackaged
and sold by itself at a lower price.
See also SCSI-2; Small Computer System
Interface. See also bundled software.

Ultra2 SCSI An extension of the SCSI-2 UNC See Universal Naming

standard that increases the data transfer Convention.
rate to 40Mbps over an 8-bit bus. Ultra2
uncompress The process of restoring a
SCSI supports a maximum of 8 devices.
compressed file to its original form.
See also SCSI-2; Small Computer System
Interface. See also unzip.

Ultra Wide SCSI An extension of the undelete To recover an accidentally de-

SCSI-2 standard that increases the data- leted file. Many operating systems include
transfer rate to 80Mbps over a 16-bit bus. commands you can use to recover a deleted
Ultra2 SCSI supports a maximum of 16 file; however, once the file has been over-
devices. written on your hard disk by a new file, the
original is lost, and the only way to get it
See also SCSI-2; Small Computer System
back is to reload it from a recent backup.
Interface.
See also file recovery.
Ultrix A version of Unix from Digital
Equipment Corporation that looks and unicast The broadcast of individual au-
works like BSD Unix. dio or video signals from a server to indi-
vidual clients to provide an on-demand
See also BSD Unix.
video service.
UMB See upper memory block. See also IP multicast; multicast.

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Unicode

Unicode A 16-bit character code, de- keywords, prices, a copyright statement, or

fined by the Unicode Consortium and by even a digital certificate, along with their
ISO 10646, that supports a maximum of associated Uniform Resource Identifiers.
65,536 unique characters rather than the
See also Uniform Resource Identifier; Uni-
256 characters available in the current form Resource Locator.
ASCII character set.

By using two bytes to represent each char- Uniform Resource Identifier Abbrevi-
acter, Unicode allows almost all the world’s ated URI. In the HTTP message header, a set
written languages to be represented in a sin- of characters that identifies a resource such
gle character set; for example, the Chinese as a file from anywhere on the Internet.
language defines almost 10,000 basic ideo- The URI includes Uniform Resource
graphs. When universally adopted, Uni- Names and Uniform Resource Locators to
code will make multilingual software much identify the file by type and location.
easier to write and maintain.
See also Uniform Resource Name;
Products such as Novell NetWare and Uniform Resource Locator.
Microsoft Windows NT provide Unicode
support. Uniform Resource Locator Abbreviat-
See also American Standard Code for In-
ed URL. An address for a resource on the
Internet.
formation Interchange; double-byte char-
acter set; Extended Binary Coded Decimal URLs are used as a linking mechanism be-
Interchange Code. tween Web pages and as a method for Web
browsers to access Web pages.
Uniform Resource Characteristic Ab-
A URL specifies the protocol to be used to
breviated URC. A mechanism designed to
access the resource (such as HTTP or FTP),
provide additional information about an
the name of the server where the resource is
Internet site or a Web page.
located (as in www.sybex.com), the path to
A URC lists pairs of attributes and their val- that resource (as in /catalog), and the name
ues and might contain author information, of the document to open (/index.html).

UNIFORM RESOURCE LOCATOR

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Universal Serial Bus

Uniform Resource Name Abbreviated universal asynchronous receiver/

URN. A proposal from the IETF (Internet transmitter Abbreviated UART; pro-
Engineering Task Force) for a naming nounced “you-art.” An electronic module
scheme that will identify Internet resources that combines the transmitting and receiv-
by name, irrespective of where they are ing circuitry needed for asynchronous com-
located. munications over a serial line.
See also Uniform Resource Locator. See also asynchronous transmission.

UniForum A nonprofit organization Universal Coordinated Time In Novell

founded in 1980 dedicated to improve Unix NetWare, the standard system time based
through the open exchange of ideas and in- on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
formation between users and developers.
Local time on a NetWare server is defined
Previously known as /usr/group, UniFo- in terms of the difference from GMT; for
rum has several hundred thousand mem- example, Pacific Standard Time is GMT
bers in many countries throughout the minus eight hours.
world.
Universal Naming Convention Abbre-
uninterruptible power supply Abbre- viated UNC. In Microsoft Windows NT
viated UPS; pronounced “you-pea-ess.” An Server, a scheme used to gain access to a
alternative power source, usually consisting shared resource.
of a set of batteries, used to power a com-
The general form of a UNC is:
puter system if the normal power service is
interrupted or falls below acceptable levels. \\servername\sharename\path\filename

A UPS system is usually applied only to the The servername portion identifies the
most critical devices on the network, such name of the server where the resource is lo-
as servers, routers, gateways, and indepen- cated, and sharename identifies the name of
dent hard disks. They are of two main the shared file resource under which the in-
types: formation has been shared. This is fol-
■
An online UPS continuously monitors and lowed by the path and filename of the
modifies the power flowing through the resource.
unit. If an outage occurs, the UPS contin- Universal Serial Bus Abbreviated USB.
ues to provide regulated power. A standard from Intel and Microsoft for a
■
A standby UPS monitors the AC level, but high-speed peripheral bus designed to re-
only switches in when the power drops be- move the need for almost all the connectors
low a preset level; it contains circuitry ca- on the back of a personal computer.
pable of switching to backup power in 5 USB defines the ports and bus characteristics
milliseconds or less. with data transfer rates of up to 12Mbps
See also power conditioning; UPS over a single cable of up to 5 meters (16 feet).
monitoring. USB is capable of supporting a maximum of

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universal synchronous receiver/transmitter

63 devices such as external CD-ROM drives, they contain no proprietary code, they are
printers, external modems, mice, and the not affected by licensing agreements other
keyboard and also supplies power to some than the GNU General Public License.
devices so there is no need for separate pow- Unix today is a very different animal from
er cords or batteries. Most personal comput- the Unix of the 1980s. A typical system then
ers will have two USB ports. consisted of a minicomputer serving a col-
See also 1394. lection of dumb terminals. Unix today is
more likely to be a graphical workstation
universal synchronous receiver/ on a network or a Web server on the Inter-
transmitter Abbreviated USRT. An elec- net and is a large and complicated commer-
tronic module that combines the transmitting cial offering, serving a wide range of
and receiving circuitry needed for synchro- applications.
nous communications over a serial line.
See also Advanced Interactive Executive;
See also synchronous transmission. A/UX; Berkeley Unix; BSD Unix; FreeBSD;
Interactive Unix; Linux; NetBSD; SCO
Unix Pronounced “yoo-nix.” A multius- Unix; Solaris; System V Interface Defini-
er, multitasking operating system, original- tion; UnixWare.
ly conceived in 1969 at AT&T’s Bell Labs
by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie. Unix client Any computer running Unix
Since then, Unix has gone on to become the that connects to the network.
most widely used general purpose operat-
Unix shell In Unix, a program that acts
ing system in the world.
as a user interface, interpreting commands
Over the last 25 years, there have been three typed at the keyboard and passing them on
major strands in Unix development: to the operating system.
■
Original AT&T Unix from Versions 1 to The shell sets up standard input, standard
7, and Systems III to V. output, and standard error, lets you cus-
■
Microsoft/SCO XENIX. tomize your Unix session environment, and
gives access to a shell programming lan-
■
Berkeley releases from 1BSD to 4.4BSD.
guage for creating shell scripts.
In addition, a large number of commercial
Some versions of Unix provide only one
Unix-related systems have been released by
shell, while others provide a selection from
developers such as Apple, Digital Equip-
which you can choose to use the one you
ment Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, IBM,
like best.
SCO, Silicon Graphics, and Sun Microsys-
tems. Unix is available on a huge range of Common shells include the following:
hardware, from a PC to a supercomputer. ■
Bourne Very compact and simple to use;
Several free (or almost free) versions of the original Unix shell.
Unix are available in the Intel world, in- ■
Korn Perhaps the most popular shell;
cluding Linux, FreeBSD, and NetBSD; since an upward compatible extension to the

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unsubscribe

Bourne shell with a history file, command- ated newsgroups to be wildly spontaneous,
line editing, aliases, and job control. but they may also contain more than their
share of flames and flame wars.
■
C The first BSD shell, the C shell uses
C-like syntax and offers a history mecha- See also alt newsgroups; moderated
nism, aliasing, and job control. newsgroup.
■
Bash The Bourne-again shell from the
unshielded cable Any cable not pro-
Free Software Foundation extends the ca-
tected from electromagnetic interference
pabilities of the Bourne shell in a similar
or radio frequency interference (RFI) by an
way to the Korn shell.
outer foil shield.
■
Rc A small, compact, and elegant shell
with a strong C flavor but without com- unshielded twisted-pair cable Abbre-
mand-line editing and job control. viated UTP. Cable that contains two or
more pairs of twisted copper wires.
■
Tcsh An enhanced version of the C
The greater the number of twists, the lower
shell.
the crosstalk. UTP is offered in both voice
■
Zsh A large shell that seems to offer all grade and data grade. The advantages of
the features available in all the other UTP include ease of installation and low cost
shells. of materials. Its drawbacks are limited sig-
See also Bash shell; Bourne shell; C shell; naling speeds and shorter maximum cable-
Korn shell. segment lengths.
See also crosstalk; shielded twisted-pair
UnixWare A release of the Unix operat- cable.
ing system, originally from Novell, now
available from SCO. Unspecified Bit Rate Abbreviated
UnixWare is a 64-bit operating system that UBR. A type of Asynchronous Transfer
combines SCO’s OpenServer system with Mode (ATM) service that provides spare
previous versions of UnixWare and in- bandwidth to noncritical services such as
cludes Netscape’s FastTrack Server for file transfers.
Web site creation. A separate software de- See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode;
velopment kit, which includes a C/C++ Available Bit Rate; Constant Bit Rate; Vari-
compiler, a debugger, and other develop- able Bit Rate.
ment tools, is also available.
unsubscribe To remove the name of a
See also Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
Usenet newsgroup from the list of news-
unmoderated newsgroup A Usenet groups maintained by your newsreader. If
newsgroup or mailing list in which posts are you change your mind, you can always sub-
not subject to review before distribution. scribe to the newsgroup again in the future.
You will find the discussions in unmoder- See also newsgroup; subscribe.

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unzip

UNSHIELDED TWISTED-PAIR CABLE

unzip The process of uncompressing an other systems, replacing the main processor
archive created by PKZIP, WinZip, com- can be extremely difficult.
press, or gzip.
upgrade 1. The process of installing a
See also uncompress.
newer and more powerful version of a
software or hardware product. For exam-
update sequence number Abbreviat-
ple, you may upgrade to a newer and more
ed USN. In Microsoft Active Directory, a
capable version of a software package, such
unique 16-bit number used to track updates
as Microsoft Word, or to a larger hard disk.
to Active Directory properties.
In the case of hardware, an upgrade is often
upgradable computer A computer sys- called an upgrade kit.
tem specifically designed to be upgraded as
2. A new and more powerful version of soft-
technology advances.
ware (a noun referring to the improved
The amount of circuitry that must be software itself).
changed when you make the upgrade and
the method of upgrading differ from one uplink The transmission of information
upgradable computer to another. At a min- from an earth station to a communications
imum, you must replace the processor; at satellite.
most, you need to change nearly all the cir- See also downlink.
cuitry installed in the computer. In some
systems, the use of a ZIF socket to hold the upload In communications, sending a file
main processor makes an upgrade easy; in or files from one computer to another over

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Usenet newsgroups

a network or via a modem. For example, URC See Uniform Resource

you might upload a file to a network server. Characteristic.
See also download. URI See Uniform Resource Identifier.

UPN See user principal name. URL See Uniform Resource Locator.

URN See Uniform Resource Name.

upper memory See reserved memory.
USB See Universal Serial Bus.
upper memory block Abbreviated
UMB. The memory between 640KB and Usenet Contraction of user network;
1MB in a personal computer running sometimes written as UseNet or USENET,
MS-DOS. This area was originally re- pronounced “yooz-net.” An international,
served for system and video use; however, noncommercial network, linking many
not all the space is used. The unused por- thousands of Unix sites.
tions are the UMBs. Although there is a very close relationship
With an Intel 80386 (or later) processor, as between the Internet and Usenet, they are
much as 120KB of additional memory can not the same thing by any means. Usenet
be gained by accessing UMBs. This space predates the Internet; in the early days, in-
can be used to load device drivers and formation was distributed by dial-up con-
terminate-and-stay-resident programs. nections and UUCP software. Not every
Internet computer is part of Usenet, and not
UPS See uninterruptible power supply. every Usenet system can be reached from
the Internet.
UPS monitoring The process that a
server uses to make sure that an attached Like the Internet, Usenet has no central gov-
UPS (uninterruptible power supply) system erning body; it is run by the people who use
is functioning properly. it. With tens of thousands of newsgroups,
Usenet is accessed by millions of people ev-
See also power conditioning. ery day, in more than 100 countries.
See also Usenet newsgroups.
uptime The length or percentage of time
during which a computer system is func- Usenet articles An individual e-mail
tioning and available for use. message sent to a Usenet newsgroup.
See also downtime; power-on hours.
Usenet newsgroups The individual
discussion groups within Usenet.
upward compatibility The design of
software that incorporates the capability to Usenet newsgroups contain articles posted
function with other, more powerful prod- by Internet and Usenet subscribers; very
ucts likely to become available in the near few of them actually contain hard news.
future. Adherence to design standards Most newsgroups are concerned with a
makes upward compatibility possible. single subject, and the range of subjects

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user

throughout Usenet is simply phenomenal; Some PC user groups hold large, well-
if people are interested in a topic, you will attended monthly meetings, run their own
find a newsgroup for that topic. Web sites, and publish newsletters of excep-
tional quality.
user Any person allowed to access a com-
puter system or network. See also special interest group.

user account A security mechanism User Manager for Domains In Mi-

used to control access to a network or to a crosoft Windows NT Server, an adminis-
multiuser computer system, established and trative tool used to manage accounts,
maintained by the network administrator. groups, and security policies throughout
Elements of a user account include pass- the domain.
word information, rights and permissions, See also user rights policies.
and information about the groups to which
the user belongs. User object In Novell Directory Services
(NDS), an object that represents a user with
User Datagram Protocol Abbreviated
access to the network.
UDP. The connectionless, transport-level
protocol used in the TCP/IP suite of proto- See also Leaf object; Organization object;
cols, usually bundled with IP-layer soft- Root object; user template.
ware. Because UDP does not add overhead,
as does connection-oriented TCP, UDP is user principal name Abbreviated
often used with SNMP (Simple Network UPN. In Microsoft Active Directory, a
Management Protocol) applications. name for a user. UPN consists of the user’s
logon name and the Domain Name Service
Multicast applications, such as Mbone and
(DNS) name of the domain where the user
the Real-time Transport Protocol, that de-
object resides, separated by an at sign. For
liver audio and video streams use UDP as
example, billg@microsoft.com.
their delivery mechanism because the ac-
knowledgment and retransmission services user rights policies In Microsoft Win-
offered by TCP are not needed and add too dows NT Server, a mechanism used to de-
much overhead. If a packet of audio data is termine the rights that users and groups
lost, retransmission is neither practical nor possess when trying to perform network
desirable. tasks. User rights policies are administered
See also multicast backbone; Real-time
by the User Manager for Domains tool.
Transport Protocol; Transmission Control See also User Manager for Domains.
Protocol.
user template In Novell Directory
user group A group of users of a specific Services (NDS), a special User object that
computer or software package who meet to assigns default property values and rights
share tips and listen to industry experts. when a new user is created.

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uuencode

A user template speeds up the process of available on many systems, particularly

creating a large number of new users at the Linux.
same time, especially if these users share de- See also Network News Transport
tails such as locations, account restrictions, Protocol.
and so on.
uudecode Pronounced “you-you-de-
See also User object.
code.”
USN See update sequence number. 1. To convert a text file created by the Unix
uuencode utility back into its original bina-
U.S. Robotics Corporation A major ry form. Graphical images and other binary
manufacturer of modems and creator of the files are often sent to Usenet newsgroups in
PalmPilot personal digital assistant; merged this form, because the newsgroups can only
with 3Com Corporation in 1998 in one of handle text and don’t know how to manage
the largest deals in telecommunications- binary files.
industry history. 2. The name of the utility program that
For more information on U.S. Robotics performs a text-to-binary file conversion.
Corporation, see www.usr.com. Originally a Unix utility, uudecode is now
available for most operating systems.
USRT See universal synchronous
See also uucp; uuencode.
receiver/transmitter.
uuencode Pronounced “you-you-
UTP See unshielded twisted-pair cable.
en-code.”
uucp Pronounced “you-you-cee-pee.” A 1. To convert a binary file such as a graph-
standard set of Unix utilities used to manage ical image into a text file so that the file can
the transmission of information between be sent over the Internet or to a Usenet
Unix systems and to Usenet newsgroups, us- newsgroup as a part of an e-mail message.
ing serial connections and regular telephone When you receive a uuencoded text file, you
lines. The name is derived from “Unix-to- must process it through the Unix uudecode
Unix copy.” utility to turn it back into a graphical image
that you can view.
These utilities were originally developed by
Mike Lesk at Bell Labs in the 1970s, and a 2. The name of the utility that performs a
version known as HoneyDanBer uucp was binary-to-text file conversion. Originally a
developed in the 1980s by P. Honeyman, D. Unix utility, uuencode is now available for
A. Nowitz, and B. E. Redman. An even most operating systems.
newer version, known as Taylor uucp, is See also uucp; uudecode.

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V.17

V
V.17 A CCITT (ITU) Group 3 fax mod- includes the disabling of echo suppression
ulation standard for transmitting fax data on manually dialed calls.
at up to 14,400bps, with a fallback to
12,000bps as line conditions deteriorate. V.25 bis A CCITT (ITU) standard for au-
tomatic calling and answering circuits over
V.21 A CCITT (ITU) standard for dial-up lines with three modes: asynchro-
300bps modems using full-duplex trans- nous, character-oriented synchronous, and
mission over dial-up lines. This standard is bit-oriented synchronous (HDLC/SDLC).
not compatible with the Bell 103 standard V.25 bis does not include modem configu-
widely used in the United States. ration commands.

V.22 A CCITT (ITU) standard for 600bps V.26 A CCITT (ITU) standard for
and 1200bps full-duplex modems over two- 1200bps, full-duplex modems used over
wire, dial-up, or leased lines. V.22 uses four-wire leased lines.
phase-shift keying modulation.
V.26 bis A CCITT (ITU) standard for
V.22 bis A CCITT (ITU) standard for 1200bps and 2400bps full-duplex modems
2400bps full-duplex modems over dial-up used on dial-up lines.
and two-wire leased lines, with fallback to
V.27 A CCITT (ITU) standard for
1200bps and then 600bps operation. V.22
4800bps, full-duplex modems used with
bis uses quadrature amplitude modulation.
four-wire leased lines, with a manual
V.23 A CCITT (ITU) standard for 600bps equalizer.
or 1200bps synchronous or asynchronous
V.27 bis A CCITT (ITU) standard for
half-duplex modems used on dial-up lines.
2400bps or 4800bps, full-duplex modems
V.24 A CCITT (ITU) definition of the in- used with four-wire leased lines. The main
terface between a modem and a computer advance over V.27 is the addition of an au-
system. V.24 is functionally equivalent to tomatic adaptive equalizer for use on leased
the RS-232-C standard, but does not spec- circuits.
ify connectors or pin assignments; those are V.27 ter A CCITT (ITU) standard for
defined in ISO 2110. 2400bps or 4800bps, full-duplex modems
used with dial-up lines. Used in some
V.25 A CCITT (ITU) standard for auto-
CCITT Group 3 fax transmissions.
matic calling and answering circuits over
dial-up lines using a parallel interface. V.25 See also CCITT Groups 1–4.

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V.90

V.29 A CCITT (ITU) standard for over four-wire, leased circuits, with time-
9600bps modems used with point-to- division multiplexing available for line
point, four-wire leased lines. This standard sharing.
has been adopted for CCITT Group 3 fax
V.34 A CCITT (ITU) standard for
transmissions over dial-up lines at
28.8Kbps modems using trellis-coded
9600bps and 7200bps.
modulation techniques and advanced data
See also CCITT Groups 1–4.
compression.
V.32 A CCITT (ITU) standard for See also V.fast.
9600bps modems, with fallback to 4800bps,
used over two-wire, dial-up lines or two- V.42 A CCITT (ITU) standard for error
wire or four-wire leased lines, with echo can- correction rather than for a modem. V.42
celing to remove any telephone-line echo, uses LAP-M (Link Access Procedure-
and quadrature amplitude modulation. Modem) as the primary error-correcting
protocol, with MNP (Microcom Network-
V.32 encodes four data bits for each baud to
ing Protocol) classes 2 through 4 as an
give an effective throughput of 9600bps and
alternative.
includes trellis-coded modulation error-
correcting techniques. V.32 is the first stan- V.42 can be used with V.22, V.22 bis, V.26
dard for 9600bps modems using standard ter, V.32, and V.32 bis.
lines anywhere in the world.
V.42 bis A CCITT (ITU) standard that
V.32 bis A CCITT (ITU) standard ex- adds a British Telecom Lempel-Ziv data-
tending V.32 to 7200, 12,000, and 14,400 compression technique to V.42 error cor-
bits per second. V.32 bis uses trellis-coded rection, usually capable of achieving a com-
modulation. pression ratio of 3.5 to 1.

V.32 terbo A pseudo-standard proposed V.54 A CCITT (ITU) standard that spec-
by AT&T and others that supports trans- ifies the loopback tests incorporated into
mission at up to 19, 200bps. modems for testing the telephone circuit
The name is a pun and does not represent an and isolating any transmission problems.
ITU standard; the next revision of the V.32
V.56 bis A CCITT (ITU) standard that
standard after V.32 bis will be V.32 ter, and
defines a network transmission model used
V.32 terbo has been replaced by the ITU
to evaluate modem performance over two-
standard V.34.
wire voice-grade circuits.
See also V.fast.
V.90 A CCITT (ITU) standard for mo-
V.33 A CCITT (ITU) standard for dems; also known as the 56K modem
12,000bps and 14,400bps modems used standard. V.90 describes an asymmetric

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V.110

connection, with theoretical speeds of up to amount of code to an existing file, the vac-
56Kbps downstream and an upstream con- cine program causes an alert to be generat-
nection rate of up to 33.6Kbps. ed if a virus does attack.
V.90 modems attain their high speed by See also antivirus program; boot sector
assuming the circuit is a digital circuit and virus; file-infecting virus; infection; mac-
reducing the number of analog-to-digital ro virus; multipart virus; polymorphic
conversions they perform, except for the virus; stealth virus; Trojan Horse; virus.
conversion that takes place for outbound
traffic at the user’s modem. Value Added Network Abbreviated
VAN. Commercially available turn-key
Whether you actually achieve these rates data networks from companies such as
depends on the quality of the phone line and CompuServe, GE Information Services, and
the distance to the local telephone company Infonet Services Corporation.
central office. If the other end of the con-
nection is not digital, the modem switches VANs are available on a leased-line or a
into full analog mode at 28.8 or 33.6Kbps. dial-up rate and save an organization the
trouble of setting up the equipment and
In order to reduce crosstalk between adja- contracting for the lines and service. VANs
cent lines, the FCC has placed restrictions can also provide additional services such as
on maximum signal strength levels, and so message routing, resource management,
54Kbps is the theoretical maximum data and protocol-conversion services.
rate.
value-added process Abbreviated
See also K56Flex; X2.
VAP. In Novell NetWare 2.x, an applica-
tion that adds functions to the network op-
V.110 A CCITT (ITU) standard that
erating system, such as print server or
specifies how DTE (data terminal equip-
communications server software.
ment) using synchronous or asynchronous
serial interfaces is supported on an ISDN NetWare Loadable Modules (NLMs) pro-
(Integrated Services Digital Network). vide a similar function in later versions of
NetWare.
V.120 A CCITT (ITU) standard that
See also Virtual Loadable Module.
specifies how DTE (data terminal equip-
ment) using synchronous or asynchronous value-added reseller Abbreviated
serial interfaces is supported on an ISDN VAR. A company that adds value to a sys-
(Integrated Services Digital Network) using tem, repackages it, and then resells it to the
a protocol to encapsulate the transmitted public.
data.
This added value can take the form of better
vaccine A utility program designed to documentation, user support, service sup-
protect files from viruses. By adding a small port, system integration, or sometimes just a

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Vendor Independent Messaging

new nameplate on the box. For example, for non-real-time VBR applications such as
Canon makes the print engine used in many transaction processing.
laser printers, including those from Hewlett- See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode;
Packard (HP); in this case, Canon is an OEM Available Bit Rate; Constant Bit Rate; Un-
(original equipment manufacturer) and HP specified Bit Rate.
is the VAR.
VAX Digital Equipment Corporation’s
value entry In Microsoft Windows, the
(DEC’s) popular line of minicomputers and
actual data in the Registry, stored in the
workstations, first introduced in 1977.
keys. Each value entry has a name, a data
type (which determines the length and the See also DECnet; VMS.
format of the value), and the value itself.
VBA See Visual Basic for Applications.
See also hive; key; Registry; sub-hive;
sub-key; volatile key. VBR See Variable Bit Rate.

VBScript A version of Microsoft Visual

values In Novell Directory Services Basic used as a scripting language in Mi-
(NDS), the actual data stored in the prop- crosoft Internet Explorer Web browser and
erties of an NDS object. Properties can have in Microsoft Internet Information Server.
more than one value; some are required,
See also scripting.
and others are optional.

vampire tap A connector used to connect VCC See Virtual Channel Connection.
one cable segment to another. A needle on VCI See Virtual Channel Identifier.
the connector pierces the cable insulation to
make a connection to the wire within. VDSL See Very-High-Bit-Rate Digital
Subscriber Line.
VAN See Value Added Network.
vector graphics See object-oriented
VAP See value-added process. graphics.

vaporware A slang term for a product vendor The person or company that
that has been announced but has missed its manufactures, supplies, or sells computer
release date, often by a large margin, and so hardware, software, or related services.
is not actually available. Vendor Independent Messaging
VAR See value-added reseller. Abbreviated VIM. An e-mail API
originally developed by Lotus, and
Variable Bit Rate Abbreviated VBR. A supported by Apple, IBM, MCI, Novell,
connection-oriented Asynchronous Trans- and Oracle and other e-mail vendors.
fer Mode service for real-time applications Developers use VIM to add e-mail
for which minor data loss is acceptable, and capabilities to their applications.

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version number

Microsoft supports its own e-mail API, Very-High-Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber

Messaging API (MAPI), and a VIM-to- Line Abbreviated VDSL. A higher-speed
MAPI dynamic link library makes it possi- version of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber
ble to exchange messages between the two Line (ADSL).
interfaces.
VDSL is asymmetrical with a higher down-
See also Messaging API. stream data-transfer rate than its upstream
rate. Upstream rates can be from 1.6Mbps
version number A method of identify- to 2.3Mbps, and downstream rates range
ing a particular software or hardware re- from 12.96Mbps to 51.84Mbps, depend-
lease, assigned by the developer, that often ing on the distance involved.
includes numbers before and after a deci- See also Asymmetric Digital Subscriber
mal point; the higher the number, the more Line; Digital Subscriber Line; High-
recent the release. Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Line; Rate-
The number before the decimal point indi- Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line; Single-
cates the major revision levels (as in Mi- Line Digital Subscriber Line.
crosoft Windows NT 3 and Windows NT 4),
and the part after the decimal indicates a mi- very low-frequency emission Abbre-
nor revision level (as in Windows NT 3.5 viated VLF. Radiation emitted by a com-
and Windows NT 3.51). In some cases, a mi- puter monitor and other common
nor revision can produce a significant differ- household electrical appliances, such as
ence in performance. televisions, hair dryers, electric blankets,
and food processors.
Many people steer clear of any release la-
beled 1.0, because this number implies the VLF emissions range from 2 to 400kHz and
first release of a product that may not have decline with the square of the distance from
had extensive real-world use. Microsoft has the source. Emissions are not constant
avoided this issue with the release of Win- around a computer monitor; they are high-
dows systems tied to the year, as in Win- er from the sides and rear, and weakest
dows 98 and Office 2000. from the front of the screen.
Sweden is the only country to have defined
vertical application An application spe-
a set of standards for monitor emissions. In
cifically created for a narrow and special-
1990, Mat Oct Provadet (MPR), the Swed-
ized market or profession. Software ish National Board for Meteorology and
designed for veterinary hospital manage- Testing, revised its guidelines for acceptable
ment is an example of a vertical application. VLF emissions as less than or equal to 25
nanoTesla (nT). A nanoTesla is a unit of
vertical bar The | symbol. Used in Unix
measurement for small magnetic fields.
and in other operating systems to pipe the
output of one command into the input of See also extremely low-frequency emis-
another. sion; radio frequency interference.

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Video Electronics Standards Association

very small aperture terminal Abbrevi- vi A popular Unix screen editor, original-
ated VSAT. A small satellite terminal used ly written by Bill Joy as part of the BSD
for digital communications, from 1 to 3 Unix systems. Pronounced “vee-eye.”
meters (3.3 to 10 feet) in diameter, capable
video adapter An adapter that provides
of managing digital transmissions of up to
the text and graphics output to the moni-
56Kbps. Satellites that can handle T1 data
tor. Some later video adapters, such as the
rates of up to 1.544Mbps are known as
SVGA, are included in the circuitry on the
TSATs.
motherboard rather than as separate plug-
VESA See Video Electronics Standards in boards.
Association.
video conferencing A method used to
VESA local bus Abbreviated VL bus; allow people at remote locations to join
also known as VL local bus. A local bus in a conference and share information.
architecture introduced by VESA (Video Originally done with analog video and ex-
Electronics Standards Association), in which pensive satellite links, video conferencing
as many as three VL bus adapter slots are is now performed with compressed digital
built into the motherboard. The VL bus al- video transmitted over a local-area net-
lows for bus mastering. The most common work or the Internet.
VL bus adapters are video adapters, hard- From an application standpoint, video con-
disk controllers, and network interface ferencing has gone way beyond looking at a
cards. picture of a person; users can look at and
See also Peripheral Component Intercon- update charts, make drawings or sketches
nect local bus; PC Card. on a chalkboard, update spreadsheets, and
so on, all online.
V.everything A marketing term used by A video camera and a speakerphone are
some modem manufacturers to describe mo- linked to a PC at each site, and the PC in
dems that comply with both the K56Flex turn is linked to the network.
and X2 proposed standards as well as with See also CU-SeeMe; desktop video; H.323;
the adopted CCITT (ITU) V.90 standard. Microsoft NetMeeting; T.120.
A V.everything modem should be compat-
ible with any other modem capable of Video Electronics Standards
operating at the same speed. Association Abbreviated VESA. An as-
sociation of video graphics adapter and
V.Fast An interim modem standard for monitor manufacturers that sets standards
uncompressed data-transfer rates of up to for personal computer video. VESA is most
28.8Kbps over dial-up voice-grade phone notable for its role in standardizing Super
lines. Made obsolete by the publication of VGA (SVGA) hardware and the develop-
the CCITT (ITU) V.34 standard. ment of the VESA local bus.
See also V.34. See also VESA local bus.

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video RAM

video RAM Abbreviated VRAM, pro- Virtual Channel Identifier Abbreviat-

nounced “vee-ram.” Special-purpose RAM ed VCI. In an Asynchronous Transfer
with two data paths for access (convention- Mode (ATM) cell header, a 16-bit field used
al RAM has just one). These two paths let to identify virtual channels between users
a VRAM board manage two functions at or between users and networks.
once: refreshing the display and communi-
See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode.
cating with the processor. VRAM does not
require the system to complete one function
virtual circuit A temporary shared com-
before starting the other, so it allows faster
munications path that appears to the user as
operation for the whole video system.
a dedicated connection. A virtual circuit is
viewer An application launched by a maintained only for as long as the customer
Web browser to view a file that the browser requires a connection; the next time a call is
cannot display by itself. Sometimes called a placed, a different virtual circuit may be
helper application. used.

A viewer displays video clips and animation See also bandwidth on demand; perma-
files. nent virtual circuit; switched virtual circuit.

See also helper; player; plug-in.

virtual console A feature found in
Linux, UnixWare, and other operating sys-
ViewSonic Corp. A manufacturer of
tems that allows you to log on to the same
high-performance monitors, flat-panel LCD
terminal as though you were different users.
and LCD projectors, and professional mon-
Also known as a virtual terminal.
itors for CAD/CAM and graphic design.
To open a new virtual console, hold the Alt
For more information on ViewSonic Corp.,
key as you press one of the F1 to F8 function
see www.viewsonic.com.
keys; as you press each function key, you
VIM See Vendor Independent see a new screen complete with its own lo-
Messaging. gin prompt. Each virtual console displays
its output on its own virtual screen.
VINES See Banyan VINES.
virtual data network A method used to
Virtual Channel Connection Abbrevi- provide full interconnection of all LAN seg-
ated VCC. In Asynchronous Transfer ments without using dedicated circuits so
Mode (ATM), a logical connection between that customers pay only for the services
two end stations. A VCC can be either they actually use. Also known as a virtual
switched or dedicated. LAN.
See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode; See also bandwidth on demand; virtual
Virtual Path Connection. circuit.

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Virtual Path Identifier

virtual directory A directory that ap- virtual memory A memory-manage-

pears to a user to be located on the service ment technique that allows information in
they are accessing, but which is actually lo- physical memory to be swapped out to a
cated on a linked server. Virtual directories hard disk if necessary.
are often used on Web servers where they are This technique provides applications with
used to balance the overall load, but still more memory space than is actually avail-
present a single, simple view of the informa- able in the computer. True virtual-memory
tion present. management requires specialized hardware
in the processor for the operating system to
virtual drive See RAM disk.
use; it is not just a matter of writing infor-
virtual LAN See virtual data network. mation out to a swap area on the hard disk
at the application level.
Virtual Loadable Module Abbreviated In a virtual memory system, programs and
VLM. A Novell NetWare modular pro- their data are divided into smaller pieces
gram that runs on each MS-DOS client and called pages. When more memory is needed,
allows that workstation to communicate the operating system decides which pages
with the server. are least likely to be needed soon (using an
The NetWare DOS Requester consists of algorithm based on frequency of use, most
several VLMs that replace and provide recent use, and program priority), and it
backward compatibility with the NetWare writes these pages out to disk. The memory
shells used in earlier versions of NetWare. space that they used is now available to the
rest of the system for other applications.
See also NetWare DOS Requester; Net- When these pages are needed again, they are
Ware Loadable Module. loaded back into real memory, displacing
other pages.
virtual machine An environment creat-
See also permanent swap file; swapping;
ed by the operating system that gives each
swap space.
executing application the illusion that it has
complete control of an independent com- Virtual Path Connection Abbreviated
puter and can access all the system resourc- VPC. In Asynchronous Transfer Mode
es that it needs. (ATM), a set of logical Virtual Channel
For example, the Intel 80386 (and higher) Connections (VCCs) between two end sta-
processor can run multiple MS-DOS appli- tions. All channels in a specific VPC con-
cations in completely separate and protect- nect the same two end stations.
ed address spaces using virtual 8086 mode. See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode;
Virtual Channel Connection.
In the Java environment, a Java applet ex-
ecutes inside the Java Virtual Machine.
Virtual Path Identifier Abbreviated
See also Java Virtual Machine. VPI. In an Asynchronous Transfer Mode

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Virtual Private Network

(ATM) cell header, an 8-bit field used to network protocols, including SDLC (Syn-
identify virtual paths between users or be- chronous Data Link Control) and Token
tween users and networks. Ring.
See also Asynchronous Transfer Mode. virtual terminal See virtual console.
Virtual Private Network Abbreviated virus A program intended to damage a
VPN. Originally, a private network for voice computer system without the user’s knowl-
and data built from traditional carrier ser- edge or permission.
vices. More recently, a VPN is an encrypted
A virus clones itself from disk to disk or
private tunnel across the Internet.
from system to system over a network.
Virtual Reality Modeling Language Numbers are hard to come by, but certain
Abbreviated VRML. A specification and authorities claim that there are approxi-
file format for three-dimensional rendering mately 30,000 known viruses, with 400
used in conjunction with Web browsers and new ones appearing each month.
that uses existing Web protocols and works A virus may attach itself to a program or to
within the Internet framework. the partition table or boot track on a hard
VRML is a subset of Silicon Graphics’ In- disk. When a certain event occurs, a date
ventor File Format, created by Mark Pesce passes, or a specific program executes, the
and Tony Parisi in 1994. virus is triggered into action.

virtual root The root directory that a See also boot sector virus; file-infecting vi-
user sees when connected to a Web server. rus; macro virus; multipart virus; polymor-
phic virus; stealth virus; Trojan Horse;
The virtual root is an alias to an actual lo-
vaccine.
cation on a hard disk, either on the Web
server or on a different server. This tech- Visual Basic for Applications Abbrevi-
nique allows one URL to represent the Web ated VBA. A version of Microsoft Visual Ba-
site, while, at the same time, allowing the sic included with Microsoft Windows 98
Webmaster to change the root directory applications such as Excel; it is used to write
without affecting the URL. everything from simple macros to complex
See also Uniform Resource Locator. custom applications.

Virtual Telecommunications Access VL bus See VESA local bus.

Method Abbreviated VTAM. IBM soft-
VLF See very low-frequency emission.
ware that runs on a mainframe computer
running the MVS or VM operating system. VL local bus See VESA local bus.
VTAM controls communications in an VLM See Virtual Loadable Module.
SNA (Systems Network Architecture)
environment. VTAM supports a range of VM See virtual machine.

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VSAT

VMS A 32-bit, multiuser, multitasking, often referred to by name, uses the term vol-
virtual memory operating system from Dig- ume name instead.
ital Equipment Corporation (DEC) for the
VAX line of computers. volume name See volume label.

See also DECnet; VAX. volume reference number See

volume serial number.
voice mail A computerized store-and-
forward system for voice messages. volume serial number In several oper-
ating systems, a unique number assigned to
A voice-mail system uses prerecorded mes-
a disk during the formatting process. This
sages to route the caller to the correct person,
number is displayed at the beginning of a di-
department, or mailbox and then digitizes
rectory listing. The MacOS assigns a similar
the incoming messages and stores them on
number, known as a volume reference num-
disk for review by the recipient. Users can of-
ber, that programs can use when referring
ten forward voice-mail messages to another
to disks.
department or person after attaching their
own comments. volume spanning In Novell NetWare, a
See also electronic mail. mechanism that allows a volume to include
several physical hard disks.
volatile key In Microsoft Windows, a See also volume.
Registry key whose contents are construct-
ed at the time the system boots, rather than VPC See Virtual Path Connection.
being permanently stored in a hive file.
VPI See Virtual Path Identifier.
See also hive; key; Registry; sub-hive; sub-
key; value entry. VP/ix An MS-DOS emulation package
from Sun Microsystems that allows you to
volume In the Novell networking world, access programs and data files under the MS-
a volume is the highest level of the file server DOS partition and use them in the Unix en-
directory and file structure. vironment as a task under Unix. To the user,
Large hard disks can be divided into several the sessions look exactly as they would if you
volumes when the network operating sys- changed partitions and booted MS-DOS.
tem is first installed, and with volume span-
VPN See Virtual Private Network.
ning, volumes can include multiple physical
drives. VRAM See video RAM.
volume label In many operating sys- VRML See Virtual Reality Modeling
tems, the name assigned to a disk by the us- Language.
er, displayed on the first line of a directory
listing. The Macintosh, on which disks are VSAT See very small aperture terminal.

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VT-52, VT-100, VT-200

VT-52, VT-100, VT-200 A series of asyn- terminal-emulation packages include emu-

chronous terminals manufactured by Digi- lations of these terminals.
tal Equipment Corporation (DEC) that uses
VTAM See Virtual Telecommunications
a specific set of control codes for display
Access Method.
management. Many communications and

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weak password

W
W3 See World Wide Web. WDMA divides each channel into a set of
time slots using time-division multiplexing,
W3C See World Wide Web Consortium.
and data from different sources is assigned
WABI See Windows Application Binary to a repeating set of time slots.
Interface.
See also time-division multiplexing; wave-
WAIS See Wide Area Information length division multiplexing.
Service.
wavelength division multiplexing
wait state A clock cycle during which no
Abbreviated WDM. A frequency-division
instructions are executed, because the pro-
multiplexing (FDM) technique that allows
cessor is waiting for data from memory.
a single fiber-optic cable to carry multiple
Static RAM chips and paged-mode RAM light signals rather than a single light signal.
chips are becoming popular because they WDM places each signal on a different
can store information without being con- frequency.
stantly refreshed by the processor, thus
eliminating the wait state. A computer that See also frequency-division multiplexing;
can process information without wait states inverse multiplexing; time-division multi-
is known as a zero-wait-state computer. plexing; statistical multiplexing.

WAN See wide-area network. WBEM See Web-Based Enterprise

warm boot A reboot performed after Management.
the operating system has been running for
WDM See wavelength division
some period of time, by pressing Ctrl+
multiplexing.
Alt+Del rather than cycling the power to
the computer. WDMA See wavelength division multi-
Warp See OS/2. ple access.

WATS See Wide Area Telephone weak password A password that is

Service. easy to guess, such as an English word, any
reference to Star Trek or Star Wars, or a
wavelength division multiple access
word or number that relates to the user,
Abbreviated WDMA. A technique that
such as the name of a family member or a
manages multiple transmissions on a fiber-
birth date.
optic cable system using wavelength divi-
sion multiplexing (WDM). See also password; strong password.

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Web

Web See World Wide Web. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet
Explorer are examples of popular Web
Web-Based Enterprise Management browsers.
Abbreviated WBEM. A platform-indepen-
See also ActiveX; helper; HyperText Mark-
dent management standard, originally pro-
up Language; player; plug-in; Uniform Re-
posed by BMC Software, Cisco Systems,
source Locator; viewer; World Wide Web.
Compaq, Intel, and Microsoft and now
supported by more than 70 companies, to
Webmaster The person responsible for
allow network, systems, and applications
maintaining and administering a Web site.
software data from a variety of sources to
be accessed and reported by management WebNFS A technology from Sun Micro-
applications regardless of the original systems that extends the Network File Sys-
source of that data. tem (NFS) to the Internet.
See also Desktop Management Interface; WebNFS makes file access across the Inter-
Simple Network Management Protocol; net as easy as local file access, provides en-
total cost of ownership; Wired for hanced download performance, and can
Management. automatically resume a file transfer after a
broken connection is restored.
Web browser A client application that
lets you look at hypertext documents, fol- Web page Information placed on a Web
low links to other HTML documents, and server for viewing with a Web browser. A
download files on the Internet or on a cor- Web page can contain text, graphics, audio
porate intranet. or video clips, and links to other Web pages.

When you find something that interests you See also Web browser.
as you browse through a hypertext docu-
ment, you can click on that object, and the Web portal See portal.
system automatically takes care of access-
Web server A hardware and software
ing the Internet host that holds the docu-
package that provides services to client
ment you requested; you don’t need to
computers running Web browsers.
know the IP address, the name of the host
system, or any other details. Clients make requests in the form of HTTP
messages; the server responds to these mes-
A Web browser will also display the graph-
sages, returning Web pages or other re-
ics in a Web page, play audio and video
quested documents to the client. Most Web
clips, and execute small Java or ActiveX
servers run a version of Unix or Microsoft
programs called applets, although certain
Windows NT Server.
older Web browsers may need helper, or
plug-in, applications to perform some of See also Hypertext Transfer Protocol; Web
these tasks. browser; Web page; World Wide Web.

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wideband

Web site A group of HTML documents whitespace A collective name used for
and associated scripts supported by a Web groups of spaces, tabs, and newlines, those
server on the World Wide Web. printable characters that only produce
Most Web sites have a home page used as a blank spaces.
starting point or index into the site, with Wide Area Information Service Ab-
other Web pages or even other Web sites breviated WAIS, pronounced “ways.” A
connected by links. To connect to a Web service used to access text databases or li-
site, you need an Internet connection and a braries on the Internet.
Web browser.
WAIS uses simple natural-language queries
See also HyperText Markup Language;
and takes advantage of index searches for
Web browser; Web page; World Wide
fast retrieval. Unlike Gopher, which search-
Web.
es only the names of Gopher resources,
wedged A slang expression for a frozen WAIS can search the content of all docu-
or hung terminal. ments retrievable from WAIS databases.
WAIS is particularly adept at searching
Western Digital Corp A major manu- through collections of Usenet newsgroups,
facturer of storage systems, including 3.5- electronic texts, and newspaper archives.
inch Enhanced IDE drives for PCs, high- WAIS has largely been replaced by the
capacity SCSI drives for workstations and search engines now available on the World
servers, and RAID systems. Wide Web.
For more information on Western Digital See also search engine.
Corp, see www.wdc.com.

WfM See Wired for Management. wide-area network Abbreviated WAN.

A network that connects users across large
whiteboard An application that lets sev- distances, often crossing the geographical
eral network users look at and share imag- boundaries of cities or states.
es, data, and text simultaneously, as they all
See also local-area network; metropolitan-
participate in a common conference call.
area network.
Each person’s comments and suggestions
are labeled and separated from the com- Wide Area Telephone Service Abbre-
ments made by others participating in the viated WATS. A discounted toll service
call. available from all long-distance and local
White Pine Software Distributors of telephone companies that provides unlimit-
the popular Cu-SeeMe application, a video ed use of a telephone circuit for a fixed
conferencing and videophone product that charge.
works over the Internet. wideband In communications, a channel
For more information on White Pine Soft- capable of handling more frequencies than
ware, see www.wpine.com. a standard 3kHz voice channel.

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wideband transmission

wideband transmission See broad- been replaced by other types of Web server
band network. extensions.
See also Common Gateway Interface;
Wide SCSI A version of the SCSI-2 stan-
Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
dard that provides data transfer rates of up
to 20MBps over a 16-bit data bus.
window In a graphical user interface, a
See also Fast SCSI; Fast/Wide SCSI; rectangular portion of the screen that acts
SCSI-1; SCSI-2; SCSI-3; Small Computer as a viewing area for applications.
System Interface; Ultra SCSI; Ultra2
Windows can be tiled so that they are dis-
SCSI; Wide Ultra SCSI; Wide Ultra2 SCSI.
played side by side, or they can be cascaded
so that their individual title bars are always
Wide Ultra SCSI A version of the SCSI-2
visible. They then can be individually
standard that provides data transfer rates of
moved and sized on the screen. Some pro-
up to 40MBps over a 16-bit data bus.
grams can open multiple document win-
See also Fast SCSI; Fast/Wide SCSI; SCSI- dows inside their application window to
1; SCSI-2; SCSI-3; Small Computer System display several word-processing or spread-
Interface; Ultra SCSI; Ultra2 SCSI; Wide sheet data files at the same time.
SCSI.
See also X Window.

Wide Ultra2 SCSI A version of the SCSI-

Windows See Microsoft Windows.
2 standard that provides data transfer rates
of up to 80MBps over a 16-bit data bus. Windows 3.1 See Microsoft
See also Fast SCSI; Fast/Wide SCSI; SCSI- Windows 3.1.
1; SCSI-2; SCSI-3; Small Computer System
Windows 95 See Microsoft
Interface; Ultra SCSI; Ultra2 SCSI; Wide
Windows 95.
SCSI; Wide Ultra SCSI.
Windows 98 See Microsoft
wildcard character A character that Windows 98.
represents one or more unknown charac-
ters. In many operating systems, a question Windows Application Binary
mark (?) represents a single unknown char- Interface Abbreviated WABI. A specifi-
acter in a filename or filename extension, cation developed by Sun Microsystems that
and an asterisk (*) represents any number defines how Microsoft Windows applica-
of unknown characters. tions run on Unix workstations. The WABI
interface translates the system calls made by
See also star-dot-star. the application into system calls that the un-
derlying Unix system can provide.
WinCGI A Common Gateway Interface
(CGI) that allows HTTP applications to be Windows CE See Microsoft
written in Visual Basic. WinCGI has largely Windows CE.

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Wired for Management

Windows client Any computer running Sockets or Windows Network Transit

Windows that connects to the network. Protocol.

Windows Internet Naming Service WinSock is designed to provide the same

Abbreviated WINS. A Microsoft Windows kinds of services that Berkeley sockets pro-
NT Server service that maps NetBIOS vide in the Unix world. In Windows, Win-
computer names used in Windows net- Sock is implemented as a dynamic link
works to IP addresses used in TCP/IP- library (DLL) that sits below the application
based networks. WINS is almost com- but above the TCP/IP stack. Developers
pletely automated; it builds its own data- write programs that communicate with the
base and manages updates to the database. DLL, which converts the commands and
messages and passes them to the TCP/IP pro-
See also network basic input/output
tocol stack below.
system; IP address.
The latest version, WinSock 2, supports mul-
Windows Network Transit Protocol tiple communications protocols, including
See WinSock. IPX (Internetwork Packet eXchange), DEC-
net, and XNS (Xerox Network Services), as
Windows NT Diagnostics A utility
well as real-time multimedia communica-
program from Microsoft that is used to
tions across a wide range of communications
look at and troubleshoot a Windows NT
circuits.
Server system; also known as winmsd.
Windows NT Diagnostics details transport Wintel A contraction of Windows and
information and network statistics, as well Intel. Pertaining to an Intel-based computer
as service, resource, environment, and de- that runs Microsoft Windows.
vice driver information.
WinZip A popular Windows file com-
Windows NT Server See Microsoft pression and decompression program from
Windows NT Server. Nico Mak Computing, Inc.

Windows NT Workstation See Mi- Wired for Management Abbreviated

crosoft Windows NT Workstation. WfM. A specification from Intel to make
Intel-based systems more manageable.
Windows Sockets See WinSock.
WfM supports the Desktop Management
Windows terminal See thin client.
Interface (DMI) and includes asset manage-
winmsd See Windows NT Diagnostics. ment, remote wake-up, power manage-
ment, and system configuration and
WINS See Windows Internet Naming reconfiguration.
Service.
See also Advanced Configuration and
WinSock An API for writers of TCP/IP- Power Interface; Web-Based Enterprise
related software. Also known as Windows Management.

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wireless communications

wireless communications A method connect groups of networks that use con-

of connecting a node or a group of nodes ventional cabling.
into the main network using a technology See also mobile computing.
other than conventional cabling.

The following methods are in use: wiring closet A location where cables
are gathered together to connect to the cen-
■
Infrared line of sight High-frequency tral wiring in an office or building.
light waves are used to transmit data
between nodes up to 24.4 meters (80 feet) word length 1. The standard data unit
apart using an unobstructed path; infra- in a particular computer. The most com-
red beams cannot pass through masonry mon words are 8, 16, 32, or 64 bits in
walls. Data rates are relatively high, in the length.
tens of megabits per second range. 2. In communications, the number of data
■
High-frequency radio High-frequency bits in a data word.
radio signals transmit data to nodes from workflow software Software that al-
12.2 to 39.6 meters (40 to 130 feet) apart, lows users to move and manage informa-
depending on the nature of obstructions tion among themselves, combining the
separating them; the signal can penetrate functions of e-mail, imaging, and document
thin walls but not supporting masonry. management.
Data rates are usually less than 1Mbps.
A document moves through various stages
■
Spread-spectrum radio A small set of fre- of processing as it is edited, signed, or vali-
quencies are available for wireless LANs dated by the various members of the work-
without FCC approval. The 902 to 928Mhz group. Each stage is orchestrated and
band is known as the Industrial, Scientific, validated by the workflow software.
Medical (ISM) band and is not regulated.
See also workgroup.
The 2.4 to 2.483Ghz band is regulated and
requires an FCC license for use. Spread- workgroup A group of individuals who
spectrum nodes can be up to 243.8 meters work together and share the same files and
(800 feet) apart in an open environment, databases over a local-area network. Spe-
and these radio waves can pass through ma- cial software coordinates the workgroup
sonry walls. However, in an environment and allows users to edit and exchange files
with fully enclosed offices, distances are lim- and update databases as a group.
ited to 33.5 meters (110 feet). Data rates are
See also workflow software.
usually less than 1Mbps.

Wireless LANs are not always completely WorkGroup Director A Simple Net-
wireless and may be used to replace the ca- work Management Protocol (SNMP) soft-
bling on certain network segments or to ware package from Cisco Systems.

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Write Once Read Many

WorkGroup Director runs on Unix systems and a lot of fun to access World Wide Web
either as a stand-alone application or as an information.
element in a larger SNMP-based network
See also HyperText Markup Language;
management system.
Internet; portal; search engine; Web
working directory Jargon for the cur- browser.
rent working directory; also known as the
current directory. World Wide Web Consortium Abbre-
viated W3C. An international consortium
workstation 1. In networking, any per- founded in 1994 to develop protocols for
sonal computer attached to the network. the continuing evolution of the World Wide
Web.
2. A high-performance computer optimized
for graphics applications, such as computer- For more information on the World Wide
aided design (CAD), computer-aided engi- Web Consortium, see www.w3.org.
neering (CAE), or scientific applications.
WORM Acronym for Write Once Read
World Wide Web Abbreviated WWW, Many. A high-capacity optical storage de-
W3, or simply the Web. A huge collection vice that can only be written to once, but
of hypertext pages on the Internet. that can be read a number of times.

World Wide Web concepts were developed WORM devices can store huge amounts of
in Switzerland by the European Laboratory data, as much as 1 terabyte, are highly reli-
for Particle Physics (known as CERN), but able, and are well suited to archival and
the Web is not just a tool for scientists; it is other nonchanging storage.
one of the most flexible and exciting tools in
write-back cache A technique used in
existence.
cache design for writing information back
Hypertext links connect pieces of informa- into main memory.
tion (text, graphics, animation, audio, and
In a write-back cache, the cache stores the
video) in separate HTML pages located at
changed block of data, but only updates
the same or at different Internet sites, and
main memory under certain conditions,
you explore these pages and links using a
such as when the whole block must be over-
Web browser such as Netscape Navigator
written because a newer block must be
or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
loaded into the cache or when the control-
You can also access a Web resource directly ling algorithm determines that too much
if you specify the appropriate URL (Uni- time has elapsed since the last update. This
form Resource Locator). method is rather complex to implement,
World Wide Web traffic is growing faster but is much faster than other designs.
than most other Internet services, and the See also cache; write-through cache.
reason for this becomes obvious once you
try a capable Web browser; it is very easy Write Once Read Many See WORM.

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write-through cache

write-through cache A technique used method is simple to implement, but is not as

in cache design for writing information fast as other designs; delays can be introduced
back into main memory. when the processor must wait to complete
write operations to slower main memory.
In a write-through cache, each time the pro-
cessor returns a changed bit of data to the See also cache; write-back cache.
cache, the cache updates that information in
both the cache and in main memory. This WWW See World Wide Web.

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X.500

X
X See X Window. X.29 A CCITT (ITU) standard, devel-
oped in 1977, for user data and the ex-
X2 A modem technology from U.S. Ro- change of control information between a
botics (now part of 3COM) that provides a PAD (packet assembler/disassembler) and
data rate of up to 56Kbps downstream and packet-mode DTE (data terminal equip-
up to 40Kbps upstream. Replaced by the ment) or another PAD.
V.90 standard.
X.75 A CCITT (ITU) standard that de-
See also K56Flex; V.90. fines the procedures used to connect two
separate packet-switched networks, such as
X.21 A CCITT (ITU) standard that de- those located in separate countries; often
fines a protocol used in a circuit-switching referred to as an X.25 gateway.
network.
X.200 A CCITT (ITU) standard that
X.25 A CCITT (ITU) standard, devel- documents the seven-layer OSI Reference
oped in 1976, that defines the connection Model for computer-to-computer
between a terminal and a public packet- communications.
switched network.
X.400 A CCITT (ITU) recommended
X.25 describes the electrical connections, standard, released in 1984 and revised sev-
the transmission protocol, error detection eral times since then, for public or private
and correction, and other aspects of the international e-mail distribution systems,
link. X.25 standards parallel the lowest defining how messages will be transferred
three levels of the OSI Reference Model for across the network or between two or more
computer-to-computer communications: connected heterogeneous networks.
the physical layer, data-link layer, and net-
X.400 defines the components of an elec-
work layer.
tronic address as well as the details of the
X.25 gateway See X.75. envelope surrounding the message and the
rules to follow when converting between
X.28 A CCITT (ITU) standard, devel- message types, such as text or fax.
oped in 1977, that defines a DTE/DCE See also X.500; X.509.
(data terminal equipment/data communi-
cations equipment) interface for accessing a X.500 A CCITT (ITU) recommended
PAD (packet assembler/disassembler) in a standard, first released in 1988 and revised
public data network that does not cross an several times since then, for a global direc-
international boundary but is confined tory system for locating e-mail users, to be
within one country. used with the X.400 e-mail services. X.500

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X.509

is similar to a hierarchical worldwide tele- Xerox Network Services Abbreviated

phone book. XNS. A multilayer communications proto-
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol col, first developed by Xerox, and later used
(LDAP), now widely accepted in the Inter- by Novell and other network software sup-
net community, is a subset of X.500, and pliers. XNS also supports a distributed file
products such as Novell Directory Services system that lets users access other comput-
(NDS) are based on X.500. ers’ files and printers as if they were local.
See also Lightweight Directory Access Pro-
XFree86 A version of the X11R6 X Win-
tocol; Novell Directory Services; X.400;
dow system freely available for Intel-based
X.509.
Unix systems such as Linux and FreeBSD.
X.509 A CCITT (ITU) suggested stan-
XML See Extensible Markup Language.
dard for authentication services, including
digital signatures, based on X.500. Xmodem A popular file transfer proto-
X Consortium A group of vendors that col available in many off-the-shelf and
develops products based on the X Window shareware communications packages.
specifications. Xmodem was originally developed by
Originally formed in 1988 at MIT by Apple, Ward Christiansen for early PCs using the
AT&T, Digital Equipment Corporation, CP/M operating system. Xmodem divides
Hewlett-Packard, and Sun Microsystems, in the data for a transmission into blocks.
1993 the X Consortium became an indepen- Each block consists of the start-of-header
dent, nonprofit organization. character, a block number, 128 bytes of da-
ta, and a checksum. An acknowledgment
XCSE See Xylan Certified Switching
byte is returned to the sender if the check-
Expert.
sum calculation is identical to the sender’s
XCSS See Xylan Certified Switching checksum; however, this requirement to ac-
Specialist. knowledge every transmitted block can
lead to poor performance.
XENIX A version of Unix developed from
AT&T Version 7 as a joint venture between An extension to Xmodem, called Xmodem-
Microsoft and Santa Cruz Operation CRC, adds a more stringent error-checking
(SCO) and released in 1980. method by using a cyclical redundancy
XENIX was intended to support commer- check (CRC) to detect transmission errors
cial applications on the IBM PC—versions rather than Xmodem’s simple additive
were also developed for the Motorola 68000 checksum.
and Zilog Z8000 processors—and for a
Another variation is Xmodem-1K, which
while XENIX was the most successful Unix
transfers data in 1024-byte blocks.
in terms of sheer numbers sold. Microsoft
sold its interest in XENIX to SCO in 1987. See also Kermit; Ymodem; Zmodem.

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Xylan Certified Switching Specialist

XMS See Extended Memory X Window is an open and nonproprietary

Specification. bit-mapped graphics system, designed to be
independent of both the display hardware
XNS See Xerox Network Services.
and the underlying operating system. It is
XON/XOFF In asynchronous transmis- supported by all the major workstation
sions between two PCs, a simple method of vendors.
flow control.
X Window implements a client/server envi-
The receiving PC sends an XOFF control ronment, but with the sense of the terms re-
character (ASCII 19, Ctrl+S) to pause the versed from today’s common usage.
transmission of data when the receive buff-
er is full and then sends an XON character See also X terminal.
(ASCII 17, Ctrl+Q) when it is ready to con-
tinue the transmission. Xylan Certified Switching Expert Ab-
breviated XCSE. An advanced certification
See also flow control; handshaking.
from Xylan for system professionals who
X/Open See Open Group. design, maintain, and troubleshoot
switched networks.
XT See crosstalk.
See also Xylan Certified Switching
X terminal A high-quality graphics ter- Specialist.
minal with a large amount of memory; de-
signed for use with the X Window system. Xylan Certified Switching Specialist
X terminals usually contain X server soft-
Abbreviated XCSS. A basic certification
ware in read-only memory.
from Xylan for system professionals who
See also X Window. develop solutions for switched networks
that covers basic concepts of frame and cells
X Window A windowing environment
switching.
developed at MIT for Unix workstations.
Often referred to simply as X. See also Xylan Certified Switching Expert.

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Y2K problem

Y
Y2K problem The inability of some old- Year 2000 bug See Y2K problem.
er computer programs to process dates cor-
Yellow Pages A name for the security
rectly after midnight on December 31,
and file-access databases on Unix systems.
1999.
These databases are now known as the Net-
Computer programmers in the 1960s and work Information Service (NIS).
‘70s abbreviated the date field to two digits,
See also Network Information Service.
partly to save space and partly because they
were convinced that the software would be Ymodem A popular file transfer proto-
rewritten before the abbreviated date ever col available in many off-the-shelf and
became a problem. So Y2K isn’t really a shareware communications packages.
bug; the programmers and designers did it
Ymodem, a variation of the Xmodem pro-
on purpose.
tocol, divides the data to be transmitted
This means that older software reads 99 as into blocks; each block consists of the start-
1999, and as the year 2000 begins, it will in- of-header character, a block number, 1KB
terpret 00 as the first day of 1900. of data, and a checksum. Ymodem’s larger
Dates and calculations based on dates are data block means less overhead for error
used in almost all business, sales, account- control when compared with Xmodem, but
ing, and commercial software, much of if the block has to be retransmitted because
which was written in computer languages no the protocol detects an error, there is more
longer in common use. Without expensive data to resend. Ymodem also incorporates
and time-consuming modifications and test- the capabilities to send multiple files in the
ing, these systems will at best provide unpre- same session and to abort file transfer dur-
dictable results after January 1, 2000; at ing the transmission.
worst, they will simply fail to operate. See also Kermit; Zmodem.

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zero-slot LAN

Z
.Z Filename extension that identifies a Zero Administration for Windows
Unix file compressed by the gzip or the Abbreviated ZAWS. A Microsoft-led initia-
compact utility. tive designed to lower the total cost of own-
ership of Windows-based network clients
.z Filename extension that identifies a in the corporate world.
Unix file compressed by the compress
ZAW has evolved over time and now focuses
utility.
on three main areas:
ZAK See Zero Administration Kit. ■
Installing an operating system on a new
computer or on a new hard disk in an
ZAW See Zero Administration for
existing computer
Windows.
■
Deploying applications from central
Z.E.N.works See Novell Z.E.N.works. servers to the desktop
■
Distributing modifications or upgrades to
Zero Administration Kit Abbreviated
applications
ZAK. A collection of tools, scripts, and
methodologies used by system administra- See also NetPC; network computer; thin
tors to simplify the implementation of se- client; total cost of ownership.
cure management on the Windows family
Zero Insertion Force socket A special-
of operating systems.
ly designed chip socket that makes replac-
ZAK allows system administrators to ing a chip easier and safer.
perform three main functions quickly and To change a chip in a ZIF socket, you raise
easily: a lever beside the socket to free the original
■
To centralize configuration chip’s pins from the socket. You then slide
the old chip out and slide in the replacement
■
To eliminate local access to the desktop chip, taking care to align the pins and holes.
computer Finally, you lower the lever again. A ZIF
■
To allow storage of data and applications socket minimizes damage to the delicate
on the server rather than on the client pins that connect the chip to the rest of the
system.
See also Advanced Configuration and
Power Interface; Desktop Management In- zero-slot LAN A local-area network that
terface; NetPC; network computer; thin cli- uses one of the existing serial or parallel
ent; total cost of ownership; Wired for ports on the computer rather than a special
Management; Zero Administration for network interface card plugged in to the
Windows. computer’s expansion bus.

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zero-wait-state computer

Because zero-slot LANs can only transmit ZIP file A file whose contents have been
as fast as the computer’s output port, they compressed by one of the popular file-com-
are considerably slower than networks that pression utilities, such as PKZIP, WinZip,
use network-specific hardware and soft- or other comparable program; the filename
ware. The maximum length of each cable extension is .ZIP.
segment is also severely limited, so zero-slot
A ZIP file can contain a single compressed
LANs can network only two or three com-
file or a whole collection of archives. A file
puters. The advantage of a zero-slot LAN is
compressed in this way is said to have been
its low cost compared with dedicated net-
zipped.
work systems.
See also peer-to-peer network. To uncompress a ZIP file, use the same util-
ity that compressed it originally. Some ZIP
zero-wait-state computer A computer files are self-extracting and can uncompress
that can process information without pro- themselves when you click their icon.
cessor wait states, which are clock cycles See also file compression; PKZIP; WinZip;
during which no instructions are executed .ZIP.
because the processor is waiting for data
from a device or from memory. zipped See ZIP file.
Static RAM chips and paged-mode RAM
chips are becoming popular because they Zmodem A popular file transfer proto-
can store information without being con- col available in many off-the-shelf and
stantly refreshed by the processor, thus shareware communications packages.
eliminating the wait state. Zmodem is similar to Xmodem and Ymo-
See also wait state. dem but is designed to handle larger data
transfers with fewer errors. Zmodem also
ZIF socket See Zero Insertion Force includes a feature called checkpoint restart,
socket. which allows an interrupted transmission
.ZIP Filename extension that identifies a to resume at the point of interruption, rath-
file compressed by the PKZIP or WinZip er than starting again at the beginning of the
utilities. transmission.

See also PKZIP; WinZip; ZIP file. See also Kermit; Xmodem; Ymodem.

Zip Drive A popular removable storage zombie In Unix and other operating sys-
device from Iomega Corporation, capable tems, a dead process that has not yet been
of storing 100MB on relatively cheap, por- deleted from the process table.
table, 3.5-inch disks.
Most zombies disappear almost immedi-
Zip Drives have emerged as the de facto ately, although from time to time, you may
standard personal computer backup device. find one that is impossible to delete with-
See also Iomega Corporation. out rebooting the system. Zombies do not

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zone

consume any system resources, other than zone On a local-area network such as
their slot in the process table. AppleTalk, a logical subgroup of users
within a larger group of interconnected
networks.

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Appendix A: Information on the Internet

Appendix A: Information on the

Internet
This appendix contains a selection of the networking resources available on the World
Wide Web, broken out by category to help you find the information you are looking for
quickly and easily. To be consistent with the rest of this book, I have not specified the pro-
tocol used to access each Web site; unless a different protocol is specified, you can simply
assume that HTTP will work in all cases. Just add http:// to the beginning of each Web
address in your browser when you access a site.

The Web is in a constant state of flux as URLs change and Web sites disappear. The better-
organized sites will simply post a link to the new location if they make substantive changes,
and you can use that new link to go right to the new or reorganized site. Other sites reor-
ganize themselves periodically as a part of their housekeeping; the information you want
is still available, but you have to look in another place to find it or use the site’s built-in
search engine to find it.

When all else fails, use one of the Web sites listed in the “Portals and Search Engines” section
of this appendix. In it you will find a list of the sites you can use to search the Web for doc-
uments using keywords, phrases, or even Boolean expressions. See each individual search
engine site for details.

Hardware Companies
This section lists the major manufacturers and suppliers of networking and computer
hardware.

Acer Group www.acer.com.tw

Adaptec, Inc. www.adaptec.com

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. www.amd.com

Apple Computer, Inc. www.apple.com

Ascend Communications, Inc. www.ascend.com

AST Research www.ast.com

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Appendix A: Information on the Internet

Bay Networks, Inc. www.baynetworks.com

Cabletron Systems www.cabletron.com

Canon, Inc. www.canon.com

Cirrus Logic, Inc. www.cirrus.com

Cisco Systems, Inc. www.cisco.com

Compaq Computer Corporation www.compaq.com

Cyrix www.cyrix.com

Dell Computer Corporation www.dell.com

Dialogic Corporation www.dialogic.com

Digital Equipment Corporation www.digital.com

Gateway, Inc. www.gateway.com

Hewlett-Packard Company www.hp.com

Integrated Device Technology www.idt.com

Intel Corporation www.intel.com

IBM www.ibm.com

Iomega Corporation www.iomega.com

Lexmark International, Inc. www.lexmark.com

Lucent Technologies, Inc. www.lucent.com

Microcom, Inc. www.microcom.com

Micron Technology www.micronpc.com

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Appendix A: Information on the Internet

Motorola, Inc. www.motorola.com

National Semiconductor www.national.com

Corporation

NEC Corporation www.nec.com

Packard-Bell www.packardbell.com

Quantum Corporation www.quantum.com

Rockwell Semiconductor Systems www.rockwell.com.

S3, Inc. www.s3.com

Samsung Electronics www.samsung.com

Seagate Technology, Inc. www.seagate.com

Silicon Graphics, Inc. www.sgi.com

Sun Microsystems, Inc. www.sun.com

SyQuest Technology, Inc. www.syquest.com

Toshiba Corporation www.toshiba.com

U.S. Robotics Corporation www.usr.com

ViewSonic Corp. www.viewsonic.com

Western Digital Corp. www.wdc.com

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Appendix A: Information on the Internet

Software and Service Companies

This section lists the major providers of networking operating systems, applications soft-
ware, and online and other services.

America Online www.aol.com

Baan Company www2.baan.com

Banyan Systems, Inc. www.banyan.com

Caldera, Inc. www.caldera.com

CompuServe, Inc. www.compuserve.com

Computer Associates www.cai.com

International

Gartner Group, Inc. www.gartner.com

Informix Software, Inc. www.informix.com

Inprise Corporation www.inprise.com

Learning Tree International www.learningtree.com

Marimba, Inc. www.marimba.com

Microsoft, Inc. www.microsoft.com

Netscape Communications www.netscape.com

Corporation

Network Associates, Inc. www.networkassociates.com

Novell, Inc. www.novell.com

Oracle Corporation www.oracle.com

PC Connection www.pcconnection.com

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Appendix A: Information on the Internet

PeopleSoft, Inc. www.peoplesoft.com

PointCast, Inc. www.pointcast.com

RealNetworks, Inc. www.real.com

Red Hat Software www.redhat.com

RSA Data Security www.rsa.com

SCO www.sco.com

SAP www.sap.com

Sybase, Inc. www.sybase.com

Symantec Corporation www.symantec.com

White Pine Software www.wpine.com

Internet Organizations
Here you will find URLs relating to the main Internet organizations.

Internet Society www.isoc.org

Internet Architecture Board www.iab.org/iab

Internet Engineering Steering Group www.ietf.org/iesg.htm

Internet Engineeirng Task Force www.ietf.org

Internet Research Task Force www.irtf.org

International Ad Hoc Committee www.iahc.org

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Appendix A: Information on the Internet

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority www.isi.edu/iana

World Wide Web Consotium www.w3.org

Federal Networking Council www.fnc.gov

Standards Groups and Trade Organizations

This section provides URLs for the major network-related standards groups and trade
associations.

Active Group www.activex.org

ANSI www.ansi.org

ATM Forum www.atmforum.com

CERN www.cern.ch

CERT www.cert.org

EIA www.eia.org

FCC www.fcc.gov

IEEE www.ieee.org

IrDA www.irda.org

ISO www.iso.ch

ITU www.itu.ch

NCSC www.ncsc.com

Object Management www.omg.org

Group

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Appendix A: Information on the Internet

Open Group www.opengroup.org

TIA www.tiaonline.org

Portals and Search Engines

The distinction between a Web portal and a search engine continues to blur, so they are
grouped together in this section.

Alta Vista www.altavista.digital.com

America Online www.aol.com

Chickclick www.chickclick.com

ESPN www.espn.com

Excite www.excite.com

GoTo.com www.goto.com

Hotbot www.hotbot.com

Infoseek www.infoseek.com

Ivillage www.ivillage.com

Lycos www.lycos.com

Netcenter www.netcenter.com

Northern Light www.nlsearch.com

Snap! www.snap.com

Yahoo! www.yahoo.com

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Appendix A: Information on the Internet

Open Source Software

This section contains details on where to find open-source software, as well as URLs for
some of the organizations supporting open source and free software.

Open Source Initiative www.opensource.org

Free Software Foundation www.fsf.org

Slashdot www.slashdot.org

O’Reilly Open Source Center opensource.oreilly.com

The Apache Project www.apache.org

GNU www.gnu.org

Linux Online www.linux.org

The Linux Kernel Archives www.kernel.org

The Linux Documentation Project metalab.unc.edu/LDP

Linux Web pages www.linux-center.org

The Perl Institute www.perl.org

Netscape’s Mozilla Project www.mozilla.org

XFree86 www.xfree86.org

FreeBSD Project ftp.freebsd.org

Open BSD www.openbsd.org

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Appendix A: Information on the Internet

Local Exchange Carriers

This section lists the companies providing local carrier services throughout the United
States.

Ameritech, Inc. www.ameritech.com

Bell Atlantic Corp www.bell-atl.com

Bell South www.bellsouth.com

GTE Service Corp www.gte.com

NYNEX Corp www.nynex.com

Pacific Bell www.pacbell.com

SBC Communications, Inc. www.sbc.com

U.S. West Communications www.uswest.com

Group

Interexchange Carriers
This section lists the carriers that provide long-distance service in the United States.

AT&T Corp www.att.com

LDDS WorldCom, Inc. www.wcom.com

GTE Service Corp. www.gte.com

MCI Telecommunications Corp. www.mci.com

Sprint Communications Company www.sprintbiz.com

MFS Communications Company www.mfsdatanet.com

Norlight Telecommunications, Inc. www.norlight.com

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Appendix B: Certification Programs

Appendix B: Certification Programs

This appendix presents information on the many and varied computer and networking cer-
tification programs available in the industry. Table B.1 lists the abbreviations and complete
names for the most common certification programs, and Table B.2 lists all the network-
related certification programs offered by each company or computer-industry organization.

TABLE B.1 CERTIFICATION PROGRAM ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation Certification Program

A+ A+ Certification

AASE Associated Accredited Systems Engineer

ABCP Associate Business Continuity Professional

ACE Advanced Certified Engineer

ACTE Ascend Certified Technical Expert

ASE Accredited Systems Engineer

BAC Baan Advanced Certification

BBC Baan Basic Certification

BNCE Bay Networks Certified Expert

BNCS Bay Networks Certified Specialist

CATE Certified Advanced Technical Expert

CBCP Certified Business Continuity Professional

CBE Certified Banyan Engineer

CBS Certified Banyan Specialist

CC Certified Consultant

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Appendix B: Certification Programs

TABLE B.1 CERTIFICATION PROGRAM ABBREVIATIONS (CONTINUED)

Abbreviation Certification Program

CCIE Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert

CCP Certified Computing Professional

CDA Certified Database Administrator

CDIA Certified Document Image Architect

CE Certified Expert

CINA Certified IRIX Network Administrator

CISA Certified Information System Auditor

CISA Certified IRIX System Administrator

CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional

CJD Certified Java Developer

CJP Certified Java Programmer

CLP Certified Lotus Professional

CLS Certified Lotus Specialist

CNA Certified Novell Administrator

CNE Certified Novell Engineer

CNI Certified Novell Instructor

CNP Certified Network Professional

CNX Certified Network Expert

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Appendix B: Certification Programs

TABLE B.1 CERTIFICATION PROGRAM ABBREVIATIONS (CONTINUED)

Abbreviation Certification Program

CPDA Certified Powerbuilder Developer Associate

CPDP Certified Powerbuilder Developer Professional

CPTS Certified Performance and Tuning Specialist

CS Certified Specialist

CSA Certified Solaris Administrator

CSE Certified Solutions Expert

CSE Certified Systems Expert

CSE Certified Switching Expert

CSNA Certified Solaris Network Administrator

CSS Certified Switching Specialist

CU Certified User

CUE Certified Unicenter Engineer

MBCP Master Business Continuity Professional

MCNE Master Certified Novell Engineer

MCP Microsoft Certified Professional

MCSD Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer

MCSE Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer

MOE Microsoft Office Expert

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Appendix B: Certification Programs

TABLE B.1 CERTIFICATION PROGRAM ABBREVIATIONS (CONTINUED)

Abbreviation Certification Program

MOES Microsoft Office Expert Specialist

MOPS Microsoft Office Proficient Specialist

N+ Network+ Certification

NCIP Novell Certified Internet Professional

PSE Professional Server Expert

PSS Professional Server Specialist

RCDD Registered Communications Distribution Designer

TABLE B.2 COMPUTER AND NETWORKING CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS

Company Certification Program Name

Ascend Ascend Certified Technical Expert

Baan Baan Basic Certification

Baan Advanced Certification in Enterprise Logistics
Baan Advanced Certification in Enterprise Finance
Baan Advanced Certification in Enterprise Tools
Baan Advanced Certification in Enterprise Modeler

Banyan Certified Banyan Specialist

Certified Banyan Specialist: Windows NT
Certified Banyan Engineer

Bay Networks Bay Networks Certified Specialist: Hub Technology

Bay Networks Certified Expert: Hub Technology
Bay Networks Certified Specialist: Router Technology

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Appendix B: Certification Programs

TABLE B.2 COMPUTER AND NETWORKING CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS (CONTINUED)

Company Certification Program Name

Bay Networks Certified Expert: Router Technology
Bay Networks Certified Specialist: Network Management Technology
Bay Networks Certified Expert: Network Management Technology
Bay Networks Certified Specialist: Switching Technology
Bay Networks Certified Expert: Remote Access Technology

BICSI Registered Communications Distribution Designer

Registered Communications Distribution Designer: LAN Specialty

Cisco Cicso Certified Internetworking Expert: WAN Switching Expert

Cicso Certified Internetworking Expert: ISP Dial Expert
Cicso Certified Internetworking Expert: Routing and Switching Expert

Compaq Associate Accredited Systems Engineer Specializing in Novell

IntranetWare
Associate Accredited Systems Engineer Specializing in Microsoft
Windows NT
Accredited Systems Engineer Specializing in Novell IntranetWare
Accredited Systems Engineer Specializing in Microsoft Windows NT

Computer Certified Unicenter Engineer

Associates

CompTIA A+ Certification
Certified Document Image Architect
Network+ Certification

CNX Certified Network Expert

Consortium

Disaster Associate Business Continuity Professional

Recovery Certified Business Continuity Professional
Institute
Master Business Continuity Professional
International

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Appendix B: Certification Programs

TABLE B.2 COMPUTER AND NETWORKING CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS (CONTINUED)

Company Certification Program Name

Hewlett- HP OpenView Certified Consultant: Unix

Packard HP OpenView Certified Consultant: Windows NT
HP OpenView Certified Consultant: Unix and Windows NT

IBM Certified Solutions Expert: Net Commerce

Certified Solutions Expert: Firewall Resources
IBM Certified AIX User
IBM Certified Specialist: AIX System Administration
IBM Certified Specialist: AIX Support
IBM Certified Specialist: AS/400 Associate System Operator
IBM Certified Specialist: AS/400 Professional System Operator
IBM Certified Specialist: AS/400 Associate System Administrator
IBM Certified Specialist: AS/400 Professional System Administrator
IBM Certified Specialist: OS/2 Warp Server Administration
IBM Certified Expert: OS/2 Warp Server
IBM Certified Specialist: OS/2 LAN Server Administration
IBM Certified Expert: OS/2 LAN Server
IBM Certified Systems Expert: OS/2 Warp
IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert: RS/6000 AIX
Professional Server Expert
Professional Server Expert: Novell NetWare
Professional Server Expert: OS/2 Warp Server
Professional Server Expert: Windows NT Server

Informix Database Specialist: Informix Dynamic Server

System Administration: Informix Dynamic Server
Informix-4GL Certified Professional

442
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Appendix B: Certification Programs

TABLE B.2 COMPUTER AND NETWORKING CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS (CONTINUED)

Company Certification Program Name

Institute for Certified Computing Professional

Certification of
Computing
Professionals

International Certified Information Systems Security Professional

Information
Systems
Security
Certification
Consortium

Information Certified Information Systems Auditor

Systems Audit
and Control
Association

Learning Tree Internet/Intranet Certified Professional

International Internetwork Certified Professional
Local Area Networks Certified Professional
PC Service and Support Certified Professional
Unix Systems Certified Professional
Wide Area Networks Certified Professional

Lotus Certified Lotus Specialist

Certified Lotus Professional: Application Developer
Certified Lotus Professional: Principal Application Developer
Certified Lotus Professional: System Administrator
Certified Lotus Professional: Principal System Administrator
Certified Lotus Professional: cc Mail System Administrator

Microsoft Microsoft Certified Professional +Internet

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer +Internet

443
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Appendix B: Certification Programs

TABLE B.2 COMPUTER AND NETWORKING CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS (CONTINUED)

Company Certification Program Name

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer
Microsoft Office Proficient Specialist
Microsoft Office Expert Specialist
Microsoft Office Expert

Network Certified Network Professional

Professional
Association

Novell Certified Novell Administrator

Certified Novell Engineer
Certified Novell Instructor
Novell Certified Internet Professional
Novell Internet Architect
Novell Internet Business Strategist
Novell Intranet Manager
Master Certified Novell Engineer
Novell Web Designer

Oracle Certified Database Administrator

Certified Application Developer

SCO Advanced Certified Engineer: Server Track

Advanced Certified Engineer: OpenServer Track
Advanced Certified Engineer: UnixWare Track

Silicon Certified IRIX System Administrator

Graphics Certified IRIX Network Administrator

444
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Appendix B: Certification Programs

TABLE B.2 COMPUTER AND NETWORKING CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS (CONTINUED)

Company Certification Program Name

Sun Certified Java Programmer

Microsystems Certified Java Developer
Certified Solaris Administrator
Certified Solaris Network Administrator

Sybase Certified PowerBuilder Developer Associate

Certified PowerBuilder Developer Professional
Certified Database Administrator
Certified Performing and Tuning Specialist

Xylan Xylan Certified Switch Specialist

Xylan Certified Switch Expert

445
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Appendix C: ASCII Character Set

Appendix C: ASCII Character Set

Table C.1 shows the first 32 characters (0–31) from the American Standard Code for In-
formation Interchange (ASCII), also known as the control characters.
Table C.2 shows the 7-bit standard ASCII character set (comprising characters 32–127),
which is implemented on all computers that use ASCII.
Table C.3 shows characters 128–255 of the 8-bit IBM extended ASCII character set.

TABLE C.1 ASCII CONTROL CHARACTERS

DECIMAL CHARACTER CONTROL COMBINATION

0 NUL (Null) Ctrl+@

1 SOH (Start of heading) Ctrl+A

2 STX (Start of text) Ctrl+B

3 ETX (End of text) Ctrl+C

4 EOT (End of transmission) Ctrl+D

5 ENQ (Enquire) Ctrl+E

6 ACK (Acknowledge) Ctrl+F

7 BEL (Bell) Ctrl+G

8 BS (Backspace) Ctrl+H

9 HT (Horizontal tab) Ctrl+I

10 LF (Line feed) Ctrl+J

11 VT (Vertical tab) Ctrl+K

12 FF (Form feed) Ctrl+L

13 CR (Carriage return) Ctrl+M

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Appendix C: ASCII Character Set

TABLE C.1 ASCII CONTROL CHARACTERS (CONTINUED)

DECIMAL CHARACTER CONTROL COMBINATION

14 SO (Shift out) Ctrl+N

15 SI (Shift in) Ctrl+O

16 DLE (Data link escape) Ctrl+P

17 DC1 (Device control 1) Ctrl+Q

18 DC2 (Device control 2) Ctrl+R

19 DC3 (Device control 3) Ctrl+S

20 DC4 (Device control 4) Ctrl+T

21 NAK (Negative Ctrl+U

acknowledgement)

22 SYN (Synchronous idle) Ctrl+V

23 ETB (End transmission block) Ctrl+W

24 CAN (Cancel) Ctrl+X

25 EM (End of medium) Ctrl+Y

26 SUB (Substitute) Ctrl+Z

27 ESC (Escape) Ctrl+[

28 FS (File separator) Ctrl+/

29 GS (Group separator) Ctrl+]

30 RS (Record separator) Ctrl+^

31 US (Unit separator) Ctrl+_

447
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Appendix C: ASCII Character Set

TABLE C.2 STANDARD 7-BIT ASCII CHARACTER SET

DECIMAL CHARACTER DECIMAL CHARACTER

32 space 51 3

33 ! 52 4

34 " 53 5

35 # 54 6

36 $ 55 7

37 % 56 8

38 & 57 9

39 ' 58 :

40 ( 59 ;

41 ) 60 <

42 * 61 =

43 + 62 >

44 , 63 ?

45 - 64 @

46 . 65 A

47 / 66 B

48 0 67 C

49 1 68 D

50 2 69 E

448
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Appendix C: ASCII Character Set

TABLE C.2 STANDARD 7-BIT ASCII CHARACTER SET (CONTINUED)

DECIMAL CHARACTER DECIMAL CHARACTER

70 F 89 Y

71 G 90 Z

72 H 91 [

73 I 92 \

74 J 93 ]

75 K 94 ^

76 L 95 _

77 M 96 `

78 N 97 a

79 O 98 b

80 P 99 c

81 Q 100 d

82 R 101 e

83 S 102 f

84 T 103 g

85 U 104 h

86 V 105 i

87 W 106 j

88 X 107 k

449
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Appendix C: ASCII Character Set

TABLE C.2 STANDARD 7-BIT ASCII CHARACTER SET (CONTINUED)

DECIMAL CHARACTER DECIMAL CHARACTER

108 l 118 v

109 m 119 w

110 n 120 x

111 o 121 y

112 p 122 z

113 q 123 {

114 r 124 |

115 s 125 }

116 t 126 ~

117 u 127 DEL

TABLE C.3 IBM EXTENDED ASCII CHARACTER SET

DECIMAL CHARACTER DECIMAL CHARACTER

128 Ç 135 ç

129 ü 136 ê

130 é 137 ë

131 â 138 è

132 ä 139 ï

133 à 140 î

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Appendix C: ASCII Character Set

TABLE C.3 IBM EXTENDED ASCII CHARACTER SET (CONTINUED)

DECIMAL CHARACTER DECIMAL CHARACTER

134 å 141 ì

142 Ä 161 í

143 Å 162 ó

144 É 163 ú

145 æ 164 ñ

146 Æ 165 Ñ

147 ô 166 a_

148 ö 167 _
o

149 ò 168 ¿

2
150 û 169

3
151 ù 170

1
152 ÿ 171 ⁄2

1
153 Ö 172 ⁄4

154 Ü 173 ¡

155 ¢ 174 «

156 £ 175 »
.........
.........

157 ¥ 176
----
----
158 Pt 177 ----
----
- -

-----
-----
159 ƒ 178 -----
-----
---

451
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Appendix C: ASCII Character Set

TABLE C.3 IBM EXTENDED ASCII CHARACTER SET (CONTINUED)

DECIMAL CHARACTER DECIMAL CHARACTER

160 á 179

180 199

181 200

182 201

183 202

184 203

185 204

186 205

187 206

188 207

189 208

190 209

191 210

192 211

193 ? 212

194 > 213

195 £ 214

196 – 215

197 1 216

452
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Appendix C: ASCII Character Set

TABLE C.3 IBM EXTENDED ASCII CHARACTER SET (CONTINUED)

DECIMAL CHARACTER DECIMAL CHARACTER

198 217

218 237 f

219 238 ´

220 239 \

221 240 [

222 241 6

223 242 ∫

224 ~ 243 π

225 ı 244


226 G 245 

227 p 246 4

228 ∑ 247 <

229 s 248 8

230 m 249 8

231 t 250 -

232 F 251 =

233 Q 252 n

453
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Appendix C: ASCII Character Set

TABLE C.3 IBM EXTENDED ASCII CHARACTER SET (CONTINUED)

DECIMAL CHARACTER DECIMAL CHARACTER

2
234 V 253

235 W 254 ■

236 1 255

454
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Appendix D: EBCDIC Character Set

Appendix D: EBCDIC Character Set

Table D.1 shows all 256 characters that make up the Extended Binary Coded Decimal In-
terchange Code (EBCDIC) character set.

TABLE D.1 EBCDIC CHARACTER SET

Decimal Character Decimal Character

0 NUL (null) 14 SO (shift out)

1 SOH (start of heading) 15 SI (shift in)

2 STX (start of text) 16 DLE (data length escape)

3 ETX (end of text) 17 DC1 (device control 1)

4 SEL (select) 18 DC2 (device control 2)

5 HT (horizontal tab) 19 DC3 (device control 3)

6 RNL (required new line) 20 RES/ENP (restore/enable

presentation)

7 DEL (delete) 21 NL (new line)

8 GE (graphic escape) 22 BS (backspace)

9 SPS (superscript) 23 POC (program-operator

communication)

10 RPT (repeat) 24 CAN (cancel)

11 VT (vertical tab) 25 EM (end of medium)

12 FF (form feed) 26 UBS (unit backspace)

13 CR (carriage return) 27 CU1 (customer use 1)

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Appendix D: EBCDIC Character Set

TABLE D.1 EBCDIC CHARACTER SET (CONTINUED)

Decimal Character Decimal Character

28 IFS (interchange file 42 SM/SW (set mode/switch)

separator)

29 IGS (interchange group 43 CSP (control sequence

separator) prefix)

30 IRS (interchange record 44 MFA (modify field attribute)

separator)

31 IUS/ITB (interchange unit 45 ENQ (enquiry)

separator/intermediate
transmission block)

32 DS (digit select) 46 ACK (acknowledge)

33 SOS (start of significance) 47 BEL (bell)

34 FS (field separator) 48-49 not assigned

35 WUS (word underscore) 50 STN (synchronous idle)

36 BYP/INP (bypass/inhibit 51 IR (index return)

presentation)

37 LF (line feed) 52 PP (presentation position)

38 ETB (end of transmission 53 TRN (transport)

block)

39 ESC (escape) 54 NBS (numeric backspace)

40 SA (set attribute) 55 EOT (end of transmission)

41 SFE (start field extended) 56 SBS (subscript)

456
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Appendix D: EBCDIC Character Set

TABLE D.1 EBCDIC CHARACTER SET (CONTINUED)

Decimal Character Decimal Character

57 IT (indent tab)

58 RFF (required form feed) 90 !

59 CU3 (customer use 3) 91 $

60 DC4 (device control 4) 92 *

61 NAK (negative 93 )
acknowledge)

62 not assigned 94 ;

63 SUB (substitute) 95 ¬ (Logical NOT)

64 SP (space) 96 -

65 RSP (required space) 97 /

66-73 not assigned 98-105 not assigned

|
74 ¢ 106 | (broken pipe)

75 . 107 ,

76 < 108 %

77 ( 109 -

78 + 110 >

79 | (Logical OR) 111 ?

80-89 not assigned 112-120 not assigned

457
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Appendix D: EBCDIC Character Set

TABLE D.1 EBCDIC CHARACTER SET (CONTINUED)

Decimal Character Decimal Character

121 ` 138-144 not assigned

122 : 145 j

123 # 146 k

124 @ 147 l

|
125 148 m

126 = 149 n

127 " 150 o

128 not assigned 151 p

129 a 152 q

130 b 153 r

131 c 154-160 not assigned

132 d 161 ~

133 e 162 s

134 f 163 t

135 g 164 u

136 h 165 v

137 I 166 w

167 x 210 K

458
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Appendix D: EBCDIC Character Set

TABLE D.1 EBCDIC CHARACTER SET (CONTINUED)

Decimal Character Decimal Character

168 y 211 L

169 z 212 M

170-191 not assigned 213 N

192 { 214 O

193 A 215 P

194 B 216 Q

195 C 217 R

196 D 218-223 not assigned

197 E 224 \

198 F 225 NSP (numeric space)

199 G

200 H 226 S

201 I 227 T

202 SHY (syllable hyphen) 228 U

203-207 not assigned 229 V

208 } 230 W

209 J 231 X

232 Y 245 5

459
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Appendix D: EBCDIC Character Set

TABLE D.1 EBCDIC CHARACTER SET (CONTINUED)

Decimal Character Decimal Character

233 Z 246 6

234-239 not assigned 247 7

240 0 248 8

241 1 249 9

242 2 250-254 not assigned

243 3 255 EO (eight ones)

244 4

460
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