PCI Token Ring Administrator's Guide

Glossary 133
Glossary
Access Method: A technique for
determining which node will be the next
with the right to transmit over a shared
medium.
Adapter: Hardware that contains the
input/output logic needed for a product to
interact with a computer bus, such as the
EISA bus. An adapter is also called a
controller board or an I/O card.
Alias Name of the interface that
corresponds to a given Internet address on a
system. Refer to the network map in
Appendix B for example usage.
ANSI: The American National Standards
Institute, a non-profit organization, made up
of various expert committees, that publishes
standards for use by national industries.
ANSI has adopted the IEEE standards for
local area networks.
Beaconing: A condition during which 802.5
MAC frames are transmitted on the token
ring. This condition occurs when a hardware
problem is detected on the ring. The station
that detects the error beacons other stations
on the ring to inform them of the problem.
Card Instance Number A number that
uniquely identifies a device within a group.
A class of devices is a logical grouping of
similar devices.
Configuration: The arrangement of a
computer system or network as defined by
the nature, number, and the chief
characteristics of its functional units. More
specifically, the term configuration may refer
to a hardware configuration or a software
configuration.
Device Files: Files kept in the /dev
directory that identify the LAN driver, card,
and data link protocol. Each device file has a
name and device number to uniquely
identify the above characteristics.
DLPI: Data Link Provider Interface. An
industry-standard definition for message
communications to STREAMS-based
network interface drivers.
EISA Extended Industry Standard
Architecture: A computer bus that
connects EISA cards to the main system bus.
EISA backplane: The I/O card that
contains the EISA bus, which connects EISA
adapters to the main system bus.
Ethernet: A 10 Mbps LAN, developed by
Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel, and
Xerox Corporation, upon which the IEEE
802.3 network is based.
Hardware Path: An identifier assigned by
the system according to the physical location
(slot) of the card in the hardware backplane.
On Series 700 and Series 800 systems, the
I/O subsystem identifies each LAN card by
its hardware path.
Hostname Name of system on the network.
Refer to the network map in appendix B for
example usage.
IEEE: The Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers. A national
association, whose activities include
publishing standards applicable to various
electronic technologies. The IEEE technical
committees are numbered and grouped by
area. For example, the 800 committees study
local area network technologies. The 802.3
committee produced the standard for a
CSMA/CD local area network, which has