ATM Adapter Installation and Support Guide

ATM Adapter Installation and Support Guide—420013-002
Glossary-1
Glossary
adapter. See ServerNet adapter.
asynchronous. A mode of serial-data transmission in which characters are sent at random;
there is no timing relationship between the end of one character and the start of the
next, that is, the transmission is not synchronized with a separate clock signal. The
data contains extra bits: a start bit to signal the beginning of a byte and one or more
stop bits to signal the end of the byte. These start and stop bits allow the receiver to
determine the correct synchronization. Contrast with synchronous.
ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) subsystem. A communications subsystem that
provides access to ATM networks from a NonStop S-series server.
ATM. See ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) subsystem.
ATM Address. Defined in the UNI specification as 3 formats, each having 20 bytes in length
including country, area and end-system identifiers.
ATM Management Process (AMP). The process provided as part of the ATM subsystem
that initializes the shared-memory interface, initializes the XIO subsystem, creates and
monitors the Signaling Manager Process, initializes and downloads the ATM adapter,
and provides configuration information to the ATM adapter.
ATM 3 ServerNet Adapter. A ServerNet adapter providing access to ATM networks from a
NonStop S-series server. The ATM3SA supports the ATM User-Network Interface
(UNI) specification over a 155Mbps OC-3 Sonet (Synchronous Optical Network)
connection.
attribute. (1) For the Subsystem Control Facility (SCF), a characteristic of an entity. For
example, two attributes of a process might be its program file and its user ID. An
attribute is sometimes called a modifier. (2) For the Compaq TSM package and the
OSM Service Connection, a data item associated with a resource. All attributes can be
viewed and some can be modified.
backup processor. A processor in a NonStop Kernel operating system that communicates
with the primary processor, allowing the processors to remain independent. A
component failure in one processor has no effect on any other processor. See also
primary processor.
board. A frame on which computer circuitry is mounted.
command. A demand for action by or information from a subsystem, or the operation
demanded by an operator or application. A command is typically conveyed as an
interprocess message from an application to a subsystem.
communications line. A two-way link consisting of processing equipment, I/O devices,
protocol conventions, and cables that connect a computer to other computers.