DCE Application Programming Guide

Glossary
HP NonStop DCE Application Programming Guide—429551-003
Glossary-4
Interface Definition Language (IDL)
Interface Definition Language (IDL). In a remote procedure call (RPC), the high-level
declarative language used to define the procedure prototypes, such as input
parameters and output parameters, for procedures that are invoked using DCE RPC.
The definitions are compiled by the idl compiler into stub files that are bound into
client and server applications. See also stub.
Kerberos. The authentication protocol implemented by DCE shared-secret authentication.
LAN. Local area network.
mutex. A synchronization object that provides mutual exclusion among threads. A mutex is
often used to ensure that shared variables are always seen by other threads in a
consistent state.
name service interface (NSI). In a remote procedure call (RPC), the part of the DCE
application program interface used to access the RPC name service. See also RPC
name service.
namespace. A complete set of cell distribution service (CDS) names (which can include
directories, object entries, and soft links) that one or more CDS servers look up,
manage, and share.
NDR. See network data representation (NDR).
network address. In a remote procedure call (RPC), an address that identifies a specific
host on a network.
network data representation (NDR). In a remote procedure call (RPC), a set of encoding
rules (transfer syntax) that is used to describe data that must be sent between
machines with potentially different data formats. These rules enable conversion
between ASCII and EBCDIC, big-endian and little-endian byte order, and so on.
network protocol. A communications protocol from the network layer of the Open System
Interconnect (OSI) network architecture, such as the Internet Protocol (IP).
network time protocol (NTP). The Internet-recommended time standard.
NSI. See name service interface (NSI).
NTP. See network time protocol (NTP).
object. In a remote procedure call (RPC), anything that an RPC server defines and
identifies to its clients using an object universal unique identifier. The meaning of the
object is application-defined. It can represent a computing resource such as a
database or printer, an application service, or the server itself.
OSS. See HP NonStop™ Open System Services (OSS).