Distributed Name Service (DNS) Management Operations Manual

Glossary
Glossary–2 31258 Tandem Computers Incorporated
command name manager. The DNS name manager executing an issued command. If the
AT paramerer is specified after the object of a command, the command name manager
becomes the name manager specified in that AT paramerer. If no AT paramerer is
specified, the command name manager is the current name manager.
composite. A name for one object that has different aspects controlled by different
subsystems. A user defines composite objects to DNS. As an example, each ATM
might be defined as being composed of a PATHWAY TERM, a SNAX LU, and a
SNAX/HLS SESSION.
composite type. An object type identifying a list of attributes required for the definition
of a composite object. For example, an object type ATM might require as attributes a
PATHWAY name, a SNAX name, and an HLS name. A user defines composite object
types to DNS.
composite type component. A member of a set of subsystem-object types that make up
an instance of a particular composite type.
composite type name. The name assigned by the user to identify a composite type, for
example ATM. An externalization of the owner . composite type number
construct.
composite type number. In DNS, an integer used to identify a composite type within the
context of the owner who defined the composite type. The owner . composite type
number pair always provides a unique identifier for the composite type that is
independent of the composite type name assigned by a particular customer.
Developers of management applications should always use the owner . composite
type number pair to refer internally to the composite type; DNS provides a
programmatic command for translating the pair to the type name, and vice versa. This
approach assures portability for management applications without concern for
composite type name conflicts.
configuration file. A file that contains only configuration data, such as the DNS
configuration file.
context, context information. The information required by a server to process a series of
requests from the same requester. Continuation of a response over multiple replies
from the server requires the server to send the context information to the requester,
and the requester to send that information back to the server to obtain each new reply.
See context token.
context-free server. A server that does not retain any information about previous
processing; it knows only about its processing of the current request message. For
instance, a context-free server that is performing a command on a list of objects and
sending its response in a series of reply messages does not retain the name of the last
object it processed in the last reply. The requester must therefore resend the command
with a context token that contains that information. A context-free server allows the
requester to interrupt or abandon the continuation of a series of replies.