NonStop System Glossary

preemption
A form of late binding in which a symbolic reference to a symbol defined in the same dynamic-link
library is instead bound to a definition in another loadfile.
preferences file
A file that contains configuration information for the graphical user interface (GUI) portion of the
client software for OSM and TSM. The preferences file is used by the OSM and TSM client software
at system startup.
preferred path
See primary path.
preprocessing commands
Commands specifying unique run-time parameters that can override your default system parameters.
These commands can assign process file names, select backup media formats, and define utility
options during system configuration.
preset
A linker operation that sets the correct values (addresses) of imported symbols according to the
environment seen by the linker. If the loader encounters the same environment at load time, it
avoids adjusting these values, which reduces loading overhead. (See fastLoad.) If not, the loader
resets these values to match the load-time environment.
pre-shared key (PSK)
Used in IP security protocols to enable communicating nodes to decrypt data.
primary path
A path enabled as the preferred path. When a primary path is disabled, an alternate path becomes
the primary path.
primary processor
The processor that is designated as owning the ServerNet addressable controller (SAC) connected
to separate processors running the NonStop operating system. The primary processor is the processor
that has direct control over the SAC. Contrast with backup processor.
privileged architecture library (PAL)
A firmware library based on the Itanium architecture.
problem incident report
A type of incident report that reports a problem in the server. A problem incident report is generated
when changes occur on the server that could directly affect the availability of system resources.
procedure entry-point (PEP) table
A table in a TNS object file that contains the entry-point addresses for each procedure and is
located in the first page of each code segment.
process
1. A program that has been submitted to the operating system for execution, or a program that
is currently running in the computer.
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