NonStop Systems Introduction

NonStop Systems Introduction—527825-001
Glossary-1
Glossary
adapter. A program used in ZLE architectures to enable the operational business
applications to communicate with the applications and services on the ZLE hub.
Adapters translate data and transaction requests from the native format of the sending
application to the format required by the ZLE hub and vice versa.
API. See application programming interface (API).
application. A complete set of programs that perform a function.
application programming interface (API). The means by which a program within an
application gains access to a set of services. For example, an API might consist of a
set of procedure calls that provides a workstation application with a standard interface
for communicating with a NonStop system.
application server. A suite of software used for developing client/server applications.
Application servers handle the application logic and connectivity found in client/server
applications. Many application servers also offer features such as transaction
management, clustering, failover, and load balancing. The application server is a key
component of the zero latency enterprise framework. The application servers offered
by HP include NonStop Tuxedo, NonStop CORBA, and BEA WebLogic Server.
audit records. The records in the transaction log (audit trail) that contain the before-images
and after-images of all rows or records affected by a transaction.
audit trail. The transaction log file, managed by TMF, that contains transaction data,
implemented as audit records and control records.
backout. The act of undoing changes to a database in the event of a transaction failure so
that the database is returned to a consistent state.
backup process. The member of a process pair that takes over the application work when
the primary process fails. See also primary process and process pair.
BEA WebLogic Server. A standards-based application server that provides an environment
for building and deploying enterprise applications. WebLogic Server provides essential
application server functions and services, including fault tolerance, transaction
management, security, and database connectivity.
centralized processing. A type of processing environment in which applications and data
are placed on one or more computers at a single central site.
central processing unit (CPU). Historically, the main data processing unit of a computer.
A NonStop system has multiple cooperating processors rather than a single CPU,
although processors are sometimes called CPUs. See also processor.
checkpoint message. A message from a primary process to a backup process that keeps
the backup process up-to-date on the state of the application.