Open System Services Installation Guide (G06.24+, H06.03+, J06.03+)

Open System Services Installation Guide—429954-004
Glossary-1
Glossary
A7CINFO file. A configuration file distributed with OSS products that contains information
about the contents of all PAX (archive) files of an OSS DSV.
administrator. (1) For an HP NonStop™ system, the person responsible for the installation
and configuration of a software subsystem on a NonStop node. Contrast with operator.
(2) For an IBM system, the person responsible for the day-to-day monitoring and
maintenance tasks associated with a software subsystem on an IBM node. (3) For a
UNIX system, the owner of /dev/console. The administrator is responsible for the
installation and configuration of all hardware and software within a node.
block special file. In the OSS environment, a device that is treated as a file for which all
input or output must occur in blocks of data. Traditionally, such files are disk or tape
devices. Block special files provide access to a device in a manner that hides the
hardware characteristics of the device. Contrast with character special file.
character special file. In the OSS environment, a device that is treated as a file for which
all input or output must occur in character bytes. Traditionally, such files are interactive
terminals, and the ISO/IEC IS 9945-1:1990 standard defines only the access to such
terminal files. See also terminal. Contrast with block special file.
cluster. (1) A collection of servers, or nodes, that can function either independently or
collectively as a processing unit. See also storage pool. (2) A term used to describe a
system in a Fiber Optic Extension (FOX) ring. More specifically, a FOX cluster is a
collection of processors and I/O devices functioning as a logical group. In FOX
nomenclature, the term is synonymous with system or node.
creation pool. The set of disk volumes currently used for new file creation for a fileset. The
creation pool is defined by the storage-pool file for the fileset and is a subset of the
storage pool for the fileset.
device. A computer peripheral or an object that appears to the application as such. See
also terminal
.
directory. A type of OSS special file that contains directory entries, which associate names
with files. No two directory entries in the same directory have the same name.
directory entry. In the OSS file system, an object that associates a filename with a file.
Several directory entries can associate names with the same file. See also link
.
directory tree. A hierarchy of directories. In the OSS environment, directories are
connected to each other in a branching hierarchical fashion such that only one path
exists between any two directories (if no backtracking occurs).
Distributed Systems Management/Software Configuration Manager (DSM/SCM). A
graphical user interface (GUI)-based program that installs new software and creates a