OSI/TS Management Programming Manual

Glossary
Glossary-10 056786 Tandem Computers Incorporated
Header. The initial part of an SPI message. The first word of this header always
contains the value -28; the remainder of the header contains descriptive information
about the SPI message, most of which is accessible as header tokens. The tokens in an
SPI message header differ according to the type of message: the header of a message
that contains a command or response differs somewhat from the header of an event
message. An application can use SSGET or EMSGET calls to retrieve the values of
header tokens, and can use SSPUT calls to change the values of some. However, there
are certain basic differences between header tokens and other tokens. See also header
token.
Header token. In an SPI message, a token that provides information pertaining to the
message as a whole. Header tokens differ from other tokens in several ways: they
exist in the buffer at initialization and their values are usually set by SSINIT, they can
occur only once in a buffer, they are never enclosed in a list, they cannot be moved to
another buffer with SSMOVE, and programs cannot position to them or retrieve their
values using the NEXTCODE or NEXTTOKEN operation. Programs retrieve the
values of header tokens by passing appropriate token codes to SSGET and can change
the values of some header tokens by passing their token codes to SSPUT.
Examples of header tokens for commands are the command number, the object type,
the maximum-response token, the server-version token, the maximum-field-version
token, and the checksum token. Command and response messages contain a specified
set of header tokens; event messages, a different set with some overlap. See also SPI
message. Compare data-portion token.
Host. Another name for an end system. See end system.
Human interface. An informal term referring to any interactive interface (as contrasted
with a programmatic interface).
IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). An international industry group that
develops standards for many areas of electrical engineering and computers.
Indication primitive. A primitive issued when a service user (entity) is to be informed
about an event. This is one of four types of service primitives. See also service
primitive.
Indirect-process-name. Form of a process name that directs the command through the
OSI manager process first, then on to the specified process type, allowing the
management information base (MIB) to be updated. Contrast Process-name.
Initiator. The entity that initiates a connect request. Initiators and responders are
defined with respect to a single connection. Some entities can be both an initiator and
a responder simultaneously, but not over the same connection. See also calling
address. Contrast called address or responder
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. See IEEE.
Interactive command. In DSM, a command entered by a human operator rather than by
a program. See also programmatic command.