TCP/IP Configuration and Management Manual

Glossary
TCP/IP Configuration and Management Manual—427132-004
Glossary-12
object
before returning control to the caller. In order to make the called procedure wait for the
completion of the operation, the application calls a separate procedure. Compare
wait
mode.
object. (1) In general HP NonStop use, one or more of the devices, lines, processes, and
files in a NonStop subsystem; any entity subject to independent reference or control by
one or more subsystems. (2) In DSM use, an entity subject to independent reference
and control by a subsystem: for example, the disk volume $DATA or the data
communications line $X2502. An object typically has a name and a type known to the
controlling subsystem.
object-name template. In DSM, a name that stands for more than one object. Such a name
includes one or more wild-card characters, such as * and ?. See also wild-card
character.
object type. In DSM, the category of objects to which a specific object belongs: for
example, a specific disk file might have the object type FILE, and a specific terminal
might have the object type SU (subdevice). A subsystem identifies a set of object types
by the objects it manages. The SCF interfaces to data communications subsystems
use standard keywords to identify the types. The corresponding programmatic
interfaces have object-type numbers (represented by symbolic names such as ZCOM-
OBJ-SU) suitable for passing to the SPI SSINIT procedure.
open system. Any computer system that adheres to the OSI standards.
Open Systems Interconnection. A set of standards used for the interconnection of
heterogeneous computer systems, thus providing universal connectivity.
OSI. See Open Systems Interconnection.
OSI Reference Model. A communications architecture, adopted by the ISO in 1984, that
includes seven layers that define the functions involved in communications between
two systems, the services required to perform these functions, and the protocols
associated with these services.
packet. The unit of data sent across a packet switching network. While some Internet
literature uses it to refer specifically to data sent across a physical network, other
literature views the Internet as a packet switching network and describes IP datagrams
as packets.
Packet Internet Groper (PING). The name of a program used in the Internet to test the
reachability of destinations by sending them an ICMP echo request and waiting for a
reply. The term has survived the original program and is now used as a verb, as in
“please ping host A to see if it is alive.”
packet switching. A technique in which messages are broken into smaller units, called
packets, that can be individually addressed and routed through the network. The
receiving-end node ascertains whether all the packets are received and in the proper
sequence before forwarding the complete message to the addressee.