Josh References Glossary C

call data record (CDR)
Information logged by the private branch exchange (PBX) that tracks who made or received calls from whom, the duration of the call, and other information. CDR is used to bill back telecommunications charges to the appropriate parties.

callback
A process for invoking a method or a desktop command, or for using the gadget library in an application; the means by which dialogs and gadgets respond to user input. For example, when an administrator makes a selection with the mouse, some action is initiated from the user interface to an underlying object representing some system resource or component; that is, the user interface "calls back" to the object to invoke some method or series of methods.

Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU)
The source of a number of widely used computer programs.

Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection (CSMA/CD)
Multiple machines sharing a network and talking at the same time cause collisions. When the collisions are detected, both machines stop sending, wait a random amount of time, and then try to transmit again.

CAS
See Channel Associated Signalling (CAS).

cascaded operation
An operation in which the first object, originally acting as a server for a client, now becomes a client of a second object on a remote machine, and so on.

CCITT
See International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

CCMS
See Change and Configuration Management Service (CCMS).

CCS
See Common Channel Signalling (CCS).

CDDI
See Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI).

CDE
See Common Desktop Environment (CDE).

CDR
See call data record (CDR).

cell
A 53-byte chunk of data with embedded routing information. The first five bytes are header and the last 48 bytes are the payload or data.

cell loss priority (CLP)
A two-bit field in the ATM header that defines the priority of the cell, for congestion avoidance and data loss routines.

cell relay
See Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).

central processing unit (CPU)
That part of the computer that performs the actual processing; the machine instruction executor. Also used to refer to the unit of the computer that contains the CPU chip (such as the workstation base in a NeXT slab); that part of the computer apart from the monitor and keyboard and mouse.

CERT
See Computer Emergency Response team (CERT).

CGI
See Common Gateway Interface (CGI).

Change and Configuration Management Service (CCMS)
Management by subscription. Allows applications to create abstract, architecture- and platform-independent profiles that describe configuration settings for the resources and services they manage.

Channel Associated Signalling (CAS)
Signalling bits are transmitted in-band, along with the digitized voice itself.

CICS
See Customer Information Control System (CICS).

CIDR
See Classless Internet Domain Routing (CIDR).

CIFS
See Common Internet File System (CIFS).

Classless Internet Domain Routing (CIDR)
A protocol (defined in RFC 1467) that allows for variable-length addresses that allows for more- and less-specific routing information. This replaces the old class A, class B, class C routing scheme.

clean
The file system is guaranteed to have a static, stable structure. Only unmounted filesystems or read-only file systems are clean by definition.

CLEC
See competitive local exchange carrier.

CLI
See command line interface (CLI).

client
The requestor of a service as provided by a server. For example, a "TME client" is a managed node; xterm is an X Window System client.

client/server model
The structure by which services are implemented. A client process on one host makes a request that a server process (which may or may not be on another host) fulfills.

client stub
An ORB interface that provides for the collection, transmission, marshaling and unmarshaling of data.

clone
Copy. A clone NetInfo server is an exact copy of a master NetInfo server in the same subdomain. See domain (2), NetInfo.

CMU
See Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU).

CNAME record
See DNS record types, CNAME record.

collection
A group of objects, with or without any particular relationships other than belonging to a named group.

collision
When two interfaces on the same physical network transmit at the same time, the packets interfere with each other. This collision causes data loss so the interfaces have to retransmit the data.

command line interface (CLI)
A line-based (as opposed to a screen-based) interface between the user and an application.

Common Channel Signalling (CCS)
Signalling bits are transmitted out-of-band, in a separate channel from the digitized voice. Typically a number of voice channels have their signalling combined together into a single signalling channel.

Common Desktop Environment (CDE)
A common windowing scheme, based on the X11 Motif system, used both in Solaris and HP-UX, to provide a similar look and feel for users.

Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
A method to allow the user to interact with HTML documents; CGI allows the use of forms and scripts on the World Wide Web (WWW). See also HyperText Markup Language (HTML), World Wide Web (WWW).

Common Internet File System (CIFS)
The name for Microsoft's version of a networked file system. See also Network File System (NFS), Windows NT File System (NTFS).

Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)
An OMG and X/Open specification introducing IDL, ORB and BOA. The current version is CORBA 1.1. CORBA was adopted by OMG from a joint proposal by Digital Equipment Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, HyperDesk Corporation, NCR Corporation, Object Design, Inc., and SunSoft, Inc.

competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC)
A local telephone company that competes with an Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC).

Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)
The CERT Coordination Center is the organization that grew from the computer emergency response team formed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in November 1988 in response to the needs identified during the Internet worm incident. The CERT charter is to work with the Internet community to facilitate its response to computer security events involving Internet hosts, to take proactive steps to raise the community's awareness of computer security issues, and to conduct research targeted at improving the security of existing systems.

Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI)
The integration of computers and telephone equipment; a computer performing telephone services, such as placing calls or acting as an answering machine.

concatenated stripe
Allows multiple disk partitions to be treated as a single large partition by the kernel. See also Disk Suite.

Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI)
A high-speed networking standard whose underlying medium is copper or telephone cable. The topology is dual-attached, counter-rotating Token Ring. See also Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI).

CORBA
See Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA).

CPE
See customer premise equipment (CPE).

CPU
See central processing unit (CPU).

cracker
One who cracks, or breaks into, machines and/or networks. One who breaks passwords. See also hacker.

credentials package
A cryptographically sealed data package containing information about the principal, method, object, location, and authorization of a request.

CSMA/CD
See Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection (CSMA/CD).

CTI
See Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI).

Customer Information Control System (CICS)
The IBM architecture underlying the e-mail system, defining a region or domain for electronic mail delivery.

customer premise equipment (CPE)
Telecommunications equipment located at a customer site (relative to the telephone or telecommunications company).

cylinder
The same track from each platter of a disk. See also platter.

cylinder group
A group of consecutive cylinders. See cylinder.